Thursday, October 28, 2004

With much trepidation and after a few pep talks (starting with Galahad over breakfast and continuing through the day from friends --- thank you, Stuart & Charlie!), I trudged off to martial arts class last night. I'm so glad I went.  It was a much better class than the other two I attended.  By better, I mean less discouraging for me.  =)  We started off slowly as usual, stretching and chatting.  Then he had us assume some base position.  I think Galahad referred to it as a horse stance, but I didn't catch the Japanese name said in a thick German accent.  :p  Sometimes, he stops and spells some of the terms for me, but I didn't want to interrupt by asking.  For instance, I learned that our punches last week were uraken. 

Thanks to Google, I've learned it's called kiba-dachi.  We stayed in kiba-dachi for sooo long until my ankles and thighs burned, all the while practicing new punches.  I had some trouble learning all of these and staying coordinated.  I totally sucked at a few of them and screwed them all up.  Oh well.  Turns out it's tricky to punch and break into 2 fingers at the last moment and then reverse while pulling that fist back.  My fingers were spazzing out by the end of that set.

He had us relax our leg muscles by dropping to the floor for a quick 50 crunches (type of sit-up) with our feet in the air.  After that we held the upwards crunch position for 30 seconds.  I kept up.  =))  Yay!!!

Back to the kiba-dachi & more punches and then back to crunches and hold for a minute.  We did this a few times, and I was breathing hard and having a hard time keeping up, but I stayed close.  Galahad is amazing here.  He puts so much energy into every move he does and always asks for more.  I'm thankful I've been able to see this side of him.  I didn't think it was possible to respect and admire him any more than I already do.  He never ceases to amaze me.  :)

By the time we left there, I could barely walk but I felt great.  We came home just in time to see the eclipse start.  I gulped down some Vitamin C and ZMA and watched that marvelous event with my guy, relaxing & mellowing out.  I was so ready for bed and was grateful that the clouds came in thick & heavy with the rain to block the last few minutes of it.  I think I fell asleep in under 3 minutes.  :p