The Following is a guest post by Chad Kurle, the North Dakota State Athletic Commissioner.
Week Two
One thing you have to understand about this blog is that there is about a 10 day lag from the time the week wraps up to the time the post is published. It is really strange for me.
Week two starts with my weight up a pound from where I ended last week. Probably not bad considering the case of beer I drank and all of the crappy food that was consumed. I am starting the week at 214-29lbs away from my fight weight of 185lbs. This week is going to present a few challenges. First, my toe is still a mess, which sucks, and makes me feel like a huge p****. Two, we have fights this weekend at a local casino, which I have to work. Usually the week leading up to a fight requires about 15-20 hours of my time not including working the actual event.
I am definitely feeling my age as of late. Getting out of bed is a chore in and of itself. My knees don’t seem to want to work. The right one “creaks” every time I take a step down the stairs.
I am getting back into a routine with Crossfit, which is good. I have been asked, “why Crossfit,” which is a really good question. It certainly isn’t the cheapest gym in town and they publish their workouts of the day on the Internet, so conceivably I could just do the workouts at a less expensive gym…therein lies the rub. If I don’t make it to Crossfit, I don’t complete the workouts. I was paying $40 a month to not go to the YMCA. I figure it is a pretty good deal to pay more than that and actually attend. What I like about Crossfit is it “makes” me do cardio, which I absolutely hate.
MMA practice on Monday was pretty light. There were 13 people there, about 6 of them were brand new. Which is a great sign, since I looked at a new space today-1,750 square feet of shop space in the industrial park. I think I am going to sign a lease on it later this week. We worked fundamentals: jab, cross, hook, elbows, knees, etc. for about 45 minutes then worked on the ground. I taped my toes together and wore wrestling shoes, which made it much more tolerable to workout. We didn’t do any live, or even ½ speed sparring, just basics drills. Wednesday, family commitments kept me from the gym.
Friday, before I left town for the fights, I signed a lease for our own space in the industrial park. 1,750 square feet. We are looking for mats and should be set to move in the last half of November.
The downside to reservation casino shows is you are in the middle of nowhere, so there really isn’t much to do other than drink and gamble. The 13 fight card was pared down to 11 fights with a couple of fighters just opting not to show up. For the most part the fights were good, but they were violent. This were the most injuries I can recall for any of our shows. It is amazing to watch the skill level of some of the competitors. Jeff Monson fought Jimmy Ambriz at heavyweight. Monson dominated. I don’t think a single punch was thrown. It was just Monson taking a quick shot then working his way to a north/south choke. The fights were both entertaining and motivating to watch.
Outside of that…I drank way to much beer.
