Snow Day! Wow, haven't had one of these in a long time! We had - maybe a foot of snow yesterday, all totaled. Hard to tell - it snowed in the morning, more than predicted, then it rained for a while, then it snowed like a bastard last night. School was canceled, which surprised me until I actually got out there and started shoveling. (I was guessing we'd just open late.) My parking lot wasn't even plowed as of 9 am. So today will be a wash, run-wise, sticking me with indoor/DVD cardio, hopefully for one of the last times this year. In fact I'm blogging to procrastinate. I've really become disenchanted with DVDs lately (and in fact just erased all my reasons why - save that for another day) and yoga DVDs aside, mostly I see them as time/energy wasters - and grated, on a day like today I NEED a waste gate for energy - and not key parts of my fitness program. I find it hard to find a cardio DVD that is anywhere near as challenging as a run, or a strength/weight training DVD that feels anywhere near as solid and complete as a gym workout. So circuits seem to suit me best; they don't pretend to be either strength or cardio, but they can be tiring, and they sure beat sitting on your duff.
Ramblings and procrastination aside, and in the news-worthy category: I did get my black belt last weekend. It was not my best exam, ever: I was incredibly nervous, and it hit me totally at the wrong time. Before the special training I was thinking that I probably should go run about five miles, since I usually run 10+ on Sundays, thinking that if I wasn't sufficiently tired, I might be over-amped for the test. But I didn't, and I actually felt pretty calm - until I stood up. I was tight at first and then had trouble slowing down; meanwhile, I felt like I WAS going incredibly slow, but he had me do parts of one kata over, a move at a time, because I apparently blasted through it. Oops. And he changed the sai kumite (short sword fighting drill) on the fly during the test. I actually found THAT relaxing, because I had to think about it and that got my mind to stop racing. And, notably, from that point on the exam went much more smoothly.
After the exam, sensei gave us all a pretty inspiring short speech, notably stating that while achieving shodan was great accomplishment, we weren't at the top of the mountain. Instead, we had arrived at the mountain, and now we could see it and start climbing. It makes sense to me; I've never held achieving any rank in particular to be a goal. Instead it's always been about learning and doing whatever is next. Learning the material, spending the time prepping for shodan became the goal when I passed to first kyu. Now, same applies to nidan. So, onward we go. Interestingly I've been asked by the publisher of a martial arts magazine to write an article on what it's like to be the first female black belt in my school. It never occurred to me to even think about that until he asked, and I'm not sure what it means to have a female perspective. I just have my perspective; I don't know that there's anything feminine about it. If I serve as a role model for other women and young girls, great! But I just do what I do because I want to do it. I guess my perspective is a female perspective by biological default, so I will probably just write what I think and that will have to do.
OK, 'nuff procrastination for now. Off to do - something!
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