pain

It was like I was watching the words come out of my mouth in a big word balloon like in a comic strip.

I'd been wrapping my hands for boxing class and Sifu said, "So, how you doing?".

"A little better each time," I replied. I have to keep reassuring him that I'm not going to have a heart attack in class. "I was hardly sore yesterday after class the day before. I was kind of disappointed."

Jay-zus! I can't believe it! I just told my boxing coach that he wasn't giving me enough pain!

Well, he rose to the challenge today. And I did too. We were practicing combinations with a partner, one wearing mitts and the other punching. I partnered up with this friendly farm boy, probably in his teens. Three rounds, combination after combination. I finally learned to go hard for awhile, then go easy and catch my breath instead of stopping all together. Then
15 second turns with your partner, one steadying a heavy bag while the other goes full out punching on it, then reverse. It seemed to last forever.

But I finally felt it today, that satisfying "whaaa!" when you put your whole self into smacking the hell out of those damned mitts or the bag. That's what I love about this sport, sometimes I reach way down and get this power and it all comes out in a smack on the mitt.

I'm gonna hurt tomorrow. I'm glad.