Hi-ya!

Well, my roommate Danielle and I have gone out of our comfort zones and finished week one of our new fitness class: "kardio kickboxing." The first day of kickboxing I honestly thought I was going to have to curl up on the corner of the mat and die right there. Our instructor was constantly coming over and turning my foot this way or my knee that way and making sure my wrist was flat and that I wasn't pulling up to hard doing an upper cut and was body punching rather than arm punching--it was embarrassing. I was sweating like a fat nasty pig and was 'that' girl who, midway through, walked over to the water bottle and took a drink. I could feel everyone's judgemental stares burning through my back as they're bouncing around thinking, "water's for sissies--she's so lazy...hi-ya!" They're all like friggen' pros doing matrix shit in the air knocking their bags to the floor. Not me. I did a roundhouse kick and about cried because I thought I'd strained my hip-flexor.

But, that was only day one. Now I've come to know what it means to jab, cross, uppercut, hook, roundhouse kick, (and a few others I can't remember) and every combination of the above you could ever imagine. Plus, in the middle he'll stop and make us do killer abs or run in circles...I'm pretty sure I'm ready to get scrappy in a dark alley. You'd probably never know what hit you.

After several sessions I am feeling less and less like 'that' girl, and our lovely, cute-for-a-middle-aged-tiny-fitness-instructor-with-skills-like-you've-never-seen, Jeff is actually learning and using our names--that's right, we're becoming "regulars." Hell, maybe I'll even get my own gloves. Tonight he even told me I was doing a "nice job." So, I punched him in the gut just so he was sure.

I've found that it's a great stress reliever. After a long day at work today, I drove to the gym and during the first jab session I imagined the faces of everyone that frustrated me today right there smack in the center--jab, jab, cross, and in my mind, their butts were on the floor (and, in some cases, bleeding). *Big sigh. I feel a lot better now.