My dear blogger friends!
Obviously I have fallen off the blogosphere for a bit; life
tends to do that doesn’t it? I’m still training hard, (super hard in fact!) I’m
closing in on that 2nd Brown Belt and it’s sort of consumed my every
thought lately! Today though I have a fun story to share with you!
Midwestern winters are downright despicable; so naturally
when a 68 degree day comes along in the beginning of March I am absolutely
going to be out pounding the pavement for a run! So, yesterday being gorgeous
as it was had me lacing up my Nikes and getting my run on as soon as I got home
from work. I use an app called RunKeeper that verbally updates you on your
progress every 5 minutes and I love it! Right after my first 5 minute recap (my
warm up basically) I started a sprint, and made it approximately half a block
before I tripped on a pile of dilapidated concrete! Hey St. Joe, MO your
sidewalks are horrendous and crumbling!!
So here I am falling forward and instinct completely took
over; I caught my momentum with the heels of my palms and my right knee then
continued the motion to push myself over into a tuck and roll. Unfortunately I
tuck and rolled so hard when I landed on my back I knocked the wind out of
myself BUT I didn’t hit my head or my face at all! My worst injury is a tiny
splinter; I’m not even bleeding anywhere!
Here’s the interesting part, I am absolutely crap at doing
tuck and rolls in class on 2in thick mats. I know it’s entirely mental; I’m
terrified of doing it wrong and snapping my neck. While I was lying on the
ground gasping like a fish out of water though all I could think was “hell yes
thank you Kenpo!!!” A super sweet Indian lady saw my fall and pulled over to
ask if I was alright she even offered to drive me home but I declined because I
wanted to at least get one full mile in.
I owe that instinct to Kenpo completely because I surely
didn’t learn that anywhere else. The moral of this story is Kenpo can be used
in even your most mundane circumstances. That millisecond occurrence is complete
validation for almost 7 years and hundreds of classes that I’ve spent on the
mat so far! What we teach absolutely does work and the longer you are in it the
more it becomes engrained into your DNA. Practice doesn't make perfect but it does make permanent, so get to class! :D
