Coming Around the Bend

It was a good night in Karate tonight. I had a few realizations.

One is my cross training is already starting to make a difference. I notice now that other than my Sensei, I am the most fit in my class, perhaps in the dojo. I am starting to feel punchy, like I can run circles around the men, which WILL work to my advantage.

The other is that the fact I don't tire easily is going to make it better for me in sparring. If I can just keep out of the men's way, just keep blocking and moving, I can tire them out so I can get my punches in. I probably will never really 'win', but I may not get my ass handed to me quite as much.

But the big thing... today, I saw improvement. It turns out that guy we had train us on Wednesday from Britain was a 7th degree. He was awesome and while he picked apart my kata and I completely stressed, I did absorb. We did the same kata tonight for our Sensei. At the end of class, when we were bowing out, a brown belt who is of lower rank to me muttered quickly under his breath to me, "Holy crap you looked good tonight." I was unable to respond as we were bowing out, but as we were grabbing our keys, he grabbed my arm and said, "You looked damn good tonight. The best."

Little things like that make me want to train harder. Not to impress. That does nothing for me, but to achieve my goals... I want to look be as good as I can be if I am going to partake in this journey. I just need to see improvement occassionally.