Superwife - Camo belt - D

My wife of 8 years and mother of our three kids. She started TKD after the birth of Odie, our third child.

Princess - Camo Belt - D

Our seven-year-old daughter. She was originally supposed to be a spectator to Cowboy, but jumped in and has proven to have an incredible talent for the martial arts.

Cowboy - Camo Belt - D

Our six-year-old son. He is small for his age, so starting him in TKD is what got us into this mess. He is very close to our Chief Instructor, and his spirit is twice as big as he is.

Odie

Our youngest son, born in April of 2006. By the time he is old enough to start, we should all be Black Belts.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

November Recap

Well, I'm just now figuring out that there's only two tournaments left in the season for us--Jan 20th and the Spring Nationals in February. I'm telling you though, those Nationals are a big motivator. Even if I don't score any points for State Champ (since we aren't in Leadership, which is irrelevant now with only two tournies to go) I really want to be able to say that I did well in a Class A tournament.

My goal by Nationals was to be at 200 pounds, something I haven't seen since shortly after joining the military 12 years ago. After class the other night I almost fell off the scale when I saw "208" on the readout. Granted, a lot of that was water weight but that puts me at a solid 212 right now. I'm thinking I can get even lower--a lot lower--by late Febraury. At the rate I'm going now I'll be below 200 by Christmas.

November, fitness-wise, has been a great month. I manged to make up over 2000 situps and 1500 pushups, and gained 20 miles of ground on my running. SW has taken up running, too, so a lot of times I'm running twice in a day. Takes its toll on the legs, and it's awfully friggin' cold running at night, but with each step we're getting better. My Personal Victories are turning out to be Personal Failures, but I'll take what I can get. Let's see--August was Determination, which I accomplished but promptly fell behind. If I can catch up on my running that'll be one. I was "Reliable" and on time for the whole month of September, but went back to being late for everything after 1 October. We've made a lot of great strides towards being "Organized," but could still be a lot better--that was a tough one to measure success on. We never made or followed a "Financially Stable" budget this month. December's going to be the hardest yet--as I try to cut out all of my unhealthy habits.

But for November, I think the UWBT was a success. I set records for the most Pushups (378), Situps (500), and miles run (6.8) in a day, most miles run in a week (23.5--should break that by a few this week), and I lost a ton of weight. I'm over halfway there and already thinking of new things to add onto what will hopefully be my "Ultimate Green Belt Test" starting in March and carrying me through to our move to Alabama.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: +59
SITUPS: +99
MILES: -31.2


Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Sidekicks

Sidekick, oh sidekick, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways...

Talk about frustrating. I can't get a regular non-board-breaking sidekick down to save my life.

When I first started, the emphasis was on round kicks, which I could do but were excrutiating when I did them. Now we're focusing on sidekicks, and it's the same thing--except now in addition to painful, I feel like I'm going to fall on my face every time.

With a #3 kick, I keep reverting back to the way I was taught in Karate so many years ago, where I step forward and crossover in the chamber for the kick. Ms. C told me that when I do that my kicks are great, and about a foot and a half higher than when I do them the way I'm supposed to.

We're looking forward to the 6-day break we have ahead of us. I just hope I don;t gain much weight. Finally caught up on my pushups and situps, now I have a lot of running to do. Conveniently, the UWBT ends just before Spring Nationals, which has become my primary motivation in life.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: 0!
SITUPS: 0!
MILES: -45


Thursday, November 16, 2006

The Dragon is Awakening

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -397
SITUPS: -397
MILES: -44.2


Finally. My UWBT (nicknamed "Spirit of the Dragon," since I needed a name for the tracking file) is closing in. I've knocked out over 2500 pushups and situps , and run over 27 miles this month so far. My pushups and situps are rapidly closing in on the break-even mark, something I haven't seen since roughly 3 weeks after the challenge began.

I'm losing weight, too. From an all-time high of 245 back in June (when I started TKD), I had gotten down to around 232 when I started the UWBT. I was down to 213 last night, and have had three people tell me that I look like I'm losing wieght in the last 24 hours. I don't see it myself--but it is encouraging.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Finally...Some Change

Challenge is certainly coming along. One thing I will pat myself on the back for is that I have been, if nothing else, determined. Since I failed to reach any but one of my PV's so far, I am trying to do them all simultaneously that should have been completed by now. What that means is that I am trying to organize my life, make a budget (and stick to it), show up where I'm supposed to be on time, and catch up on my challenge all at the same time. Believe it or not, I'm making progress. Not enough for me to call it a complete PV, but progress.

Sorry I haven't touched base recently--particularly because a lot has happened in my little ATA world. After all the whining I've done on here recently--out of the blue, everything changed.

First was the test, in which Cowboy again didn't get invited to BBC. That incensed my wife and I, since he was trying so hard to make it. What bothered us the most was the implication that the instructor had given over the past months that if he tried hard enough he would get invited. So of course, we pumped him up, only to be disappointed again. As I've mentioned before, our instructors are not the easiest bunch to talk to. So when, a couple of weeks ago, the opportunity opened--my wife took it.

She started by asking about the ground fighting that we do, and if it will ever be something that we'll need for a tournament, or for Tae Kwon Do for that matter. Of course, the answer was "no." Since she had his ear, she went on to voice her concerns about Cowboy and the BBC. The conversation ended with SW thinking that nothing had changed, and that we were going to stop trying to convince him that if he tried hard he could get in.

Fats forward to last Thursday. At the end of Cowboy's class, which is right before ours, the instructor had Cowboy stand up. SW and I, who were dressed and stretching out, stood up too, flabberghast. I have never seen Cowboy smile so big as he did when the instructor gave him his letter inviting him into BBC. He had his first class on Saturday, but more on that later.

After Cowboy's class our instructor informed us that we'd be testing for a full belt this cycle and that we'd all be in BBC come January. He's definitely hesitant that we'll be able to learn everything (uhhh..Songahm 1?) in time. He diefinitely has reservations, although I'm not 100% sure what they are. Our physical fitness may be a big part of that--I'm not sure.

Either way, things are starting to look up.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -885
SITUPS: -965
MILES: -55