The Feds

Riding into the campsite I could not see the surrounding hills. The morning light exposed the mist blanketing the hills and waterways. It was chilly this morning, I was glad when the sun finally made it out from beyond the horizon. I am sure it did not get warmer for a while longer but the shear sight of it did the trick.

I got a call from friends that were visiting New York. They were going to be in town until Sunday night and I wasn’t going to let the opportunity off seeing them pass me by. I decided to skip Richmond and head straight to Washington DC to train at BETA. They had an 11 a.m. Saturday class that I was trying to get to. Made it with just a few minutes to spare and right away was greeted with friendly staff and a very inviting environment. I remember seeing these guys last WKA tournament and wanted to make sure I pay them a visit. I sat in on a class that coach Andrew Viloria was teaching. Here are some of the things we reviewed.

1. Warm up – 3 rounds of shadow boxing with stretching in between rounds.

2. Pad work – Several rounds of pad work, anything goes.

3. Elbows, elbows, elbows!

a. We worked the snap elbow, which is thrown left or right and comes out horizontally directly in front of you. Full rotation of the body and hips just like on a hook is very important.

b. Diagonal elbow has your right hand traveling to the left side of your head in a 45 degree line. Visa versa for the left hand.

C. Down ward elbow has elbow coming straight out and straight down. On this elbow make sure that elbow does not continue path of travel past the target. This will expose too much of yourself.

D. Upper cut elbow has the right hand motion upwards and past the right side of your face as though you are brushing the side of your hair back. Visa versa for your left hand.

E. Back elbow comes from rotating over from a different offensive move in the opposite direction and on the way out throwing a back elbow. For example; jab, cross, hook, and instead of rotating back after hook into fighting stance you point elbow outwards and drive it forward.

F. Thrusting elbow has you arm shoot straight up as though punching the sky, on the way down the elbow will bend and drive forward.

4. After that we had some light sparring for several rounds.

After class I wanted to go visit the Washington landmarks. My tours all have to be a condensed version and when I tried to get to the white house without having to park I knew It was going to take too much time. I did however notice the interesting layout of the majority of the city. All of the buildings are no taller than 12-14 stories. Congress passed a law restricting the construction of buildings to a maximum height of 130 ft (Height of Buildings Act of 1910). Makes for an interesting feel. The city, like a cake of glass, steel, and concrete cut up into blocks by the streets. All the pedestrians looked like they were up to something very politically important. Suits, ties, and business skirts seemed to not mind that it was a Saturday and were buzzing around like worker bees. Pressed on time I rode around for about 15 minutes and asked Siri to take me to New York.

Jumped on the Jersey Turnpike and ate up the miles. I stopped at a place to fill up and on my way out a random guy came up to me to start chatting. I told him what I was doing and he pulls out his wallet and hands me a $20 and gave me his daughters number saying that if I needed a place to stay in Chicago to call her. “God works in mysterious ways” he says as he turns and starts walking to his car. Its when you least expect it he shows himself and gently reminds you of his never ceasing presence.