bruises to prove it

Yesterday I was in my third kick boxing light tournament, at Trevor Smandych's club in Calgary.
I'm in the pink trunks


This time they put the middle weights and the heavy weights together, and there were 6 of us in total.

I had to fight 3 times. with very little time in between, and it really showed me how far I have left to go with my cardio fitness.

I got fourth place, with a nice little medal. The other girl from our club got first, and I am so proud of her.

Today I have a dinner plate-sized bruise on my leg, stiff shoulders, and a few cuts on the inside of my mouth, but I had so much fun.

There's another tournament in Lethbridge next weekend.

I haven't decided if I'll go yet.

Looking for a fight

It took me several days to get over the disappointment of it.

My coach can't find anyone in my weight class for me to fight at the big 'Fists of Fury' event at the end of the month.

Instead, I will be in another light tournament in Lethbridge this weekend, and then, if I can loose some more weight and get down into the next weight class, coach says he can find me some fights.

The pressure is on.

No more McDonalds. No more beer. No more frozen pizza.

But I am NOT giving up dairy.

I can do this.

But, as a final attempt, I would like to put a call out to any female amateur kick boxers within driving distance of Medicine Hat: if you weigh in at 147-160 pounds and you don't have too many fights under your belt, are you available on Saturday, March 29th? If so, please call these guys.

Thank you.

not quite the eye of the tiger

It seems to always be feast or famine.

Either I am too busy doing fun things to blog about them, or my life is boring and I can't think of anything to say.

Blogging on a regular basis is much harder than I thought it would be.

Today I actually have something to talk about, and just enough time to say it.

Saturday I went to my first kick boxing tournament in Lethbridge. It was just a light sparring tournament - nothing major, but I was really nervous about it.

The worst part turned out to be before the tournament even started. After registering we had to wait for an hour and a half. All these tough guys standing around trying to look relaxed while they sized each other up. It made me feel really tense, but once it was time to fight, I relaxed right away.

There was only one other woman there, so we just had one two-round match. It was totally thrilling when, 10 seconds in, I realized that it was possible for me to beat her. I didn't, but it was a close match. I lost a contact lens, but just kept on going. I felt good about my performance, and could really see what I did wrong - much better than in class.

It turned out that it was her first tournament, too. She was really nice, and we chatted a bit afterwards.

Because there were just the two of us, they gave us the first and second place medals. I think of it as my participation award.

It was a really great experience, and I can't wait to get in the ring again.

If only I'd had the confidence to try something like this 10 years ago. Ah well, I'm having fun now!

pain

I started kickboxing classes again this week, after a 20 month hiatus.

I hurt.

Bu it's a good kind of hurt.

I'm actually quite pleased with myself that I survived that first class. It will feel really good to put my handwraps on again tonight and beat the living tar out of that heavy bag.

I can't find many ways to relieve stress in my daily life. The only surefire technique for me is hard physical training.

And punching things.

When I turn off my brain and make my body into a machine, I work out all the negativity that builds up during the day.