Hiking in Castle Rock with our entire dojang

at least those, who wanted to, with families. It was a great idea, and the weather was on our side, and it was especially fun to guess one another by voice now that wearing hats, sun glasses instead of doboks.

When our coach came up with the idea of this hike, and was sharing the details to the group, he said that at the home stretch of the hike there're 200 stairs we'll have to climb. The teens will have to run them up, but the adults can just walk slowly. I chuckled and said not only will I walk up 200 stairs my normal speed, I will also do this with a 35lb kid on my back.
And so I did today.

Brown.

How did this happen? I swear, I just stopped by for a 3-week trial... yesterday, it seems!

The highlight of this gup test though is that I managed to come without freshly broken toes or torn ligaments (although the toe broken from before the previous gup test is still sore, so maybe this counts).
Meanwhile, our Grand Master became seriously assertive on my next steps in training. All my jokes of becoming to old for the Olympics by the time I actually get the black belt anyway get blocked on the go with statements that more is expected now, that I should work harder and eventually prepare to become a leader.
- Miss Rita, how do you lead other students?
- By... example?
- With your voice!

I just hope to get work-and-life balance under control within a couple of years by the time I will accidentally got to the point when I'll need extra training.

Power corrupts. Power over your own body corrupts absolutely.

Now an orange belt.

Yellow.

Even in times when all energy seems to be drained by all first-priority commitments and not really replenished due to little sleep and unfortunate changes in my diet - there seems to be a hidden reserve that helps me stay active when I need it most. Yep, after this tax season I'll probably drop dead and remain a disoriented zombie for the next couple of months, but right now - on a typical working Saturday I nailed all urgent stuff in the office for a couple of hours, changed on the way to Dojang, at 11 was in Dojang revising poomsae, basic motion and stepping and stretching, had an engaging and tiring but fun test, and by 1pm left Dojang with a yellow belt, two halves of a broken board and a medal for perfect attendance (which goes to Belking for without him watching the kids there would have been no attendance at all). Then go back to the office and work for another couple of hours before returning home for a shift of being a caring, fun and patient Mom.

Breaking the board, actually was the only completely nerve-wrecking moment on the test. Seeing an inch-thick board suddenly made me think of the busy season at work, having little kids, playing the piano and another 1/2 dozen reasons I could not afford to have my palm broken :) Funny to remember just 10 minutes later when the board has already been hamer-fisted into 2 pieces and my palm had no bruise or scratch...