Crack-of-Dawn Judo Training

Our doors are still shut, but Seattle Dojo has been busy.

With our floor renovations well underway, our long-awaited reopening is finally starting to feel within reach. In the meantime, we are approaching our one-year anniversary of our daily online workouts ‒ that’s 365 straight days of judo! Our small but dedicated weekly Japanese for Judoka class is also going strong after six months.

As we start to make some real progress against the pandemic, we’ve taken on a new project that has allowed us to reunite and train in person. For the past two months, we’ve been getting up at the crack of dawn on the weekends to go run and train outdoors. We meet at my house or at the park, run between 2 and 5 miles to and around the Locks, Golden Gardens Park, or Discovery Park, do a bunch of pushups and uchikomi, romp through the forest, climb stairs, scramble up the bluffs overlooking the Sound, and goof off in general. It’s a tough yet whimsical routine, and we invariably end up somewhat muddier and bloodier than when we left.

Raining? We go. Heat wave? We go.

We. Go.

As miserable as it may sound, this has proved to be an absolute blast, and has given our members an opportunity to bond through shared challenge every week. The first week, there were three of us. The second week, five. Then nine, thirteen, sixteen…now we have twenty+ regulars, together with supportive friends and family who come along to socialize, and come bearing delicious snacks for all to enjoy at the goal line.

Click here for Week 1

Click here for Week 1