whoa

one month left... it just hit me. 28 days from now or whatever the amount is I will have earned my black belt... if everything goes to plan ;)

Good luck to everyone and have a great Friday :)

Hdawg

Board breaking

So I just have to say that a sooooo love board breaking week! I love watching the little kids' faces the first time they ever break a board. I love watching the advanced belts trying to break the boards with the more difficult kicks... you know, the ones that make the moms close their eyes and pray we don't end up in the ER that night. I love watching Kjn Jeremy hold boards day after day and still being able to keep a smile on his face even after his fingers have been kicked for the 45th time that day.

Then, I just love breaking them myself... My favorite so far is using my elbow. Even the sounds on board breaking week are great.... The sound of them splitting in half and hitting the floor... The cheers of all the students & parents when someone succeeds at breaking one... especially the little pint-size warriors. There's something just really great about board breaking week that makes everyone happy. It makes you leave with a smile on your face. :)

i seriously need help...

i've always kept a log of the miles i run, as it was a way to set monthly goals for myself and to build up my distance.  i started keeping track of the situps/pushups when jake started testing with the make it happen team to help support him.  yep, i've been logging ever since 2008.  as i was updating my log from the last couple of weeks (to give bkjn my numbers), i was a little sick to my stomach as i looked at the combined total for all the years.  OMG! there is obviously something wrong with me! seriously!! i need to see a shrink! who in their right state of mind would do that to their bodies...  that's just complete torcher.  lol   ;)

Life is taking over...

So there's a few people out on vacation @ work this week and I'm finding that doing their job and my job is getting to be one stressful big job. I look forward to BB training just to get away from it all and then I find myself stressing over the next few weeks we have left to train. Not sure, but I think I need to learn how to relax. And get more mouth guards... and wash my shin guards ... and do more push-ups. Yep, it's going to be a BUSY month!

Injury

Tonight I was so struck by the risks we take each and every night in class. Not just BB training but conditioning, fit blast, board breaking etc.....Thinking about Sam at the ER, watching Taylor cradle her wrist and Hunter's foot after the round house...It was like being catapulted back to my first degree test and breaking my foot just 2 short weeks from testing day. Stinks.

Listen team....pace yourselves. Take care...stop when you need to and don't overdo it! I want to be there with each and every one of you on testing day and I don't want any of you to be sidelined because of injury! You guys are the best and you push yourselves each and every night. I totally respect that!

Sam my heart is with you this very minute. I had to write this blog so that when you log on next you will know that each and every ounce of healing energy I have is coming your way! SBN Cinda is a GREAT resource. Call her. She can coach you through. You are LOVED!

Thanks for a great class tonight Jenalyn. You are an amazing partner. Thanks Devon for the board. It really boosted my confidence to get through it on the second try. Thanks Brandy for giving up class to stay with Sam. Thanks Chandler for letting me bite your arm! LOL! Thanks Melissa for inspiring me to try the kick! Thanks Hunter for the positive comments. Thanks KJN for guiding us through and pushing us hard. Thanks girls for making the best payload delivery line I've ever seen. Our energy on our line was AWESOME. Love & thanks to each and everyone one of you!

CGN Jessica

5th Phase and the Start of Fall

So we're in the final phase of our journey to our black belts. The kids are off to school once again and I'm just hoping the weather stays somewhat amiable until after conditioning day on the 8th of next month. I'd be lying if I said I'm not ready for it all to be done. Seventeen months of preparing and stressing and making sure the numbers are there and documented, special trainings in the wee hours of the mornings (which we will always be thankful to Brandy for, no matter how tired we all our those mornings), BB training classes until 9pm, etc. Military boot camp is only 6 months long and we've been in our own boot camp for nearly 2 years now. It's really been tough, but well worth it. I've never had to work hard at anything else in my life, nor have I wanted to, quite frankly. I mean, if stuff comes easy to you, go with it, right? But this past 2 years has been anything but easy, so maybe that's why it means so much to us all. I still don't know if I can survive the conditioning day... I'm not really stressed about breaking bricks, and I'm stressed about the curriculum testing day, but we went through it with the Collective Synergy group, so I'm okay with that overall, I just need to continue working on technique. The conditioning though, only a select few DTD testers got to participate in that portion last year, so that's the unknown in the puzzle. I like knowing what to expect... The unknown surprises they throw in there for us make me nauseous and quite honestly, I hate that part. I don't mean 'dislike' or 'would prefer another avenue', etc ... I hate that part. Period. But I now know the glass is also half full, because if I can do something that difficult and not know what's coming at us, we can do anything. :)

Wednesday Class

This week in black belt training, we did forms and open forms. We also had a forms battle and I did better than my partner. I was fun to watch the second degree’s open forms. All of them are awesome! I am done with my open form for the show so now all I need to do is practice, practice, practice.