After my staggered four day break over Christmas and the New Year, I couldn’t help think ‘is that it?’ After some very stressful days before and after Christmas I am starting to bring myself back to some sort of normality as there are no more late nights or working days off etc. It always throws me every year, and I can never remember what bloody day it is half the time, but now 2009 is up and running I am starting to relax a little with the sense of pressure turned down a bit for now.
Christmas Day – did absolutely nothing apart from eat a colossal Christmas dinner, thus rendering myself unable to move for the rest of the day. Boxing Day was a little more adventurous and I made it past the front door and into my car for a little coastal drive and trip to the beach. Had planned to go in the sea for an hour or too but with a wetsuit inspection uncovering a large split down one leg and the temperature being a little ‘fresh’ to say the least, I thought that I would save my aquatic efforts for another day. After another four days of work Hell it was time for the second of my two day breaks, having both New Years Eve and Day off. Due to feeling extremely low I had decided that I was going to give seeing in the New Year a miss, but in true fashion changed my mind at the last minute and ventured into town with the others. It was stark contrast to last year when we had venue, costumes and tickets all sorted a good month before hand, but am definitely glad I went out.
I have a lot of plans for 2009 and if all goes well it is going to be a very good year. Training wise, the calendar is already stacked full of dates. There is a winter trip to Dartmoor planned and I have already pre-paid for the Drew Neal and Chil Sung Seminars which have been scheduled soon after. This is followed by probably my favourite time of the year; Seni which is our annual Martial Arts Expo trip to London. After that we will be well on course for summer which brings the Sunshine and more importantly the beach parties!!!
I am going to push myself this year with my fitness and training and it was great to get back in the Dojang tonight for the first session of the year. My training was very stop start towards the end of last year and I am desperate to get back into my usual training routine. I have been learning my new form (from my books) and have tried to keep everything fresh in my head so it would literally be a case of getting straight back into it come tonight’s class. The lesson was extremely tough as expected and it wasn’t long before I was sweating buckets and gasping for breath. It was a small squad training afterwards with just the four adults and three juniors. After not doing any real sparring for a while I was quietly looking forward to it, and I had three really enjoyable rounds.
It’s great to be back in the swing of things and am looking forward to a very productive New Year!
