Time off, take-downs, and kicking it up!

It's been a while since my last post. I've been busy working with a group of concerned Oneonta residents about a potential new development that will destroy our local economy. Find out more at www.saveoneonta.com.

I'm back to writing about my experience with Taekwondo ...
In the past month, here's what happened:
1. I missed a week, but went back! It was so important to get back at it and to my surprise, I missed it.

2. We did a lot of sparring this month. I took on Big Dave one evening while we practiced self defense moves. Travis encouraged us to go for the full take down. That was fun until my head an neck made a crunching noise I never heard before. The big lesson, always keep going!

3. I saw Big Dave the next week. He was relieved to see me walking under my own power.

4. Travis is stepping up the foot work drills with the ladder. Iggy-Shuffle, reverse Iggy Shuffle, backwards Iggy Shuffle ... I never hated a retired football player more.

5. More sparring! The higher belts that invested in sparring gear did full contact sparring. I would have been jealous, except that gear looks totally ridiculous. Someday I'll hop into some and hit real people. Anyway, I sparred my wife and a 15 year-old dude Seth. Seth is a nice kid, but by the end I was pooped. I had to remind him I'm almost three times his age.

6. Running. I thought there was no running in Taekwondo? No there's running. We run in a circle around the mat. It's crazy! Then the 15 year old boys start to lap me. Little punks. I lapped them right back and then pulled some old Route 287 moves to keep them from passing me. I pulled those crafty veteran moves until my heart nearly exploded out of my chest.

7. We're preparing for out belt test. I have the moves for my form pretty down pat. The key now is not just doing the moves, but doing them well, being crisp and being in time with the group. This is when I think dance lessons at a much younger age would have come in handy.

8. So I learned how to do an ax kick. Then I proceeded to forget five minutes later. I asked Travis, "What is the point of this kick?" Travis is always great about answering my painful questions and getting me back on track.

No more three weeks between posts!