So I met this guy who knows his stuff

Up early today and went for a run with James and Shun. Somewhere between 3 miles and 4.  A new route James had found with one of those killer Okinawa hills right in the middle...

Okay, went to Map My Run and spent half an hour sorting out Google's inability to deal with Okinawan infrastructure and it was only 2.51 miles.  Did climb 200 ft during it though, so there!

http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/jp/okinawa%2c%20tomigusku/270127729503159106

Anyway, back from that and attempted the Bear with 40k.  Only managed 2 reps, James managed 2 sets, Shun managed a set and a half.  I just wasn't feeling it.  Finished off with
2 sets of 40k clean above head at 5 reps each

2 sets of 6 pull ups

Shower, food, nap.

So today I was going to go with Hisano to the Bikram Yoga.  She rang up to book us a place and... and, yeah, women only.  Outrageous!

Did manage to get to the Karate museum, though.

Colourful, huh?  Full of bits of history and weapons and books and articles.  Guy in who runs it is Tetsuhiro Hokama Hanshi (PhD, 10th Dan, 4th generation teacher with lineage); happy, relaxed and knowledgeable. The kind of guy so many of the fake masters in the West want to be.  Hell, I want a museum of martial arts in my house!

Anyway, we get to talking and it turns out that he was in the UK in 1998 at a course and Mr Kevin Pell was there, truly a small world.  He also had a copy of Ground Control and Restraint, as you do.  This means nothing to most of the people who read this blog and have no interest in the martial arts world I float in, but it's a book I've been meaning to get my grubby little mitts on for a while and, sure enough, he had a copy.  An interesting read, especially some of the claims the people in the book make.  Not very good if you actually want to learn techniques though, it just sort of shows the finished product, not how to get people down, which is the hardest bit.

Anyway, Hokama Hanshi knows my Kobudo sensei (same Kobudo school, same generation), which shows how small a world it is, and we had a good old chat about Kobudo and Karate and where things come from (all the while I'm eyeing the arsenal of weapons that are lying around)

A damn good experience, and something to aspire to, clearly.  Anyway, feeling a little rested so tomorrow I'm deadlifting!