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In our last post, we mentioned Mark’s new best friend — Aaron.  First, a little background…

This year, Karen decided that a “great” Valentine’s Day gift would be for the two of us to start training with a lunatic.  Specifically, she wanted to find someplace where we could box and somebody that could help us learn how to do it.  When your spouse suggests that a great way to demonstrate undying love is to beat the hell out of each other, one has to wonder about the state of the relationship.

It turns out that beating the hell out of each other is optional.  We opted out.  But a beating still takes place, and that’s the beating administered by Aaron three times a week.  I have a new-found respect for boxers — it is one of the most difficult things I have ever done, and I’ve done a bit of “difficult” in the past.

Meet Aaron Jaco.  He’s the National Boxing Association Light Heavyweight Champion.  He’s licensed as a boxer, trainer, and corner man in Florida.  He’s psychotic.

When we first met Aaron, he gave us an idea of what we could expect if we decided we wanted to train with him.  He’s an excellent salesperson.  Why?  Because during that first session, he encouraged us, he told us how great we were doing, and he told us he was impressed with our physical fitness.  That was Day One.  On Day Two, it became clear that we would need a ton of encouragement, we were far from great, and what we considered to be a decent level of physical fitness was really just a joke in the boxing world.  I can’t speak for Karen, but I have never worked so damn hard in my life.

I’ve also never had so much fun.  The workouts can be incredibly hard sometimes, but we always have fun.  After a few weeks of enjoyable torture, it dawned on me that someone we all know and love would benefit greatly from some time with Aaron.  That someone is Mark.

As most of you know, Mark is a good runner.  He’s an excellent fencer.  In High School, he enjoyed high State rankings in both.  Today, he knocks off 4:30 miles during workouts and thinks nothing of it.  He’s fast, his lower body is incredibly powerful, and he’s lean.  In short, Mark is in amazing shape.  A Perfect Victim for Aaron.

Mark’s first session with Aaron was a good one.  We always meet Aaron at 8 AM, and after a successful hour, Mark spent the rest of the day (and all of the next) complaining about how much he hurt.  I took this as a good sign.

Not wanting to miss any fun, Aaron suggested that Mark should try some sparring sessions.  At the Academy, Mark spent a semester learning how to box the Navy way, so he felt fairly comfortable getting in the ring. It turns out that boxing the Navy way is a lesson in how to remain standing while getting beat up.  At the Academy, learning to box is defensive.  The Navy prefers mixed martial arts on offense.  That class doesn’t happen until next year.  Ooops.  Good thing Mark learned how to take a punch.

First off, here’s the ring –

Looks like a great place to get beat up, right?  Karen and I are very, very familiar with it.  Just to get a complete picture, here’s some more of Aaron’s gym –

Okay, with the background set, please meet Aaron’s protege — Brain Karp.  Brian works and trains with Aaron, and he’s a tremendously fit 21 year old.  Perfect for Mark, but did I mention that I got to spar with him too?  Oh yes, the old guy gets in the ring with the young guy.  Oh my…

Doesn’t Brian look happy?  This picture was taken about 30 minutes after he went four rounds with me and seven with Mark.  Mark looks a little whipped, right? You don’t even want to now what I looked like.  Brian looks like he had the time of his life.  Like Aaron, he encouraged us both, told us how great we were doing, and kept saying how impressed he was with our first-time efforts. This, of course, means we’ll get beat up even worse next time.

There were a few highlights: here’s Mark trying to take Brian’s head off.  Mark made contact, but Brian made most of the punch miss.  If Mark’s experience was anything like mine, Brian followed up with two body shots that hurt like hell –

Here’s a shot that Mark put on Facebook.  He calls it “trying not to get killed” -

No matter how hard the beating, everyone has to clean up after themselves.  Here’s one exhausted puppy rolling up his wraps:

And here’s the man himself telling Mark how great he did.  Did I mention that Aaron is an excellent salesperson?  Despite the whoopin’ we took, Aaron has convinced Mark that he will spar again.  Mark returns in August.  Oh boy…

Mark looks a little tired, doesn’t he?  Oh…we covered that already.

Okay..Graduation!

This post was supposed to include a video of Kindergarten Graduation Day for Paris.  I’ve got a couple of hiccups to work out, and hopefully I’ll have everything ready within a few days.  I’m a little obsesseed with video quality — I could post something now, but it wouldn’t be up to our usual high standards.  So..stay tuned!