i'm so frequently impressed and inspired by the people around me, both the trainers and those training. there are so many people training, and training hard through fatigue, injury, heat, frustration and a multitude of other blocks that it just forces me to elevate myself out of some mix of desire and pride (and a dash of inertia).

i've decided i'm not going to gas out anymore training and today was the first day in the experiment-- it actually seemed to go really well. just remembering to breathe, not throwing every fucking single strike as a KO punch, and trying to stay relaxed. sparring went so smoothly, counters came easier, the guy i was sparring with gassed after one round while i was staring at ann waiting for him to start the shit back up.