Chapter 5

05:30, August 22, 1983

My Birthday

The next day was a surprising one for me. I got up at my new teenage time of five-thirty and by six I’d left a note on the fridge telling my parents I’d gone to the high school to exercise and run. When I got there, I saw a familiar Jeep Grand Cherokee next to the entrance and Colonel Snodgrass was beside the track, stretching to prepare for a run. “Harrison, my boy, what are you doing here so early? Aren’t most guys your age still asleep?”

I nodded. “Yes, Sir, but I decided a few days ago that I was tired of being the smallest and weakest guy in school. I figured I can’t do anything about my height, but I could start exercising and running and become stronger, faster, and in better shape than I am right now. Being an early bird anyway, I thought if I came out this early, no one would see my pathetic attempts at becoming more than I am.”

“That’s an interesting stance to take. Do you mind if I ask what exercises and what you are planning to run?”

“No, Sir, I don’t mind talking to you. Maybe you can give me some hints. I heard the Navy SEALS had to do two hundred pushups and sit-ups, run five miles, and swim a thousand yards to qualify. I heard they were the best the military offered, so I thought if I could get to those levels, I’d be happy. Right now, I can do five pushups. My goal by the end of September is twenty. I can do twenty-five sit-ups or crunches, which are a harder version of a sit-up.”

The retired Marine smiled. “I know what crunches are.”

“I’m hoping to do fifty pull-ups, but I’m not anywhere near that many right now. And I’m only running a mile right now, but I plan on adding another mile every two weeks. Plus, three days a week I’m going to the YMCA and swimming for forty minutes and using the weight machines to work on muscle tone.”

My girlfriend’s father nodded. “All good thought-out goals and if you’ll let me, I’ll help you achieve those goals and go further. I will not say that the SEALs are the best of the best out there, but they are certainly an excellent group to emulate. Do you plan to enlist after graduation?”

“I might, Sir, but I am trying to get ready for college as well. I think if I go in, I’d rather be done with college first.”

He nodded. “Good plan as well, Harrison. With a college degree, you could enlist as an officer instead of an enlisted man. Better pay and benefits. Plus, when you get out, you have a career to fall back on. Don’t listen to the recruiters when they tell you that an enlisted specialty will transfer to a career in the civilian world. I’ve yet to see a career in infantry or even artillery. Unless you plan to be a sailor in the merchant marines, even a navy specialty won’t help you much. But become a college graduate, and then an officer, and when you get out at the end of your twenties or more, you can walk into just about any job you want.

So let’s get you started. I’ll help you meet your exercise goals and I’ll teach you some hand-to-hand combat maneuvers, too. Your examples, the Navy SEALs, learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I learned that in the Marines. I’m a third-degree black belt, so I can teach you. It’s a special martial art that concentrates on using your enemies’ strength and movements against them. Perfect for smaller people. However, you are young, I doubt you will stay small for long. But even grown, the techniques will transfer.”

While I already had the knowledge of a fifth-degree black belt in Jiu-Jitsu and also Krav Maga with Sensei credentials for both, in my old life, this would give me a legitimate way to ‘acquire’ the Jiu-Jitsu skills this time around. “Thank you, Mr. Snodgrass. That would be awesome.”

He took my hand and shook it. “Well, I can’t let my daughter’s first boyfriend remain the weakest guy in school, can I? I’m older, but I still have eyes. I know my daughter is lovely and will attract a lot of attention. Some from the type of guys I don’t want near her. So you work hard for me and I’ll teach you how to do whatever is necessary to protect those you care about.”

“Thank you, Sir. I appreciate your help.”

“I will not force you. If you want my help, you are to be here every day at six on the nose, you understand? If you aren’t here six days a week, I won’t help you anymore. We’ll spend an hour here exercising and running. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we’ll go to the YMCA for weight training and swimming. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I’ll start teaching you in Jiu-Jitsu.”

“Thank you, Mr. Snodgrass. I won’t let you down.”

“It’s not about me Harrison, don’t let yourself down.”

With that, he had me show him what I could do with each of the exercises and he set me some goals. They were like the ones I’d set for myself, with the difference being he changed my push-ups to what was in my day called burpees. He called them squat thrusts. He wanted me to add one every day after a week, the same with my crunches until I reached my goal of two hundred each.

When he saw I couldn’t do more than one pull-up, he showed me an exercise that would help develop my arm strength so I could do pull-ups. He called the exercise the flexed arm hang. You did a pull-up and held the flex position as long as you could. Fighting gravity all the way down with a slowing of your arms straightening until you were hanging with your arms straight. He told me two weeks of those would let me do around five pull-ups and that I was to continue doing five, with the last one being the flexed arm hang on the last pull-up each time. Every two weeks I would increase those. Then we ran a mile. After I dropped off, he continued around the track until he’d run five miles in less than twenty minutes, averaging just under four minutes a mile. I could have done that at the peak of my SEAL career, but not when I reached my mid-forties. I’d slowed down a bit and averaged five-minute miles running at his age. It did, however, give the younger version of me a goal to shoot for.

As for learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I would have to remember that I wasn’t supposed to know it. I couldn’t be a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu right out of the gate. I would push hard, and the forms and moves at the beginning levels would be great refreshers for me. After our workout, he and I walked out to his car and where my bike was chained up. He asked me a question that would help me figure out how to keep my lottery winnings hidden from my parents if my Granny and Pappy agreed to help me win the money. “So, you are making some changes in your physical fitness and your schooling. Have you thought about getting a part-time job?”