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Last night I went to Krav. I missed one class, but it felt like I’d been out for weeks.

Last night we did lots of kicking. First we went over some P2 kicks with students learning that material. I like getting to go over things I’ve already learned with the new class because I can show them how to avoid mistakes I’ve made, and it improves my ability to do the skill.

After that, Kita caught me up on some things that I missed after Eddie showed us how to block forward kicks (P3 techniques).

On Sunday night, I finally went to an aerial yoga class. I absolutely loved it. We used aerial cloud (the silk is in a U shape), which I found much more accessible than straight up and down silks. I really liked the way that suspension took pressure off my spine… plus we learned some neat tricks. I’d like to practice aerial cloud again – maybe montly – but it all depends on how busy I am with school this semester.

Since my last post ran long talking about my beach adventure, I figured I’d put my real update here.

On Friday night i went to UWF fencing practice. We mostly sparred since Fridays are short days. I’m fencing with both hands now, but I’ve been using a lighter (and shorter) sword in my right hand more often than not. The finger is still stiff, and I’m still doing my stretches and exercises four times each day, but I am seeing progress.

On Saturday I went back to the beach. Because of the beach restoration efforts, my walk to the pier was cut short, and I didn’t really have a good space for beach yoga. I did get to pick up some neat shells, and I saw a bunch of seagulls chilling out in the hard hat area because there weren’t a bunch of people in their way. That was pretty cool. I did get back in the water, and I swam around for a good portion of the day. After that, I borrowed Nik’s phone and played Pokemon Go a little bit on the island. The poke-stops were a reasonable distance apart, and I managed to catch some pretty cool creatures.

I did not attempt to have fencing practice on Sunday because the forecast was so bad, and I also really needed to do some sewing. I finished NIk’s shirt in its entirety and the base of his pants. His doublet is still mocking me. I will still be naked for the ceremony. Fortunately we’re taking a little trip to see the lady making his court garb, so I’ll have plenty of time to work plus some skilled hands I can borrow if I get stuck.

Last night I went to Krav. There were new people, so I was helping one of them – a young man in his teens. He was pretty chill, but he admitted that he shouldn’t have eaten so close to class and had to have a little break at one point. I told him there was no shame in that – I fart loudly in class all the time. It’s just life. Anyway, he recovered, and I think he made some progress and had a good time. After the new students left, the P3 students (man, that’s exciting to say) worked on stationary kicks. I’m actually fairly good at these, so while I drilled this skill a lot last night, I didn’t have the frustration of constantly correcting.

I did, in fact, make it to UWF fencing on Friday, but that’s not the most interesting thing that happened to me that day. I went to the beach on Friday morning – my last Friday before going back to the five-day work week – and played around in the surf a bit. The dunes are being restored, and there was a storm rolling in, so the geography of the beach was unusual, and the surf was a little rough. It was a solid yellow flag day – nothing I haven’t been in before. 

I had just decided to come back in to shore when I saw a brother and sister (I think) in their early twenties or so coming back to shore as well. She got out of the water without incident, but it looked like he was struggling a little bit, so I went back in. We both had boogie boards, and the waves were getting bigger and bigger, so I when I got to where he was (where we could both touch the ground if there wasn’t a wave coming), I told him to jump right before the next big wave. This part actually worked pretty well. The next part did not.

I made a rough landing in what turned out to be the edge of the “soup.” If you’re unfamiliar with the term, I’ll do my best to explain. In short, it’s the opposite of where you want to be. It’s that area where all the waves break. On Friday, those waves were breaking frequently, and they were big. I was crouched low, but the wave coming my way would have been taller than my height even if I’d been standing up (I”m 5′4″), and there was no way I could get away in time. All I had time to do was curse under my breath and turtle up.

This strategy actually worked pretty well. I credit the swearing for most of my success. I was dragged along the bottom of the gulf (fortunately toward shore), and I had a moment between waves to take a breath and make sure I still had my bathing suit before the next wave came. This next one dragged me even closer to shore, but this time I was able to stand. I even managed to keep all the pieces of my bathing suit (though that second wave was really fresh).

Fortunately, my boogie board was tethered to my wrist, so I didn’t lose it, and the young man managed to get back to his family on shore (possibly with less incident than I did since he didn’t have to waste time covering his decency). At that point I gave everyone the thumbs up and retreated to the bar. I was unscathed except for a skinned knee.

Everything after that is fairly mundane.

No practice for me last night. I rested up and worked on elevation garb a bit.

Tonight, I intend to rest until the SCA meeting, attend the meeting, and then get out of there in a timely fashion so that I can pull an all-nighter making garb.

I hope like hell I’ll make it to UWF fencing tomorrow night. It sucks that I’m missing a perfectly good gym day tonight.

I passed!

I’m really excited and relieved because my training partner and I both passed our P2 tests. Last night’s class was pretty brutal, but I know working out harder and longer (now we help with P1 and P2 7-8 and train P3 8-8:30) will make me stronger and more adept. I am also very very tired.

I’m looking forward to yoga tonight. I’ve been working on correcting my posture this summer, and yoga really helps me keep everything aligned. I’m also trying to increase my flexibility in my hamstrings and lower back – that whole region can get super tight and (I think) cause cramps in my calves when I’m working out.

My Krav class is helping with a self-defense seminar on Wednesday. I’m thinking I’ll take the opportunity to fence that day at UWF, but I told my coaches to call me in if they’re short handed since the two practices will be close by. It would be kind of funny to show up in my fencing gear to Krav!

UWF Fencing practice was cancelled on Friday, and I spent Thursday resting up. I was still kind of recovering from the migraine I had after the test Wednesday night. After two days of rest, I finally made it to the beach, but the weather was lousy, so I didn’t make my walk to the pier and back. I did splash around in the surf a bit.

Fortunately my weekend wasn’t entirely inactive. I went to the gym with Nik on Saturday, and he helped me with some weight lifting. I discovered that I can bench press 95 lbs, which I think is pretty good for a first time (it’s more than half my weight)!

On Sunday I went to SCA fencing, but I didn’t get to do a lot of fighting – instead I mostly talked to new fighters and got some advice on another project. I did get to do a little dussack.

Tonight is my first night back at Krav since the test. I think I might be more nervous now than I was when I actually took the test. I’ll let you all know tonight or tomorrow. I don’t want to keep you in suspense, but I’m about to burst if I don’t find out!

Last night I took my P2 test for Krav Maga. I drilled and fought for an hour and a half with no breaks except for those precious moments of slugging down water when the proctors were adjusting the room for us.

I honestly don’t know how I did. I walked into the test feeling really good about it, but I know for a fact that I had some techniques backwards. I know I missed some stuff and went the wrong way a couple of times. I think I managed to fix the little screw-ups along the way, but I honestly have no idea whether or not I passed.

I find out on Monday, and I’ll let you know when I know. Honestly, though, even if I didn’t pass, I’d call last night a success. I did my best, worked hard the whole time, and left with my head held high. If I need to re-test, I’ll re-test. I hope, though, that I get to progress with my partner. We have a level of comfort with each other that I don’t want either of us to have to re-cultivate with a new person. 

There’s no point in dwelling on what went wrong last night or what might go wrong next week. I’m proud of myself for making it through.