#3 Houston Open

Someone was in my bracket!  Woot! Woot!

I weighed in at 154lbs.  Another 2lbs lighter than last week in Denver. It's probably time to go down to middle weight (152.6lbs).  My opponent and I had a long stand up battle.  Long.  Long enough that we both received disadvantages for stalling.  Clearly, the ref has no idea how exhausting not getting a takedown is.  I was single minded trying to get a very particular takedown that never happened.  This is where having a coach seems like it would be very helpful.  I was so focused on the one takedown that I didn't think to change gears and maybe pull instead.  Eventually, my opponent took me down, and that was it for me.  I was gassed so hard.  Her weight on me was about all my lungs could take, and I cardio tapped.  Not what I was hoping for, but not completely unexpected.
Let's back things up a bit.  6 weeks prior I had a D&C to remove a tumor in my uterus and hopefully help make my periods more manageable.  Having no matches in Santa Cruz shortly after surgery actually worked out well since I didn't have to push myself too hard.  Denver was the one match and things seemed fine, so no concerns.  But the Tuesday after Denver, I found myself in the ER with excessive vaginal bleeding.  I spoke with a nurse from my OB/GYN office and she advised me to go to the ER after consistently bleeding through overnight pads every hour and passing a lot of clots over the last 24 hrs.  At the ER, they did a blood test and checked my blood pressure.  Everything seemed fine, so I went home.  And continued to have severe bleeding for several more days.  So much so that I didn't feel comfortable training with so much bleeding and pain.  Even the day of this tournament I was still bleeding, but down to what would be considered a normal flow.  So when I cardio tapped it wasn't a complete surprise.  I missed a week of training leading up to the tournament and I had lost a lot of blood and was still feeling weak.  I received my silver medal and immediately signed up for the open class.  There were 2 other Master 4 Purple belts competing so there was a chance to go with someone else or get a rematch.  I had over an hour to wait, and I needed it. I was sucking down air for a long time, almost needing the entire hour to recover.  Finally, the open class came up and I would have a match with the winner of the Super-Heavy bracket.  She was strong and the match was fast.  She quickly took me down, mounted me, and got an arm triangle.  It all felt very quick, and I was just excited to walk away without any injuries.  Silver medal again.
I'm still working towards the mini-milestone of getting through a match without tapping.  Didn't grab it this time, but continuing to work towards it for the next one.

Super cool bonus:  I saw my friend Kaz compete at Master 3 Brown Belt.  This was her first competition at Brown belt, and she's actually a Master 5, but went down to get more matches.  She got double gold for her bracket and the open class.  She's my hero.  It was so great seeing her and her partner Tommy.  I met them both about 7 years ago at my first Caio Terra BJJ camp in Rio, Brazil.  

Match Takeaways:
- I need to pack a snack in my bag for when I'm waiting for the open class to start.  Some chocolate covered almonds or something would have been a nice pick me up.
- I need to remember to pack my water supplement.  I use Liquid IV and keep forgetting to bring some with me.
- I made new mistakes!  I didn't rush myself like I did in Denver and ended up making different mistakes, I'll take it!
- I need to work on chaining takedowns and knowing when pulling is the right move.
- It's time to move down a weight class.  Weighing in 8lbs under the max weight isn't ideal.  I just need to lose 2lbs before my next tournament to make the next weight class.  I've already updated the remaining registrations - I have to be middle weight.  

Places I visited:
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - Amazing what people can do with marble.
- Houston Downtown Aquarium - Not a ton of sea life but they have tigers and rides.
- NASA Space Center, Houston - This was such a cool experience, highly recommended!

Restaurants:
- Trendy Dumpling - Our first meal so I didn't eat much, but what I had was really good.
- Teotihuacan Mexican Café - Amazing Mexican food.  A little different from what we get up here in Seattle, loved it!

Upcoming Tournaments:
May 31 Masters in Long Beach, CA

June 17 Indianapolis, IN

July 1 Portland, OR

July 15 Austin, TX

Aug 31 Master Worlds, Las Vegas