24 Days Until We Fight

Monday I went for beginner class with my daughter Becky. Then I stayed for sabaki and full contact. I partnered up with Samantha, Sammy, for conditioning. She is about 16 and wants to fight at the tournament next month. She is a sweet kid who can punch alot harder than what she looks like. As she was punching me into my stomach for my conditioning, Shihan walks by and says, in a loud voice, "Hit Patty harder!". Sam commenced to really hitting me hard. I have a ton of bruises all over my ribs and stomach. It is good for me. The bruises are not hurting as much any more. I also know that when the adrenaline kicks in, i will feel no pain during my fights.

Tuesday morning while doing my cardio, I had to hold my stomach whenever I jumped around because the bouncing hurt. I must have looked so silly.


Wednesday I finally got to go to kata class. I think I have only been 3 or 4 times since I got my blue belt because the kids seem to always have something to do.

Shihan had some bad news at the dojo. One of our beloved Sensei's mother is dying and it is heartbreaking for all of us. Sensei is really special to me. If she wasn't part of the dojo, I wouldn't push myself as hard. She calls me out when I am getting lazy and, tells me to sit down when I am pushing too hard. I hope and pray things will work out for her family.

I got to stay for advanced kata class and I liked it. I did a variation of juji kata I really like. We added a reverse punch at the end of each block. I hope I can stay for advanced again.

Then it was full contact. The Matts, Ryan and Nate were all there with me. We did the usual bag work and went to conditioning. Because there was an odd number of people, we rotated with one person doing jump rope. The boys were telling me to hit harder than complaining (jokingly) how I was hitting them too hard. Hitting Matt C in the stomach was like hitting a dead tree. Solid, yet sounded hollow. I do not want to hit anyone in the tournament and have it sound like that. Scary.

Our rotations could have been smoother. We were getting all mixed up and some were getting hit twice in a row and others went getting hit at all in some combinations. I have seen the kids class and those elementary kids would have totally gotton where they were supposed to be. As adults we need numbers on the floor to follow.

I told Matt H how I was going to go on facebook and complain about him beating on me. (He loves hitting in the exact same spot, repeatedly). So when I got home I wrote "ouch" on his wall. He reminded me that it was only 24 days left until we fight. That brought me to reality. I already have not been getting much sleep. 3 or 4 hours a night and not restful because I am so worried about the fight.

It is just like my first fight. I am worried that I will let Shihan and Sensei Kris down. That I will embarrass the entire dojo. That I will be broken because I did something stupid. I keep replaying the fights last November in my head. I want to work on certain things, like blocking punches because I get hit too much. We never seem to work on that. Just blocking kicks (I need that help too).

Saturday Shihan Fujiwara will be coming to do a three hour fight class with us. I can't wait. I am so eager to learn, to be better. I need all the help I can get.