It's Been a Long Time, Baby.

I remember when I used to sit down once or twice a week at my laptop to pour out my karate experiences, my life experiences. This used to be during breaks at work, where I had my massage office to myself. No children. No husband. Just me and the words. It became this really important thing for me, a place where I could share my martial arts thoughts with other martial artists who wouldn't look at me with this "okay, I don't know if she's crazy or not but I'm just going to smile and nod" kind of stare.

Then it all changed when I moved three years ago (has it really been that much time already??), selling a business I worked very hard at building, uprooting my family, starting over. I desperately tried to stay with my Koro Ken training, which involved going to my local Y with another woman who had moved up here and had trained in Koro Ken as well. We even got another woman to join us. Periodically one of the Sensei in that style would come up to kick our butts. I never had the time to make the two hour trip to the home dojo and lamented the fact that it probably would never happen. I even tried some other styles...but nothing felt like home.

A year after moving I became pregnant with our second son and martial arts training grinded to a halt. As did my exercising. Three months of constant nausea doesn't exactly get one pumped to go work out for an hour. Then baby was born, I recuperated for six weeks and decided to start running. Always in the back of my mind was karate. I had this nagging, empty feeling where karate used to be and it made me sad. I felt a little lost.

My last few posts talked about getting into policing, which is still an ongoing adventure. Never have I put so much time and energy into a career than I have with this one. Nothing has turned up for me yet, but I'm still going for it. Thing is, the hiring process takes FOREVER, but I'm willing to put into the time. It will eventually happen for me. For the time being I'm back to massaging and it feels pretty good. I'm not working for myself, but that's okay. With a career change looming the last thing I want to do is get a following of private clients.

But there's this problem. I still haven't filled the karate hole. My life has consumed every minute of my day, which will happen when you have two young children and a husband. I work mostly during the late afternoons, which doesn't leave much time for taking a class, and most dojo around here don't have any classes in the middle of the day. I also work on Saturdays, another class day. There's got to be some way I can get back into martial arts. It's becoming a little unbearable. I don't mean to sound melodramatic, but when you put eleven years into something and then have it suddenly gone from your life...well, if you train you know what I mean.

I've been filling that hole with some punching bag time and my three to four times a week workouts, which consist of running and doing some type of CrossFit-like exercise. It makes me feel great...but I need my martial arts fix. It doesn't have to be karate. I just need to find those two times a week when I can go to a class, start small and go from there. I'm thinking that will happen soon. I just finished going through a hiring process with a local PD and was not chosen (although I was in the top five). One position, forty seven applicants. A little competition. I told myself that if I didn't get hired I would go in search of a new martial art. Well, now it's time to do just that.

Plowing through

At the risk of losing precious sleep (a teething baby does not allow for a restful night) I will update. I so miss writing on a regular basis. When I look back on my older entries I smile and remember what it was like to write at least once a week. Now I'm lucky if I get in a post once a month. So, these rusty fingers will give it a go!

The law enforcement class is rocking my world. I already feel like a police officer. That may sound a bit cheesy, but I do. I've already submitted my application to the Burlington Police Department. I REALLY want to work there. The application was the easy part....except for the question, "List all criminal activity since the age of 10". The age of 10?! I managed to remember my youthful stupidity and cringed as I wrote them down to be dissected by those who will grill me with uncomfortable questions for my oral boards.

What I'm most concerned with right now is the 1.5 mile run. The PT test consists of: a certain amount of push ups/sit ups in one minute, bench press a percentage of my weight, reach over my toes a certain length (sitting down) and running 1.5 miles in a certain amount of time. These numbers are age dependent (I'm in the 30-39 age group) and for the BPD you need to be in the 50 percentile. So, I need to be able to do 11 push ups (no problem), 27 full sit ups (a bit of a struggle, but I can do it. Ah, C-section stomach), 100 lbs bench press (no problem), don't remember the flexibility but go way beyond the number and run 1.5 miles in 15:17. Right now I'm at 17 minutes.

However.....ah the however....I've come down with a nasty case of pes anserine bursitis in my right knee. Yes, that's a mouthful. This happened to me six months after my first child, too. I'm hoping a solid round of physical therapy will make me all better and I can get back to running.

Yup, I'm not running, which isn't helping me lower my time. This means I may not be able to take the PT test until late May, early June. Which means that when (not if) I get hired I won't be able to go to the academy until February (the next class starts in August). This may not be a bad thing since my oldest starts Kindergarten in the fall. It would be so sad for me to miss that milestone in his life, even if he won't really remember it. I'll be gone all week when I start the academy, and I think it may be smart of me to wait until he has a few months of Kindergarten under his belt before I leave.

All in all I'm getting into wicked shape and have lost most of my pregnancy weight. It's so wonderful to work hard again...I can wear my jeans!

The trip of a lifetime.

It's been sad not having time to blog about my martial arts adventures lately. On the other side of that, I haven't really HAD any martial arts adventures for over a year now. "Life" got in the way for a while and I'm not really sure when I'll be able to get back into a dojo. Having two children to look after kind of puts the proverbial stick into the spoke of my wheels. It's certainly not a bad thing, just sad every once in a while. However, a new path has presented itself to me, and boy oh boy, what a ride it's going to be!

A little over a month ago I spotted a flier at my gym. There were many other fliers on the same board, but this one immediately caught my eye. On this piece of paper was information on a program called Step Up to Law Enforcement. The sentence, "Oh, I couldn't possibly do that. My life is too crazy"ran through my mind, but as I was thinking that my hand was reaching up to take the slip of paper on the bottom that had a phone number.

To make this story just a bit shorter, I ended up contacting Vermont Works for Women and was put in touch with the woman who runs this particular program. Turns out we knew each other. Talk about a small state....

Her aunt lives in my home town and I met her about 20 years ago (!) as we were both about to attend the University of Vermont. I hadn't seen her since that time (and we only saw each other a few times in college) and had no idea that she worked for VT Works for Women. She still knew who I was and I recognized her name immediately. So, I went in for an information session. I then came back for and interview with this woman and after that was asked to come back for a second interview. It had been a long time since I was put into that type of situation.

The second interview was with four women: two from VT Works for Women, one police officer and one corrections officer. Talk about being nervous! That had NEVER happened to me, ever. The questions were hard and had me thinking to the bottom of my brain. They do that on purpose since they only take women they feel are suited for law enforcement work. Apparently I am one of those women.

The class started last Thursday and so far I'm thinking this will be the best career path ever. Massage has been so amazing, and was the career that made me who I am today, but becoming a police officer will take me so much further. The class is 9 weeks and introduces us to what it will be like having a career in law enforcement. We will be applying for jobs in two weeks. Once we are hired that agency sponsors us to go to the police academy. That will be a difficult road because not only is it tough academically and physically, but I will be away from home all week for 16 weeks. All students must stay at the academy, but we get to go home on the weekends. That will be so hard to do, but what I'm working towards will make up for having to be away from my family.

Onward, ho!

I'm back!

Well, after six weeks of recoup I finally began my journey back into shape. While karate was out for me until the baby gets bigger and finds his sleeping pattern, I decided to put that same focus into turning my "running hate" into "running love".

One of my facebook friends became a fan of this page called "Warrior Dash". I checked it out and found this amazing foot race that happens all over the U.S. I decided that was going to be my drive to get myself back into some serious shape. See, I went a little crazy with pregnancy eating this time around. Perhaps it was this kooky notion in my brain that said, "since this is the last time you'll be pregnant you might as well take advantage of eating for two!" Pure bogus, but it sounded good at the time.

So, at exactly six weeks I put the newbie into the stroller and walked one mile. I did this two more times that week snd was incredibly sore. I've progressed from there to the treadmill at the local Y and now go two miles walking up a steep incline for five minutes and running for five minutes. I'm thinking that it's time to just run and stop being such a sissy about it already. I now have four other victims (one of which is my sister, who has been running and racing for many years now, but has never done anything quite so crazy as the WD) to join me in the Dash, so now I really have to stay focused and just run three miles already!

I've always detested running. When I played field hockey in junior high and high school we ran this crazy drills all afternoon long and usually finished with this particularly devilish routine lovingly called "Killers". It involved doing various sprints around the field, across the field, etc. It was horrendous. I also never prepared myself for the field hockey training I new was going to start in August by running throughout the summer. After graduating high school I rarely did any kind of exercise, except for walking around the college campus. Needless to say I gained the freshman 15. It wasn't pretty.

But those were younger days and now I'm a seasoned exerciser and lover of anything that makes me huff and puff and perhaps vomit. Yes, I said vomit. I've started doing these indoor sledgehammer exercises which will eventually progress to hitting tires. Such a good way to get out the mommy aggression! There is also the one hundred push ups training. These things I can do with children in the house since I'm now a full-time stay-at-home mommy. This mommy means business!!

So, we'll see how this all goes. I'm foresee burpees in my future. And hill sprints. And wall climbing ( to go along with the hair pulling I've started as my 5 YO exercises his independence and defiance). Oh, and perhaps a pull up bar for the house....

He has arrived

Two weeks ago, on September 23, Bishop decided to make his way into the world. My water broke with this one (that didn't happen with the first son), and I actually think Bishop punched the hole. That's what it felt like....what a proud mama! My budding karateka. Luckily it happened at 4:30 am and not in the middle of the night.

Bishop was born at 8:40 am via C-section. I had a very difficult time with the first child when labor finally came around (I was two weeks late and then had on/off labor for three days before true labor...and then only dilated to 8cm. At that point I was so exhausted I decided to have a C-section), so decided not to do natural this time around. It was a very difficult decision and I waffled for a long time. What it came down to was that I wanted this baby out as safely as possible and just wasn't willing to take the risks of a VBAC.

He was 7lbs, 12oz and 19 inches long. My peanut. So, here he is!


So now it's the lovely time of the newborn, with sleepless nights and a baby who sleeps all day, with me taking advantage of naps. I'm already planning my next karate adventure, but will have to wait until some time this winter to join a new dojo. I have to get back to work first so that I can fund my new path! There are two places I'm considering: this one, and perhaps here. We'll see.....I'm just looking forward to getting back into shape, and sleeping.

When the breath becomes important.

So, here I am updating. Yup, still alive, and yup, still pregnant. Although that came into question this past Friday evening....

My life has been a bit crazy over the past three weeks: preparing to move again (but just across the street, so not too bad) and get ready for a visit from my husband's brother and his family. The latter producing extreme stress in my MIL, which she so lovingly regurgitated in my direction one too many times prompting me to tell my husband to muzzle his mother already. We have a great relationship, my MIL and I, but sometimes.....you get the picture.

So, last Friday after much stress and too much hamster-wheel-in-the-brain I began to have contractions, which really freaked me out (I'm was 31 weeks pregnant. Too soon!). My husband and I went to the hospital where they drew blood, tested urine, and *ahem* swabbed. Three hours later it was determined that I was not in labor. However, I was placed on moderate bedrest for the next three days. And in those three days we had to move. Luckily I had started packing three weeks ago.

I was placed upon the couch, where I directed traffic. That wasn't so bad. Then the moving was done, and it went very smoothly. Our friends were amazing! It was the aftermath of the move that started eating at me. I couldn't do ANYTHING: no unpacking, no organizing, no picture hanging. Have I ever mentioned how I HATE to be uprooted? Well, it's very difficult for me. I like an organized space, a place where my "things" are, my books tucked lovingly into their shelves. Now all of that was in boxes in the middle of my dining room.

This was the point where I had to either breathe or breakdown and cry. So, I did a little bit of both. I called upon my almost-forgotten hara breathing, and calmed myself down. Of course, when you're pregnant, where is your hara? Still in the same place? Just below your bellybutton? Well, my bellybutton has moved...but, I know where my hara is. And it's still strong.

Now I'm off bedrest with conditions: be careful, listen to your body and do a little unpacking at a time. My bulldog of a husband, of course, forbids me to do anything but go to the beach. Not a bad idea, but I'm still going to unpack. Just a little.

Well....

Wow, it's been a while since I last wrote here. Part of it is due to me not having a moment to write when I'm awake (ah, kids. Four year old kids.) The other part is I have done absolutely no karate for over three months. Ugh. That hurts.

I miss is it. Miss the kicking, the punching, the throwing to the ground. I miss the sweating and the intensity. I miss working out until I fall over.

Alas, pregnancy has put a bit of a damper on my martial arts, but that doesn't mean I can't go out into the yard and bust out some kata, right? That has yet to happen. Did I ever mention how terrible I am at following through on private training? Well, I suck at it! But that's no excuse. There have been moments when I perk up and become determined to do just a few kata, maybe just work on one and refine, refine, refine. Yeah, I talk a good talk....

I do adore kata, and we have some beautiful ones, but for some reason it just doesn't feel the same when I do them alone. I know, I know, moving meditation, improvement of the internal. For some reason I just stop myself from doing it. There is absolutely no reason why a pregant lady can't perform kata....I keep telling myself that anyway.

It's not all a lost cause, however. The weather is nicer and the grass is very soft. There's hope for this mommy karateka yet!

Life in Second Trimester

Ah, second trimester. The floating time. No more nausea, no more bad taste in my mouth. And the realization that I'll never, ever go through first trimester ever, ever, ever again! Yes, two is enough. No more kids, no more being pregnant after this.

Also, a return to formal training. I've come to this realization that my path has come to a fork in the road. One way leads back to my first dojo, where I grew more than I ever thought possible. The other leads to a different dojo, where the growth could continue, but in a different way.

A fellow karateka and I were talking about this yesterday as we walked on the bike path. It was the first real exercise in a week for me (there's been a lot of sickness of the cold variety in our lives this winter. Yay preschool!) and it felt fantastic. It was warm, the sun was shining. There was this sense of possibility. We spoke about how we both had been struggling to find our way so far from our dojo. For me there was no reality to driving two hours south even once a week to train. For her it was becoming too much of a burden (she's been going to the Rutland dojo at least twice a week for over a year).

Then there was the issue of one of our sensei, Sensei Moe, visiting our town once a week. It was okay when the weather was agreeable. Then winter hit and he was no longer readily available to come and train with us. Of course our schedules always seemed to clash as well, and it was becoming this incredible pain in the tush.

We both realized it was time to chose a different martial arts path. Our current paths were creating tension and frustration. When I moved here I so desperately wanted to find another training avenue, but was not completely committed to become a permanent member since I was so faithful to my dojo. By choosing another dojo and committing myself to it's martial way seemed too much like being unfaithful to a long-standing relationship. However, I was also limiting myself.

It's like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders, if I may be so cliche. Just because I will choose to become a committed member of another dojo once I'm ready to return to intensive training does not mean I have to let go of what I've learned. It does not mean I am no longer a member of my original dojo. If my life is such that I am not able to travel to that dojo, then I must find an easier way to continue my training. I'll still go to my original family for visits and parties. I am not forgetting where I started. It's just time to move on so that my martial way continues.

Pregnant karate

Man, can we say whiny? Yeah, my last post was a bit glum, but I was not in a happy place. From now on I will only write in my happy place. That being said....

There has been this awful thing happening at my old dojo, the kind of thing where it will most likely be closing (along with the gym that it is housed in). Sensei is, in a word, distraught. I'm not going to go into it in depth out of respect for him. It's not good. That's all I will say. It makes me and the rest of my dojo family incredibly sad. We're all hoping he will eventually teach in some other venue. We all remain optimistic.

So I now move forward to find my pregnant karate. As happened with my last pregnancy, I am incredibly nauseous, all day long, even through the night. This, as you can imagine, does not bode well with focusing on anything other than getting through the day and onto the next. To go to the gym to do anything at this point makes me want to run and find a toilet. I'm going to attempt the treadmill tomorrow, or maybe Thursday, and see how it goes. It was all going smoothly until the serious nausea set in a week and a half ago. I'm hoping that it will go away once I hit the three month mark, which will be the beginning of April. I, as ever, remain positive in thinking this will happen.

There was this new dojo I was attempting to visit a few days before I found out that I was pregnant. Go check it out. I spoke with the sensei a few times and it really sounded quite incredible. It's mainly a weapons-based system, with a little taijutsu to boot. I've been looking for this type of dojo for quite a while. There are no true kobudo dojo in VT anywhere, and those who know kobudo teach privately. There's a lot of grappling techniques (of the jitsu variety) and some forms, but mostly fighting techniques. What impressed me the most was that the sensei travels at least twice a year to train with his teachers in Japan. However, the sensei was very apprehensive about me joining class being pregnant. Accidents happen, and I understand. What I would love to do is go view a class and then, perhaps, join once I'm back in the game. It's good to know it's available to me. Many of the other martial arts in the area just weren't speaking to me. I'm hoping this one will.

So, for now, I work on my pregnant karate and see where that takes me.
Maybe here:

I'm still here

I find it so difficult to sit down and right here these days. Before, when I would pump out two blogs a week some months, I was working and had the time to sit and write. Now, I'm at home most days with my son and it's not so easy to sit down and put my thoughts into words.

Also, I haven't been doing any karate (except of course in my mind, but that only gets you so far). My life has taken this turn, and not so much for the better. Tough economic times have finally hit Vermont and my husband and I have found ourselves victims. I don't mean to sound melodramatic, it's just the way things are right now. We moved away from our solid businesses at the wrong time. Now he and I both are having trouble finding work. People aren't doing any construction or paying for regular massage these days. Everyone is pinching their belts.

To add to that, I am having another baby. While that is extremely exciting (we have been talking about it for months now, but it seems it was decided for us...), I'm very scared for our futures. I have been doing nothing but massage therapy for ten years and it makes me so sad to think I have to switch gears. But, we need to think outside the box. I'm also not sure what I'm qualified to do, but will do the best I can to find something to bring some money home. My husband has to do this, as well.

As for the nurse practitioner program, I have yet to hear. A little birdie told me we should be hearing this week. However, being due in early October means that I may have to postpone school for a year. That would be okay. The program had 120 applicants. They only accept 16. Crazy odds!

So, back to karate. There just hasn't been time or babysitters. Now I have to take it easier on myself. I still go to the gym three days a week. What I need to do is find time to do kata. Once or twice a week. That's all. I have someone to practice self-defense techniques with, but again, I need to be careful there. It will happen again. I just have to keep telling myself that.

The most important part of all of this is to remain positive. We're not the only ones going through this hard time. Some have it so much worse than we do. I just want to be able to stay in my home (we rent), stay in Burlington, pay the bills and eat. It hasn't reached the place where we lose those things, and it won't.

Where did the karate go?

I've been asking myself that question over the past two weeks, which have been completely lacking in karate. My last class was given the week before Christmas (happy holidays, everyone! Hope it was fantastic) and it was a good one. Now I'm sitting here wondering where it goes from here.

There was this fleeting image of me going to another dojo to train, but since money has been very tight for us I quickly put it out of my mind. The next image was of me asking some of the people I work out with to be my guinea pigs. After all, I really just need some bodies to bend around a bit. Saying that, however, makes me think that's not such a good idea unless they've had some MA training first. I wouldn't want to hurt anyone. The good thing about that is the unpredictability of someone with no MA training.

I've been itching to do more self-defense, and not so much kata. Did actually just write that? I know, I'm such a proponent of kata, but I've just been needing to push my boundaries a bit lately. There has not been enough practical, hands-on training in the last few months, and that has been bothering me a lot. One of my weakest areas is working off of a grab, any grab. I hesitate! It's awful.

The two women I train with present two very different aspects: one is about 6'2" and has had four years of training and the other is a beginner and more my height (which is just shy of 5' for me). The taller woman also has neck issues, so I have to be ever vigilant of how I take her down. It's time to recruit a guy to throw around! We also do not have padding, so the throws are very slo-mo. This presents a problem. Since we have to be extra careful there is more hesitancy in how we perform our moves. This does not help our reaction time.

I can say that I've been having a great time at the gym. Even though my karate training is on hold I'm still staying strong and loving every minute of it. I've spent some time over at RossTraining.com and have used a few of his training techniques in the weight room. I never thought I'd stick to a weight training regimen, but it's actually a lot of fun when you incorporate it with body weight training. I've also discovered the joys of abdominal exercises done on an incline. They are so much better than regular sit-ups, even if they leave you a bit sore the next day. Okay, a lot sore the next day.

Unfortunately I've also had to put Muay Thai on the back burner. My massage business is seriously lacking in clients, so no MT for a while. Not until I can get something off the ground and start bringing in some money. It's been hard, but it also takes a while to set up a successful practice, especially in an area that's saturated with massage therapists. It will happen and I will keep my thoughts positive.

Karate training will resume again once my students get back from break (they're both grad students at UVM). The challenge is where I put MY training into that mix.

My life

Ooo, bad blogger! I've been very distracted with something quite important. See, I've decided to pursue another career, Nurse Practitioner. Here in Burlington, VT, we have this great university, the University of Vermont, where you can choose from a variety of subjects and then put yourself out there to (hopefully) be selected. We're talking the Graduate College, my friends. We're also talking about only 16 people being accepted into the MEPN (Master's Entry Program in Nursing) program.

Four weeks ago my husband and I were talking about how we needed to get ourselves into better careers. We're feeling the economy's strain quite a bit. He's a carpenter, I'm a massage therapist, not exactly recession-proof jobs. Plus, we just picked ourselves up and plopped down here to start over again in a time when money is tight and pockets are being pinched. It's scary and I often find myself short of breath. I told him that I was regretting not taking the opportunity I had seven years ago to go to medical school. His response, "Go for it now." I was a little taken aback, but my brain started turning. A few days later he came home and mentioned that a friend had suggested I look into becoming a Nurse Practitioner instead of going to medical school. The training isn't as intense and there's more need.

So, I did some research and found the MEPN program at UVM. The catch, a deadline of December 1. Also, I would need to take the GRE. That freaked me out! I had SAT flashbacks, and they weren't pretty. The thought of all of that math almost made me change my mind. Almost. They're scheduled for next Wednesday (I am able to take the test after the deadline as long as the rest of the application is complete and on time). The application made the deadline. Now I cross everything, and keep on studying for the GRE.

This, of course, now leads us into training. It's been minimal and that frustrates me. I have been spending much of my time studying for the GRE, writing a personal essay on why they should pick me (because I'm awesome, of course!). However, I'm still training, and I'm still teaching a new student. I'm also still taking the Muay Thai class, which isn't as scary as it used to be.

I have these training goals that I'm working very hard to stick with, and even if I don't manage to do all of them in one week I can say that for at least three days I kicked my butt. That makes me feel good.

Shiai!

This past Wednesday I travelled south to my home dojo for a brown belt shiai. It was all guys. It was intense! This was the first time I'd been back to the dojo since moving, and it was great to see everyone. I miss the family terribly. However, I did have two new students join my small karate family up here last week. They were very excited when class was over and couldn't wait to train again. That happens today. It was a wonderful experience for me, teaching. I train with one of them again today (along with my friend, Tanya). We'll just have to see where this leads...

Now for some shiai pictures:

Getting ready to spar. And spar they did, for 40 minutes!

Ray (go to his website for a photo collage of the entire shiai) and Tristan.

Hasso (of Deadbooks fame) and Brownie (he's Jamaican).

Harry (he was going for purple) and JR.

Here's a funny put together by my dear friend, Kitt (she got her brown belt at the last shiai).

You'll notice that both Sensei Bottomms (on the left) and Master Morallo (on the right) have their eyes closed while Ray is performing his kata.

It was an amazing shiai, full of energy and great form. Master Morallo was impressed.


On a final note, I don't know how many of you have seen this video, but it's priceless:

Halloween

Wow, three posts in two days. Can it be? I thought I'd share some cute pics of my boy going as Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender. When I told him that I wanted to be Toph he stated that he wanted to be Aang, so I sewed our costumes to the best of my ability. He had the best time gathering candy; it was his first trick or treating experience. I love Halloween.

It's not ciabatta

My good karate friend and former masochistic partner in crime, Ray Chen (check out his link. He's a chef, whose recipes show up in Bon Appetit) was kind enough to enlighten me on the ciabatta mistake. It's actual Tabata Intervals. Go here to check out these beauties.

My week

Okay, I'll see how far I get in this post. Kiddo is watching Alvin and the Chipmunks and I'm just itching to write!

First off, last week was the best martial arts training week that I've had in a long, long while. I managed to do three trainings, plus a little extra cardio and heavy bag work. Yup, that's what I'm talkin' about!

It started with me needing to work on the Muay Thai kick that had perplexed my body the previous week. Nathan over at TDA Training made a great point, "As far as the kick, try not to think of it as a roundhouse, or any other technique in terms of what you know (I can tell that's what you're already doing), but always aim through the target. Follow-through, not control. There is a "snap" but it takes the form of a whipping type motion." He gave me this tasty morsel over at the Convocation of Combat Arts Forum. It's difficult to have your body do one thing when it's muscle memory tells it to execute it a different way. However, practicing the kick on a heavy bag was a good thing to do.

On Wednesday Sensei Moe came to Winooski for our weekly YMCA training, which a good friend of mine (Tanya) has also been attending. Brian was late due to a meeting, so Tanya and I just ran through kata, and I was seriously slipping up. It was a bit frustrating. Therefore, I've decided to dedicate my Tuesday free time (yay for preschool!) to kata run-through. I'm talking an hour and a half (okay, it will probably be closer to an hour. I'll work up to longer, I promise) of nothin' but kata, all the time. I've learned a new one, which brings my kata total to 16. I can't believe I remember all of them, but it's true what is said about certain movements becoming ingrained into your body the more they are performed.

Thursday brought another Muay Thai class, which was a bit easier this time around. We started with a light jog around the room, shadow boxing as we ran. Then Jared had us line up in the middle of the room, where we were then to do 10 burpees, 10 clapping push-ups (I stuck with regular since I have only recently begun to get back into push-ups since my shoulder problems) and 10 jump squats followed by four easy laps around the dojo. We did this four times. Then we went to the focus pads and worked on some combos and ended the class with what sounded like ciabatas (I know, that's a bread....I'll get the correct term). What that lovely sounding word meant was 20 seconds of all out followed by 10 seconds of rest done, I think, 8 times. I say I think because I lost count. The "all out" included punching focus pads, mountain climbers, burpees, and jumping jacks. These were performed as fast as possible. It was a great class.

And last but certainly not least I had the honor of attending one of Sabum Gordon White's Taekwondo classes on Saturday. I have to say that it was incredibly fun. We did not stop moving from the time class started until it was over. Kicking! Gordon had us doing all kinds of great kicking drills, and I was so excited to do them, I'm not kidding! What I do have to mention was the cordiality of all his students. They were incredibly kind and respectful and made a point of introducing themselves to me and asking me about my karate style. The class was also structured very traditionally, which gave it a high ranking score in my book. I'm hoping to return soon and have some more fun with Taekwondo.

Phew, that's it. It's a new week with new training possibilities. Other than that it's me working on getting a massage practice up and running so that we have some extra bucks, which, at this time in our history, is a very needed thing.

Ugh...

I've never been so sore, not since field hockey practice, and that was back in the late '80's!

When I was a field hockey player back in high school, we would start training two weeks before the beginning of school. I knew the day that school ended that I would have to begin exercising to prepare myself for field hockey. Did that ever happen? Not once.

You think I would have learned from the previous year what the first day of practice was like. My coach, Sandy Adams, was a hard-ass, and rightly so. We had one of the best teams in Washington County, NY, and always made it to sectionals. The first day of practice started bright and early at 7am, rain or shine. We ran, a lot. We sprinted, jogged, sprinted, passed a ball around up and down the field, those of us not ready gasping for our breath. She even came up with this exercise we lovingly termed "killers": sprint one end of the field, grapevine up a side, sprint the other end, skip down the other side, and then sprint diagonally to start all over again. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but you get the picture.

The day following the first practice I could barely walk, and we had to go back to practice and do it all over again. Eventually I would stop being sore and began to be in great shape.

Last night as I left my first ever Muay Thai kickboxing class at Vermont Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I was reminded of those long-ago field hockey practices. I was shaking, queasy and had a difficult time unlocking my car and seeing straight. This made me laugh, because when I had pulled into the parking lot I was full of jitters! It was crazy. I'm not sure why I was nervous, maybe since this was something very foreign to me (or the fact that I fear going places where I know no one)and I just didn't know what to expect. It also could have been precognition.

As I walked in I was impressed by how nice a dojo this was. It was in this large warehouse, so there was a lot of space for training. I arrived at the end of BJJ class and watched a bit as everyone rolled around on the floor and thought to myself, "I really have no desire to train in this" (sorry Steve!), but was enthralled by how it was done. So the class ended and those of us who were masochistic in nature entered the room.

We began innocently enough with three one minute rounds of ab exercises, rocking on our backs with hands and legs extended, pushing our hips off the floor. Part of me felt this wasn't going to be so bad. We then progressed to pad training, with the first combination of jab/cross/hook/roundhouse. Now, I should stress that the roundhouse used here is very different from the karate roundhouse that I love to do.
Here's a good example:


The mawashi geri that I've used has more of a snapping action to it instead of throwing your hip into it. Needless to say, it took some getting used to.

As I was hitting the pads I realized how much I missed training this way. I also realized how long it had been since my body had felt this kind of training. There were quite a few moments where I needed to catch my breath. I believe the term "sucking wind" could have been used.

The next combination involved the above, but with a twist. Another cross was added after the left hook, followed by a strike to the left inner thigh and then immediately followed by a roundhouse kick. Phew. We did not do as many of these, so I was spared the embarassment of wheezing. We ended the class with 10 repetitions of 10 punches followed by 5 burpees. Burpees! I got through four rounds before my muscles gave out, but I did manage to pull off two more rounds.

As I type this I can barely get my fingers to work. Last night when I got home my hands were shaking, and I don't mean with the nervous jitters. I haven't punched like that in months. Does this mean I'm never going back? Of course not! That was the most fun I'd had with that type of training in a long time. It's also been very needed in my life. As I've mentioned before, I love to push myself (I know I should link back, but I need to finish this so that I can stop typing), and the harder the better.

Next week it begins. I will be training karate three times a week! I'm so excited. I will also include the Muay Thai training. My son will begin pre-school, which is three days a week, giving me at least nine extra hours, which means at least one hour on two of those days to do karate training. Two of those days I will be training my friend, and one day Sensei Moe come up to make us work. Ah, it's never felt so good!

Back again

Well, it's all over. Poppy was buried yesterday and I'm at peace. It's just been an awful time for me, but now I'm coming through the fog, into the clearing. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I actually got to train on Wednesday, which was fantastic! My health has been shady as of late due to all the stress I've been under, but that did not stop me from karate. We did lots of kicking, which felt so good to do. I haven't had the energy, and it's been frustrating. Now, I'm ready to get back to my training!

There are a few corrections about my Wing Chun teacher, Dan Leahy that I need to make. He did not learn Wing Chun in China, but in Chinatown in NYC. He studied Lee Moy Shan and Vingrove A. Thomas (Lee Moy Shan's top student) from 1977 to 1989. Then from 1989 to 1992 he studied T'ai Chi with Dr. Nan Lu (Chan style). Sifu Leahy of course found my blog while googling his name and asked to make these corrections to make my info accurate! Thank you!!

Wing Chun has been such a wonderful addition to my training. So far I've learned just a few things, but they are already becoming a part of my martial art. That's as much as I can write about it at this time. It hasn't been long enough for me to really dig into it yet, but I plan on making it a regular thing in my life.

I'll be back into the blogverse soon. My brain is finally able to make the creative connections again and the ideas are coming to life!

Poppy

This will not be a martial arts post today.

This past Friday I went home to be with my grandfather, Poppy. He's had this insidious thing known as cancer and went downhill very quickly last Wednesday. Not wanting to die in a hospital bed, he went home on Friday morning, where they began the morphine. When I arrived that evening he was taking quick breaths in through his mouth, his false teeth were gone (I never knew he had false teeth! Apparently he lost all of his teeth when he was 19. Go figure...), and he was unresponsive. I sat next to him and held his hand, softly murmuring in his ear that I was there and that I loved him very much.

That night will be in my memory forever. The women of the family were there, tending to him, touching him, giving him more morphine and ativan to keep him as comfortable as possible. In the past month cancer had spread to his spine, making for a very painful existence. Poppy should never had gone this way. He was an extraordinary human being. So compassionate, so full of love and life. Always joking, whistling, saying "This is the happiest day of my life". Aw, I'm so sad.

This whole journey with death has really had an impression on me. It has made me notice how circular life is: birth to death, which is really another birth.

My grandmother had called a priest that night, being that Poppy was Catholic, since she felt that he would have wanted that before passing on. It was the most intense moment of my life so far. We all gathered around him. I was holding his hand and had my other hand place on top of his head. The tears were streaming down my face as the Father read the last rites, Irish brogue and all. I have never been so present, so in the moment, as I was at that time. It was beautiful. We all should experience that; it was humbling.

Throughout the evening my mom, aunt, sister and I would take turns sitting with Poppy. My grandmother went to bed. She had had enough. I spent most of the night on the couch in the same room as Poppy, and my mom was in the recliner next to me. As I lay on the couch, listening to him breathe, all I could think of was him taking his last breath. Every time he gurgled and coughed my mom and I would sit up straight, our bodies tense, the only thought, "Is this it?"

When morning came I decided to go back to my parent's house to try to get a little sleep. My aunt needed to go home as well, but before she left she told Poppy that it was okay to go. Not five minutes after she left Poppy did let go. My grandmother had been sitting with him and noticed that his breathing was very, very shallow. She walked out to the other room to ask my sister (who is a R.N.) to come and listen to Poppy's heart. When they returned to his side his heart had stopped.

A little while later my mom, sister and I dressed Poppy in his clothes. We put on his Redskins T-shirt (his absolute favorite football team. They better win the Superbowl this year!), his underwear, his jeans with the ironed crease (yes, he ironed his jeans. I believe he even ironed his underwear), his sox. Then my sister and I rubbed Nivea cream on his arms. He used to call it supercream. It smelled so good. Then my sister, brave soul, put his teeth back in.

It will be very hard to not have Poppy in my life. He was someone you could look up to, someone who you wanted to mirror you life after. It's sad when the world loses someone like that.

My Chaka Zulu Experience

Since Patrick Parker desires more info about my Chaka Zulu experience, I shall elaborate. This man stands no taller than 5'6", but has the presence of a very large dinosaur, the carnivorous kind. Think T-Rex. However, he moves like a puma, sleek and sinewy.

My Sensei, Jon Bottomms, spent some time training with Chaka Zulu and asked him if he would come to our dojo for a seminar. Luckily for us he said yes. What this man taught us was downright amazing. Most of his attacks were done with the elbows or grabbing the fingers. What Chaka showed us was an elbow routine, which I cannot for the life of me remember. This makes me quite sad, since it was this great flowing routine, with one elbow attack moving into the next in quick succession. I now people who still remember it, and it would be to my advantage to poke them about it. The seminar consisted of only those elbow techniques since there was a time limit. Since then there have been periodic trips to New Jersey, where he trains, but I have not been able to go. Maybe someday.

The thing I remember most about Chaka Zulu was his demeanor. He was so friendly, yet you could sense this fierceness about him, something almost feral. If you were to cross him you would most likely not live to see another day. I have not met many people who have that feeling about them, in fact it's just Chaka Zulu and Master Morallo (the man whose system I train in). There is just this energy they exude that says,"I will be nice to you if you are nice to me, but don't push it." They are constantly assessing their surroundings, who comes into those surroundings. That is the way I want to be.

On the teaching front, the wheels have begun to turn. If all goes well I may be teaching karate here within the year, or even within six months. It's so exciting, and brings up every single doubt I have about my abilities, both in karate and as a teacher. Yay self-esteem!