This past weekend I had the honor of participating in the MS Mud Run. This is a fundraiser for a very worthy cause and a lot of fun for those of us that have never quite gotten out of our “little boy” phase.
Despite being only a few days away from 55 years old, I was able to finish in the top 5% overall. My running time was not that spectacular, but when it came to the two dozen or so obstacles in the race, I was able to “cheat”. Not in the traditional sense of the word, but by using many of the principal techniques of our system.
Our deep stances – Kiba Dachi and Shiko Dachi – were invaluable when I needed the benefit of stability and balance. There were multiple instances where we were required to vault over horizontal logs and the use of the roundhouse kick motion provided excellent momentum to assist with getting over.
The crawling, climbing and every other conceivable motion was aided in much the same way. Simply put, there is no way I would have been able to do even remotely as well without these techniques and a knowledge of how to apply them when needed.
The benefits of martial arts training cross over into all aspects of our lives if we have the benefit of excellent instructors that can show us the way. I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve had such people in my life.