2007 Workout #40: I fought the mountain and the mountain wins again…

Tuesday night it seemed that everyone was keyed up and ready to spar. and I mixed it up a little before class which was both nicely paced and fun. We both took a few good shots, I got a few bruises, he got a few bruises… the usual.

The first class consisted of a few partner drills and basics, I got to help correct a little and work out a little… that made me a little feisty. In between classes, I took the opportunity to do something I’ve not done in awhile… free spar with our very own .

He said to me afterwards that it felt like it had some good “give and take” to it and I agree. Sparring like that is good, we both tried a few new things that we hadn’t really done much of before. By the end I was a little out of breath, but still really wanting to spar some more.

Luckily, we did.

The entire second class was a flurry of three to five time attack and Shodan test jyu-ippon (one time) sparring. I like going hard during exercises like this, especially when across from my fellow black belts. That causes certain hardships to come to me, this time it was in the form of a well executed roundhouse kick from right upside my head. It came in from range and I saw that it was chambered just long enough to think “oh no” before it smacked my ear.

Nice.

Later in that exchange, I actually had the jumping backfist work. It made do that laugh that makes you know that you are in for something, and he tried it right back to me. Interestingly, I got it blocked (which doesn’t happen often) but the subsequent onslaught was enough to make me forget that momentary joy.

We rotated a few times and I got across from . He threw a nice roundhouse kick that I inadvertently blocked with my elbow, but it was sufficiently hard to not only bruise my elbow but make my left shoulder sore too. It was creaky even through today, which was kinda neat.

After that, I ended up across from Oedewaldt-san. I found that I have to go fast and hard in order to catch up with him, and he doesn’t seem to like that too much. We had some good exchanges and I popped him in the face a little with a lunge punch. That’s always satisfying.

My final partner of the evening was Mount Erbe. The summit was stormy and cloud obscured on Tuesday, which apparently makes the rest of the mountain surprisingly mobile. He caught me with a front kick that knocked me halfway across the room, and when it was my turn to kick I was met with a remarkably quick block on top of my knee, which forced my kick to misfire directly into his shinbone. The foothills of Mount Erbe are sturdy, and I had to stop for around 20 seconds in order to not wet my pants on the spot.

I had my toes curled back, but it had all the hallmarks of what it usually feels like to break toes. I jumped right back in there and gutted it out (again, I like guts) but it was already starting to swell by the time we were finished. I have no idea how I made it through the katas that Sensei had us go through after the sparring was over.

Today the ball of the foot was dark and discolored, but not too visibly bruised. It still hurts quite a bit when I walk around on it, and its that type of discolored that means its going to turn black in a few days. I might take a few pictures for posterity when that happens, we’ll see.

It was a good night full of bumps, bruises, triumphs and tragedies. In short, an excellent night of karate stuff.