Lean, Mean, Fighting Machine

My First Half Marathon - 1980

After discovering the girl of my dreams, my relationship with Alison was steadily progressing very nicely, if anything she totally distracted me away from the pub.

Alison had obviously realised that my martial art training was important and asked if she could come along one night to see me in action. At first I was very reluctant to let her watch, mainly because I was embarrassed by my own ability.

At my local club there were plenty of practitioners far better than me and I didn't want to look inferior, especially in front of my new girlfriend. Despite my inhibitions, I eventually invited Alison to come along and view her very first class.

After this session she expressed that she really enjoyed watching and was really impressed with all the variety of different moves. I then apologised for my lack of talent and was hoping for some sympathy from her. It didn't come; instead she very simply replied, "If you want to improve, you should practice more." …Wow!

So that's exactly what I did. I increased my attendance from one night to two nights per week. Alison promised to support me and said that for every class that I attended she would come along to watch, viewing from the Sports Centre public balcony.

She kept her word and very rarely missed a session, which helped me to keep my attendance consistent. At the same time Alison became good friends with a fellow practitioners girlfriend and together they would sit and pass the time of day while we practised below.

The knowledge that Alison was behind me every step of the way was an enormous boost and probably the single most important factor, which helped my martial art ability to improve. Alongside this I also wanted to impress her by training hard and taking greater care of myself.

My obsession to improve my level of skill continued. I completely stopped drinking alcohol and paid particular attention to what I was eating. I also started running several times each week, which progressively increased over a period of time. Alison used to cycle alongside me, motivating me like she was my own personal trainer. Eventually with her encouragement I was able to complete my first ever half-marathon, which I thought was an absolute achievement on it's own.

In addition, I also followed a weight-training programme to support my martial art practice. I studied nutrition and began to take additional health supplements, such as Korean Ginseng, as well using multi-vitamins and minerals. I even performed the old 'Rocky' routine; just like Sylvester Stallone, drinking raw eggs before going out for a run.

Most of my 'pub' friends thought I'd gone crazy, transforming myself from a beer-swilling slob, into a lean, mean, fighting machine. My weight had reduced from 16 stone (224lbs) to 12 stone (168lbs). I remember one of my mates asking me if I was feeling alright or was I suffering from some incurable disease, because I'd lost so much weight? My reply was... I'd never felt better in my entire life.

The intensity of my training steadily increased from two to three nights per week and running in between. At this point there was definitely no holding me back. I discovered after losing so much weight I was able to jump fairly high, which was an essential ingredient for anyone wanting to participate in the more advanced kicking routines specific to Korean martial arts.

As I trained more and more my overall speed and agility improved. I became reasonably proficient at sparring, which is a method of training used to test out your fighting skills without actually or intentionally hurting your partner.  During this type of practise I was more than capable of holding my own against most opponents out on the mat.

I don’t think I was really regarded as an aggressive person, but for some strange reason I'd developed this intensity when sparring and just loved to get stuck-in. I had no fear of getting hurt or being knocked about. In fact I’d gained a reputation at our club as being rather difficult to contest against.

While I continued to train hard, Alison remained watching from the sidelines and carried on doing so for a further six months. She seemed quite happy to just sit and watch me sweat my guts out from the comfort of the viewing balcony. Although she enjoyed seeing me perform, at that particular time she had no intention of joining in whatsoever.

One day that all changed. My instructor had a great idea to try and introduce more females into our martial art club. He did this by organising a special women's self-defence session. At this point in time (1980) very few women were involved in martial art training; those few that did practice were fairly tough, masculine characters.

Our Sabumnim (Instructor) had apparently noticed Alison watching from the viewing balcony. At the end of each lesson he often made a particular point of talking with her. After several months of badgering her to have a go at Kuk Sool, he eventually persuaded her to try out his new women's self-defence course. 

Eventually Alison enrolled onto the course, which was conveniently held at the exact same time as my own class. The Sports Centre hall was divided into two sections. My own martial art lesson carried on as normal under the watchful eye of an assistant instructor, while the class of about a dozen ladies enthusiastically practised on the other side of the room.

  

Straight away Alison looked like she was enjoying herself, performing those basic self-defence moves. Although she wasn't practising Kuk Sool as such, she did look particularly proficient when doing her basic kicks and hand strikes. In addition I also noticed that she already had superb flexibility, which was a complete asset in itself.

I don't think Alison or I had any idea at the time where this might be heading. We both just thought that her taking part in the self-defence class was an additional way of passing time, while waiting for me to complete my own lesson.

Little did either of us know that it was a choice that would literally shape our whole future together.