"Tonight I was out a bar with a few friends and after closing walked out onto the street. There were two men who approached and began to talk to us. They did not look like your typical out for a good time bar types. I saw one of them had a hand tucked behind towards his back, so kept looking at that hand, until he turned enough to reveal a large machete.
At this point rather than completely freaking out at this drunk guy with a blade as long as my forearm, eyeing us up as he talked to us, my training kicked in.
I remembered to watch his hands, I put myself in a nonviolent posture and remembered the three D's. I started to go through visualizations of what I would do if the man moved in anyway aggressively towards us and kept close enough to him that the range of the weapon wouldn't be significant.
More than anything I knew this didn't have to become physical but I was ready for it if it did. I kept calm, relaxed and do anything that would telegraph how ready I was to hurt one of them. The men talked crap about a police cruiser that drove by, told us their names, asked if we were down to party and eventually took off in a cab. Now I'm not sure if anything would have happened or if they were just looking for people to hang out with them. Either way I had confidence I could deal with it thanks to my training at the PDR Camp at Crossfit Sin City.
Thanks Tony Blauer, Omari Broussard, Evan Dzierzynski, Ryan Fredericks, and everyone else I trained with at the camp. You guys might have helped save my life tonight."
Great job Brian! Glad you were able to keep cool under stress and assess your situation.