Last night, I sat with family and friends and listened to Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space. She’s awesome (MD, dancer, engineer, Lego figurine, the list goes on), and so was her presentation. She had so much of value and substance to say about many things. One thing was exactly what I needed to hear, though. She was asked how she dealt with people who were negative or…
When the Army asks you to army crawl, they let you wear shoes
It’s been a while since I regaled you with tales of my flops and foibles and mess-ups in class. I’ve been in a pretty good groove for a few weeks. Then I decided to go with another parent to Taekwondo Day Camp while our kids were there. (Are you already laughing? You should be. I didn’t even do a camp like this as a kid.) They do taekwondo but…
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Lifting the Earth element: Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang
Talking to parents outside my son’s taekwondo class, I hear women say, “I can’t join class because I can’t do the jumping jacks.” You could substitute in run, trampoline. laugh or sneeze hard, or any high impact cardio activity. For so many women it isn’t possible to do these activities without leaking urine. And it seems this is just a problem many women endure. WHY?? You don’t have to! …
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The gift of groundedness, or, my third attempt at being a runner
Every so many years, I try running. Since my mid-20s, I’ve tried to be a runner THREE times. I love the idea of being a runner. People talk of having dreams of flying. I dream of running. Fast. Of gliding, foot fall after foot fall, wind in my hair due to my speed. The latest attempt at becoming a runner was this summer, when I signed up for a local…
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the view from the mesa
I live next to a beautiful mesa in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. To review that fourth grade geography, a mesa is flat on top, like a mountain with the top peak chopped off. Like a plateau. I blog about doing taekwondo, my extra workouts, more recently adding Figure 8 workouts for a core focus. I’ve talked about WFPB and how I’m eating healthy. Nothing has really shifted. The…
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Was I an imposter at Expo?
Summer vacation means Expo! 3 days of Taekwondo in a resort setting. While non-TKD family members relax, the students work our way through three days of practice, learning and workouts. Before we left, I was nervous about the Expo. I think part of me has imposter syndrome. I walk into a class full of athletic practitioners and I don’t feel like one of them. I know I look different and…
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Prehab
Prehab. I love the idea, and part of my ‘workout routine’ so far has been keeping my chubby, newbie self from getting injured in class. Reading a Runner’s World magazine, I saw an article on prehab and loved the new word! Yoga and pilates are tops on my list for cross-training prehab. Many of the joints that get injured are the least stable ones–knees and shoulders. Working out a totally…
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Ups and downs, and challenging my comfort zone
Taekwondo has had ups and downs for me these six months. The last two weeks have been a down-cycle, with a cold and horrible cough keeping me from being in class and not being able to give 100% when I am there. I’m in this phase of feeling like an awkward 8th-grader. I’ve started something new, something with strict rules and customs and expectations, and it feels like junior high…
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Reflections on the eve of the yellow belt test
A milestone: tomorrow is the yellow belt test for me, and the four-month mark of my taekwondo journey. I tend to overthink. And I’m letting this yellow belt test freak me out a little. My last experience with a physical fitness test was in elementary school, and does anyone else remember how that went? I do. We’d do months of seemingly random game playing in gym–kickball, simple games that did…
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I’m stuck! Adventures in sparring gear
It was halfway up over my torso and would go no further. The straps on the back had no give, and the one strap that was supposed to unclip and loosen was broken and tied shut Only two people were still taking off gear in the back, finishing up to run back to class, looking away from me. All those experienced upper belts were already lined up in front of…
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