Thursday, July 28, 2011

Grace and the Rikishi

I was at a writing retreat this month and I saw a friend of mine, Deb. Deb is Japanese. She was so excited to tell me about her trip to L.A. a while back when she was able to attend a sumo tournament. I'm so jealous! She said, "The minute I saw the sumo wrestlers, I thought of you!"

I laughed--when people see sumo, they think of me. Ha haha.

Disclosure: I'm a 5 foot 1 inch white woman not really in a sumo weight class.

Another friend listening was perplexed as to why you'd want to attend such a thing, and wrinkled her nose.

Deb said, "They're amazing. They're so huge, you can't even believe it. But they've got a grace, almost a weightlessness. They float."

She also said it was easy to tell the guys who were just there for fun, who had no training. They stomped and lumbered and were gawky and clumsy and just fat. But the real sumo wrestlers weren't fat. They were taut and like helium balloons with strength.

Thank you, Deb. Very cool.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

My 5K and the Sumo Wrestler's Marathon

I ran my first 5K this month. I'm no runner. At all. I hid in my neighbor's car during the track meet in junior high to avoid having to compete in the 880 relay. I know, I know. I let the team down.

But for some reason this year, I ended up running. Well, it was about the kid. He needed to do some running and didn't want to run alone, so I ran. But I didn't relish it. At first I could only do about a half mile walking then collapsed for the rest of the day. By the time our 5K race came along, though, I was THERE! I could do it, and I didn't even need an ambulance. Pretty cool.

I realize this is nothing, but it's something to me.

This morning I found this article that was also something:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/400-pound-sumo-wrestler-plans-to-run-l-a-marathon/

400 Pound Sumo Wrestler Plans To Run L.A. Marathon

He’s got his heart set on finishing the Los Angeles Marathon–and winning a Guinness World Record. Kelly Gneiting, who calls himself the Fat Man, is a three-time national champion sumo wrestler who weighs in at just over 400 pounds. Hardly the light-on-your-feet body type of your traditional marathoner. Gneiting’s six feet tall and has a 60-inch waist. And he says he’s all athlete. “I honestly think I’m one of the best athletes in the world,” he tells the LA Times.

read more

Good for this guy! I wish I'd been there to cheer him on.