Life goes on

It's 2012 and the National Training Center of Lavallees, the change in years in heavily punctuated by discussions of goals. We were urged to finish 2011 strong and to celebrate our achievements. We were exhorted to start 2012 with SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-stamped) goals for 2012.

The school itself did some readjustments so that Kyoshi himself teaches classes many times a week and there is a renewed focus on intensity and foundation details.

Typical Street Scene in Placetas, Cuba Dec 2012

I completely buy into this process and went through the planning steps.  I have goals for my weight, increased flexibility, building my bugo skills, and getting my endurance up to where it should be.

Then, as happens with the best laid plans of mice and men, things went awry.  The trip to Cuba over the holidays  to visit relatives in their small town for a week was great in many ways but not for my training. My doctor finally got me to do a little procedure that men with my age and history should do (a colonoscopy) and that knocked me out for a few days.

Saturday, I was reaching for something (I think putting a dish in the dishwasher) and my back went into spasm.  At first, I thought it would pass in a few minutes. By mid-day,  I couldn't walk.  Now I'm deep into working with a chiropractor and trying to control the pain.  The next two weeks are looking really tough since I was supposed to travel but frankly, the way I'm feeling (and moving) right now, it doesn't make much sense for me to try to go to a trade show.

Of course, with a little luck, I might get the back straightened out and be back on the floor this week.Last year, I also had a back problem (I think it was February) that ended up costing me about a month of training.   Either way, happy new year to all and I'm looking forward to this year, whether the original plan works out or not.