#cooldown and then warmup when i put it down for a couple days

[payasita]

a sort of pallor

[theelvishfiddler]

AN ARTIST'S GUIDE TO HANDS

No, sorry it's actually not an artist's guide to drawing hands. Those are just warmup studies (which I'll talk about in this post.)

This is a guide to Your Hands and how to take care of them when making art.

No one ever sits down and teaches artists how to take care of their hands. They didn’t even teach me this while I was in art college. This is just what I've learned myself through years of pain and scouring the internet for advice.

This is going to be a long one and geared towards illustrative traditional/digital/pen/pencil artists specifically, but artists of other mediums and crafts should take care of their hands too! Well, we all should take care of our bodies in general, but this is about hands.

(advice is below the read more)

First off I'm not a professional or anyone with actual medical advice. I'm just some guy with chronic hand pain who makes art. This advice is free for you to use or discard.

WARMUPS!

Ever sit down in the morning to draw and wonder why your art is so stiff and looks so much worse than what you were drawing last night? It's because you didn't warm up!

You know how for physical sports they all warmup and do stretches before getting into the actual sport. To prevent injuries and all that? Yeah, it's good to do that for art too.

One way to warmup is to just draw lines. Try to keep them as straight as you can. Going up and down and diagonal. Draw squares. Big squares. Small squares. Circles! You are warming up, keep it loose and relaxed! Basically just scribble away.

(examples. I usually keep going until there is no paper white left. This can double as practice for drawing straight lines without a ruler, which is a great skill to have when freehand city drawing.)

Before hopping right into drawing people you can try doing some quick gesture drawings. Line of Action has timed sessions with a large variety of clothed or nude models. I usually do the 30 min class as it has a nice balance of short and long timed poses. The point isn't to draw nice art, but to warm up. Try to get the basic form down, not the details. I find that doing a full class session can really help my drawings feel more loose and grounded in reality for the rest of the day.

Some examples I found in my folders. I suggest looking into what a line of action (not the site) is and giving it a try with some of the studies!

COOLDOWNS!

For sports it's to return your body back to your everyday baseline after a workout.

Example; you are working on a big project! A masterpiece! It's detailed and cool! You have been focusing on this for hours and drawing so intensely. But you need to stop working for the day.

A cooldown is for winding down out of the go go go mindset. Put away the big project and do a couple small doodles and sketches. You are relaxing your hand and letting it stretch out. Keep the sketches loose. Let the art happen slowly. Don't polish anything, that can happen another day. Just ease yourself out of drawing.

...

Cool! Now we get into the meat of this thing.

HAND PAIN

How to avoid it and how to manage it if you already have it.

I love you artists and creatives, I am begging you to please take care of your most important creative tools. I really don't want this to sound like scare tactics like "oooh you better do this or blah blah!" Nope. I just had to learn all this the hard way and I'm extremely passionate about it.

Take this advice or don’t ╮(ﾟ～ﾟ;)╭ I can't tell you what to do, I'm not your dad

Adjustments and Small Solutions

If you are feeling physical discomfort while drawing there are many different solutions to try! Here are some suggestions that may or may not work for you.

Hold your pencil more loosely. Stop gripping that thang so tightly!!! Relax that hand! They make these… squishy pen grip things... I think they are called Adaptive Pencil Grips or Adaptive Writing/Drawing Aids? They stop your hand from being all cramped up by making your drawing tool wider. It's going to take a bit of time to adjust to drawing with it, but it's worth it for those who hold pencils too tightly.

Don't press as heavily. For traditional art, if you find yourself pressing really hard to get darker lines try moving to a softer pencil. Most standard pencils are HB, the B pencils have softer graphite. Experiment until you find the right one for you. For Digital, adjust your pressure settings so you don't have to press as hard to get thicker lines. You should not be pressing so hard all the time, it wears out both your hand and your tablet! It takes a bit of time to adapt to pencil or pressure changes. Try doing some unimportant sketches, they don't have to be good. You are just training your hand and mind to adjust using less pressure.

Draw with your arm and not your wrist! It's small repetitive motions that cause the most strain. You probably hear this one a lot, what does it even mean? It means moving your arm with the motions of your line, and trying not to make too many tiny movements with your just your fingers or wrist. This one is hard! It takes time and conscious thought to change the habit. Tips? Work bigger. Zoom in more. Use bigger sheets of paper.

(Motions exaggerated for a clearer example)

Change the angle of your drawing surface. They make angled tablet holders, angled desks, angled desktop raisers. Experiment, find and angle that is comfortable and the one that causes the least pain. (It's also good to make sure you don't have to hold your head at an uncomfortable angle when drawing. Staring straight down or hunching over a paper flat on the table can cause pain!)

Compression Glove? Wrist brace/tensioners? Some folks use them and I've been thinking of getting one for years now. I can't give advice on this one, because I don't have experience with it. Look into it if you want!

Managing Pain

First things first.

IF YOUR HANDS START TO HURT WHILE YOU ARE DRAWING. STOP! Put the pencil/pen/paintbrush/whatever down. The art will still be there for you to continue tomorrow.

I know from experience that it's extremely hard to pull away when you are hyper focused on an art piece. It's hard to remember all sorts of basic needs like food or bathroom when hyper focused. But you Need to stop when you feel that pain. (Preferably even before the pain…)

Take Breaks! Let your hands rest when you can. Just like a machine, if you don't schedule maintenance, the machine will schedule maintenance for you. Often that means having to wait a few days for it to return to functional. Best to take a day off from heavy usage or take an occasional 30 min break throughout the day to let your hands rest.

Stretching is important! Full body stretches are good; your arms, shoulders, neck, and spine are all connected, but I'm specifically talking about HAND and wrist stretching. There are a lot of stretches and massages for carpal tunnel and arthritis out there. I find they work for hand pain in general. Move into and out of each stretch slowly. Do not push a stretch if it hurts!! Be gentle!!

I am not a qualified professional and I will not be giving out specific stretches (that is beyond my personal comfort level). There are other artists out there who have made helpful stretching info-graphics which are cool, but I will not be because i don't want to be responsible for someone accidentally hurting themself. Ask your doctor for stretches & advice or look some up on your own.

Don't feel bad about forgetting to stretch frequently! Of course it is good to do it regularly and frequently, but I would be a hypocrite if I said that I remember to stretch daily. Setting timers for stop and stretch sessions can work for some people, but also doing stretches whenever you remember is fine! If you are sitting on the toilet you can idly do some hand stretches. On the bus? Laying in bed? At the beach? Do a couple stretches! Even just once a week is better than… nonce a week.

Using Cold or Heat to treat pain. If you really overdid it, put your hands in some cold water or wrap a cloth around an ice pack and apply it to your hand. Cold works best for me, but warmth works for others. This is just pain reduction and reducing inflammation from overuse! This is not a permanent solution.

If your hand hurts a lot! Frequently! Talk to your doctor? Idk mine has never given real advice. Just gently poked my hand and told me there isn't much to be done about it :/ but there are really good doctors out there who will care and give helpful advice!

Again. IF IT HURTS TO CONTINUE DRAWING. STOP DRAWING! This is not a "no pain no gain" type situation. Drawing so much that you hurt yourself isn't noble, it's just… limiting yourself. You only get one set of hands. These things are very handy to have.

Other Advice

Things I couldn't figure out how to fit into the earlier sections.

Your other hand can't handle the strain! Lets say you hurt your drawing hand... the other hand is right there free to use for art. Right? Wrong. Your other hand can't keep up with the demand, it hasn't been trained to the same extent as your dominant hand, it does not have the built up muscle. If you want to use that hand for drawing you are going to have to use it s l o w l y and train it bit by bit over a long period of time. When I tore a tendon in my right hand I decided to just keep drawing with my left and I got Really Good at it. It only took like two months before my left hand hurt too much to move. Then I had 0 functioning hands to pull up my pants. Not fun!!

People who draw on phones. That is extremely impressive! I'm amazed by the things people can create on such a small space. But phone artists are the ones I see most frequently mentioning hand pain. please please please make sure you are taking breaks. Would a stylus work instead of using a finger?

Outside of Drawing. Sometimes it's things outside of drawing that are causing the pain. For me there are multiple sources, but I also have tiny baby hands. Holding a phone too long causes pain. The handheld mode for my Switch causes A Lot of pain. The way my hand rests while typing on my laptop hurts! Playing tense videogames for too long hurts! Find the source of your pain and make some changes. The same things will apply to most; take regular breaks, do some stretches, and find soft things to prop up or rest your arms on.

Change your Artstyle. This one is more of a last resort. You might have to change your art style if you are getting sharp pains every time you draw. I loved drawing tight clean lines and many small fancy details, but drawing like that left me in so much pain at the end of the day. In 2023 I had to take the better part of year off from illustrations just to learn how to sketch and draw more loosely. I had to learn how to be gentle. To stop gripping my pencil so tightly. Learn! Adapt! You might discover a new style that you love even more!

A lot of this stuff gets more complicated in a work setting where you have to draw fast and long in order to get paid. Things like reducing your workload can help, but that can be... financially rough. But outside of that, it’s ok to be a slow artist. Going full steam and hurting yourself is not worth it.

Aaaaaanyway, thats all folks. Today's rant brought to you by me! The guy with chronic hand pain who always forgets to stretch! The guy who got frustrated with a sketch yesterday and decided to push to keep drawing for just one more hour! The guy who woke up this morning and had to spend 2 hours massaging and stretching their hands. The guy who probably shouldn't have typed all of this out because ooww ow ouch

If your hands do hurt, it's going to be ok! You don't need to be a speed demon who draws all the time. It's ok to take your time and take frequent breaks. You are going to do great things! Just be gentle with yourself...

[sevikasleftpussyflap]

Heyy u should do some hc's or just a fanfic about Sevika with reader being muscular too. Maybe not as buff as Sev but REALLY mascular and they would like play fighting or sevika would tease reader and yeah idk maybe something like that ig. Anyways, hope u have a good day<33

I kinda got carried away at the end ahbgfb. This is more of a reader in the process of bulking up bc i was trying to :') but i lost all of my progress and motivation <333

Warnings: NSFW, Switch! Sev, naked wrestling, mention of wax play

Arm wrestling with her is scary. She gets so damn determined if you prove to be a challenge. But if you stand no chance she’ll humor you with a smirk, most likely a cigar hanging out of her mouth. Sevika loves the concentration and effort you put into such a silly activity, and how your eyes alight with hope when she gives a little. She’ll let you get her hand down to the table just barely touching and plan on finally putting an end to it by beating you. Maybe you were faking your weakness and saved your effort for when she let herself get close to losing and you slammed her hand on the table. You’d be ecstatic, jumping around and screaming while her cigar fell out of her mouth in shock

Hassling and pestering her until she gets on your back so you can show her how much you can squat. Literally just does it so you’ll shut up and let her get some peace

She will be your biggest supporter in the gym. Your own personal trainer. A little harsh, but she rewards you with a kiss or a slap on the ass after each set and makes sure you don’t overdo it. Forces you to do a warmup up/ cooldown workout when you try to be lazy 

If you’re shorter than her, she’ll set the pull up bar at her height so you can give her a kiss at the top. You two are that obnoxious gym couple

When you’re about to give up, she’s there pushing you, supporting the weight of whatever you’re lifting or squatting to help you. After you finish, if you’re a little upset with yourself she’ll lie and say she was barely lifting it

She does not allow you to beat yourself up if you have an off day or didn’t meet your goal. “No tears in the gym” is her motto (besides those that she spars with) and she’ll hold your face and wipe them away while giving you words of encouragement

I don’t think she’d let you work out with her (while she does). You’re both horn dogs, but you initiate sex/ rile her up on purpose. When she spars with you, you always have that dumb, slutty look on your face when she pins or manhandles you. Sevika’s a sore loser and when you manage to pin her, the buzzkill doesn’t play into your fantasy and instead becomes more motivated to knock you on your ass

She’s not entirely immune, and the sight of your legs shaking with overexertion makes her want to pin your sweaty body to the floor, tired and whining against her and not being able to push her off

You try to compete against her and end up injuring yourself. Sevika is more mature in that regard and does her own thing. She will chew you out for not being careful with your body, really lays into you and threatens to not take you with her anymore

Trying to out-flex each other and you fail. Miserably. But she’ll always show pride for your progress if you’re in the process of bulking up. She’ll caress her way up your arm to your biceps, sensually knead the muscle there with a smirk and compliment you

She’ll randomly put you in headlocks, or wrestle you and laugh while you struggle. It only motivates you to continue your training so you can actually fight back and stand a chance. Sevika is so subtle with her attacks, too. You’ll be just waking up in the morning and feel her arms slide around you in a hug. At the last second you realize what she’s doing and by then you’re already in some kind of hold she just taught you yesterday and she’s ordering you to get out of it

She’s so irritating oml. You say you’re gonna be better than her after a few months at the gym? Then your apartment you share will be a war zone. Nothing is sacred. And she knows that sometimes you have no desire to get out of her hold so she’ll do some gross shit to encourage you, like licking your eyeball or smth

In the bedroom, she’ll notice and comment on your increase in stamina

Some of her training will extend to the bedroom and she’ll be pushing your limits. I.e. Laying back with her arms behind her head, smirking and ordering you to keep riding her strap

Sevika laughing the first time you try to top her. She acts like she’s just humoring you the whole time, but the one time you jokingly called her ‘babygirl’ she blushed. She snarled and insulted you, but she still blushed.

Bratty sub Sevika! Tying her up and going down on her until she gives up that bullshit tough-girl facade and you have her whimpering. I can see her being into wax, especially on those sensitive tits of hers. If you really want to get her to scream that’s the way to go

Using the strap on Sevika and her pinning you to the bed to use you for her pleasure, riding you so hard into the mattress. 

Okay but post-gym shower sex. Watching her above you, grinding against you, sweaty hair, sweat dripping down her abs

Naked wrestling with the strap— really appeals to her feral side and her need to dominate. Holds you down and drills into you, telling you to buck her off and get out of her hold, and laughs at your failed half-assed attempts. "You're supposed to be fighting back, baby"

Keeps you on the ground and fucks you over and over, mocking her lovely prize

[soysaucevictim]

This post is about the Assassin Training Plan.

Started with a bang, ended with deep groaning because the power went out and threw off my plans!

-

Oct. 5

I woke up proper by about noon, today.

Did a a bit of gaming and YouTube before starting on my exercise... which wound up being far more than I meant to.

First, today’s DD. 20 commandos with EC. That was pretty brutal, took some digging in to complete the reps. A few more than that, I think I was going need to take a break! :P

Second, I decided to address some encroaching ivy on the house... which snowballed into pruning the 3 damn bushes in front of the house. I worked until my arms felt like noodles. And it was such a full body workout that got leg and back involvement from pulling roots and picking up trimmings.

This .gif summarizes that adventure nicely.

After a few hours of recovering watching YouTube and playing games... I deliberated on whether I should even do my intended workout. But eventually determined I would, but I needed to swap around the schedule for something more manageable.

Second, “Classic Warmup”. I’m going to be using this one every day this week.

Third, Day 1 of the ATP. Today’s high burn workout was “Ace“, done at Level 2 with max rest.Yeah. I had a more intense looking HIIT workout planned - but I looked at this and went “I think I can actually do this, instead.“ (I mean, I was right about that, but I don’t know if I’m going to regret it later.)

Last, “Full Body Stretch”. Same thing about the warmup workout.

Let me just say, throughout this nonsense, I also couldn’t help but think of a certain Jeff Goldblum quote.

Yeah. I’m going to treasure sleep tonight.

-

Oct. 6

I woke up a bit after noon.

Did a bit of gaming and YouTube. I also did some grumpy organizational work, did some dishes, and made some dinner, and my exercise for the day.

First, today’s DD. 300 backfists with EC. That got pretty tough - especially from sore arms due to yard work and trying to keep both arms up throughout. But still doable and quite enjoyable! :D

(While having some potatoes au gratin baking...)

Second, Classic Warmup.

Third, Day 2 of the ATP. Today’s casual training workout was “Cardio Crunch“, done at Level 2 with EC. This was fun and doable. It was amusing negotiating the up and down swiftly and fluidly. A bit of neck strain during the last 2 exercises, though. :P

Last, Full Body Stretch.

I then stayed up way too late working on that art project some more.

-

Oct. 7

I woke up proper at about 1PM today.

Did a bit of of the usual gaming and YouTube before exercising.

First, today’s DD. 40 squat hold side bends with EC. Still 2 of my favorite exercises rolled into one, so this was pretty fun!

Second, Classic Warmup.

Third, Day 3 of the ATP. Today’s combat workout was “Skybreaker“, done at Level 2 with EC. I loved every moment of this one - pure unadulterated combat work. First set I did the side kicks 10/10, but that was a bit too easy. I then did the rest bounce-switching with every rep. THAT took it to the next level and I worked up quite a sweat! =W=

Last, Full Body Stretch.

I then spent some time doing dishes and taking a shower... meant to work on art. But wound up making a thread on DAREBEE instead. :P

-

Oct. 8

I got up a bit after 8AM today.

Got to the facility, had a pretty cathartic therapy session and spent pretty much the rest of my time at the facility working on some art.

Got home, spent some downtime on the usual, baked some pizzas, and exercised (after some reservations).

First, today’s DD. 50 side bridges with EC. I thought about doing this while I was over at the facility. But I guess I needed to shore up my energy a bit more. Yet another instance of needing a couple more hours of sleep. So I kinda scraped by on this one. :P

Second, Classic Warmup.

Third, Day 4 of the ATP. Today’s HIIT workout was “Expedited Delivery“, done at Level 2. Barely. I was half-regretting the decision to go past Set 3. Partly because I was flirting with overexertion and heartburn. But I'm in one piece. Wooh! (This was the workout I initially intended to do for Day 1, btw.)

Last, some pacing outside and Full Body Stretch, as cooldown. Because oh man was I amped after that endeavor.

Was also kind of nervous about when and how long the Planned Safety Power Shutoff Event that PG&E was going to put into action. That was answered a bit after midnight.

-

Oct. 9

I got up a bit after 10AM.

Got picked up by my transporter to see if my dental appointment was still happening today. Turned out they were misinformed about the blackout impact and I just had to go back home.

I did some exercise, none of it how I originally planned. Did save that in advance and try today’s DD... but just wasn’t up for it.

First, Classic Warmup.

Second, Day 5 of the ATP. Today’s casual training workout was “The Stitch“, it didn’t have any levels. Outage meant lesser quality music from laptop speakers, no fans, and diminishing daylight… Had planned to do “Origami Abs”, but I was not up for all those sit-up variations. Did a bit of “Abs Superset” too, but my neck was not having it.... yeah, kind of a miserable time.

Last, Full Body Stretch.

I attempted to do some reading before getting to bed that night. Couldn't really do much else.

-

Oct. 10

I got up proper around noon.

Power was still out for most of the day, so no access to DDs. But I did some exercise after a bit of chatting with family.

Second, Classic Warmup.

Third, Day 6 of the ATP. Today’s High burn workout was ”Cheetah(?)”, done at Level 1. Initially planned to do “Bridge 4″, but I didn’t have access to HIIT timers.Tried “Temple Run”, kept losing and under-counting my high knees and grew miserable from that... it too was NOT fun. But I showed up.

Last, Full Body Stretch.

Did some more reading, read a [long] chapter of “Lies My Teacher Told Me“ to dad, to pass the time.

I was happier when the lights came back on around 8PM or so. I spent the rest of my time working on some art. Still no internet/cable/phone service though.

-

Oct. 11

I think I got up around 8AM today?

I spent a few hours working on that drawing some more. Internet came back around ~3PM. I immediately found articles on it and ranted about how BS the outage was.

(There's just... so much I could SAY about this mess.)

After a bit, I did the dishes and made the family some dinner.

First, playing catch-up with the last few DDs.

Oct. 9 - 3′ half jacks with EC. I counted 190 reps and even though I tried to moderate my pace for sustainability - this was pretty brutal. Also getting a furious coughing fit afterwards WAS NOT what I planned for.

Oct. 10 - 30 plank jacks with EC. After recovering from that fit, I was a bit hesitant. But 30 reps is far more doable.

Oct. 11 - 40 dead bugs with EC. Fun reminder of improved coordination. This was no less a bit tough!

Last, Day 7 of the ATP. Today was another casual training day where I opted to do some old DDs with EC again.

February 10, 2016 - 200 knife hand strikes (100/100). Very fun and satisfying work - the feel of the sliced air is always a bonus. But I know I’m a broken record about the combat stuff!

February 11, 2016 - "1′ side leg raise hold”, which was technically 2′ split into 1′/1′. The last few seconds in each side were tough. Arguably muscle fatigue was the bigger enemy than the “concentration game”.

March 5, 2016 - 50 forward bends. I think this was just within my capabilities today.

No arbitrary goal for ECs, partly due to needing to catch up and being past midnight (1322/1390).

I’m just going to go ahead and post this now.

[kellexplainsitall]

Strap in, it's going to be a long one. Phew.

Wednesday

I had a work luncheon that ate up a good chunk of the day, and then I had to take Miles out, so it was a very long lunch break. I thought for sure we'd get out of work early, but no dice. Tim and I spent the evening at home, relaxing. We knew we had a long weekend on the horizon, so it was perfect.

Thursday

I was mildly hungover when I woke up? Whoops. I rallied, Tim and I left for the race at 7 a.m. It was a very muggy and warm morning. We picked up our bibs and shirts and did a two-mile warmup. We were both drenched in sweat after, so we changed shirts and lined up. There were a few fast-looking women there, but it turns out I had nothing to worry about, I was first woman by the first tenth of a mile, and no one came close. This is a hard course, it's very hilly and I had just hoped to win and nail a course PR (which would be 21:37). I felt really strong and tried to focus on passing as many guys as I could. This is also the first 5K I've run without music. I had my headphones in, but I was so sweaty, I was afraid I was going to lose one, so I just held them the entire race.

I worked hard and I finished in 21:21, for 11th overall and first female. I was very happy with these results. Tim came in just over 24 minutes. I did a one-mile cooldown with Mike C and then got my award before we headed home.

Once home, we showered and ate and decided to just take care of all of our errands. We went to the market and stocked up at Aldi before going home. I watched Juliet Naked, which I had wanted to see for a really long time, as I read the book years ago. I really enjoyed the movie! There was also a food truck festival, so we walked down there for a bit, but didn't get anything. Tim was kind of cranky, so we just made quinoa pizza crusts and had a few drinks before going to bed.

Friday

We slept in a little bit and then ran a few easy miles. I had hoped to get in a lifting session, but between packing the car, walking the dog and getting ready, I just didn't have time. Tim and I dropped Miles off at Jenny and Bob's and then we hit the road, arriving in Philly with no problems by 12:30. Surprisingly, they had a room ready for us, so we dropped our stuff off and went to my parents' suite. Turns out, my parents didn't really want us there early to hang out, like they had said, but so that Tim could help my dad unload booze at the venue.

So, they did that, my mom and I went to have a drink, and then we all (including my brother and his gf) went out for lunch. Everyone had a couple of beers and then we went to the hotel to get ready for the rehearsal. There was a cupcake display in the lobby and my father was feverishly eating them, and then he picked one up like it was his first (probably so my mom wouldn't yell at him) and when he smiled, his teeth were completely blue. I haven't laughed that hard in a really, really long time.

We quickly showered and then the six of us crammed into one car and went to the rehearsal, which was painless. Post-rehearsal, we had the rehearsal dinner, which went on for nearly FOUR HOURS. I thought I was going to die there. Fortunately, I did have 1,000 vodka sodas and a delicious gf pizza from the place next door. My dad did give an unintentionally hilarious speech though.

Most people went to the bar after, but I went right to bed! It was already 10 p.m. and I knew Saturday was going to  be LONG AF.

Saturday

When I woke up, the dew point was 74 and it was 100% humidity. Great! Fortunately, there is a great river path right near the hotel, so I headed down there. I figured I'd be running pretty slow because of the weather, but I averaged 8:07s for 7 miles! I then met my brother and Tim for another 3 and change. We were all SOAKED. I loved this running trail thought! There were plenty of water fountains and bathrooms and it was so scenic.

After that, I quickly showered and headed to my sister's room for hair and makeup. It was a long, very boring morning of that. I had on more makeup than I have ever put on in my entire life, my mom and I felt ridiculous. Fake eyelashes are not for me.

Pictures started at 2, and we eventually made our way to the venue. It rained off and on throughout the day, but that really helped cool things off. It was just such a long day! The wedding started at 6, and was over quite quickly. We had a great time dancing, drinking and spending time with family.

We were on the shuttle by 11 and back at the hotel by 11:30. I took a shower to get all that makeup off (I still feel like it's on!) and then went to bed. There was an afterparty, but we saw no afterparty.

Sunday

I thought my run Sunday was going to be garbage due to lack of sleep, a lot of vodka and poor food choices, but it was AMAZING. I was smiling the entire time. 10 miles @ 7:55 pace, with just two quick water bottle fills. No bathroom stops or dying-from-the-humidity stops. It was one of my favorite runs ever. I wish I could bottle that feeling.

Tim and I were on the road before 9 and picked Miles up by 10:30. I don't think he missed us one bit!

I dropped Tim off at the tavern for soccer, while I took Miles home, unpacked, started laundry and tried to get organized. I went to the bar for the second half of the game and had a few drinks with Sloane and Cass. They had a GREAT turnout, they actually ran out of pint glasses at one point!

Tim and I ate lunch, I walked Miles and then did more laundry and organizing. I eventually was so exhausted, I allowed myself a one-hour nap. Tim and I had more quinoa pizza crust for dinner and I was in bed EARLY. Yawn.

Monday

I am dragging today. When my alarm went off, I was like "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" But I got up, it was pouring rain, so it was tough to get out the door. I don't like to take my airpods when it's raining because I don't want to ruin them, so it felt like a slog. I struggle on easy runs with no music. But it got done! I have work all day and then I fly out to Kansas City tomorrow, kill me plz.

[princess-of-cats-blog1]

My Tae Kwon Do experience started when I was 14 at J.K. Lees Black Belt Academy. It seems so long ago, but time has passed quickly. When you are younger, J.K. Lees focuses on discipline, grades, and behavior. I started out on the older spectrum of the children population, just two years away from the cutoff where grades and teachers are required to acknowledge to color belt testing process. I progressed through classes rather quickly, testing for a new belt rank with my dad every six weeks. I took a break from testing for a couple months once I got to high green belt, but before I knew it I was going to test for my black belt. Black belt testing is a two-day affair. The first day is closed off to the public, only the people who are testing can be there. The second day is open for spectators and family members to watch.

On the first day, the testing process starts with half an hour of stretching, getting everyone ready for testing while avoiding injury. After stretching came an hour of running indoors. The running portion of testing usually takes place outdoors, but because I tested in March, it was still quite cold, and it had just rained, making the ground slippery. Running provided a nice warmup, but also added fatigue to the testing process, to gauge how well we perform after being physically worn out. After running, we went through kicking combinations starting from white belt all the way up to our current belt rank.

After kicking combinations, we were split into three different groups to do forms. It is required for black belt testing to know all the forms, form names, and form definitions from white belt up to your current rank. Anyone could get called out to recite any definition or demonstrate any form, so it is wise to be prepared. After each form is performed, they have everyone sit down and stand up if they made a mistake. To progress to the next belt rank, the test proctors are looking for honesty and humility. Not everyone knows everything, and it is good to show that occasionally. After everyone went through all their forms, we were paired off in our groups to do sparring. After sparring we were required to do our board breaking techniques along with another, random breaking technique. Once we were done with board breaking, we all did some cooldown breathing exercises while listening to the schedule for the next day, and then we were dismissed.

Day two is set up mainly to showcase all the hard work and dedication people put into to get where they were. After stretching, we were again split into three groups to do all the forms once more. After forms we did sparring, three matches per person with three different people, each match two minutes long. When sparring was done, we did hand to hand combat, our boxing technique. While one group was doing the boxing technique on one half of the floor, another group was doing board breaking on the other half of the floor. Once everyone completed the boxing technique and board breaking we moved on to our self-defense one step sparring and hosinsul. One step sparring is for defending oneself against a punch or kick based attack, while hosinsul is for defending against grab based attacks. Once one step sparring and hosinsul were completed everyone cleared to floor. The few people who were testing for their fifth-degree black belt were called out onto the floor to demonstrate their complex forms and self-defense. Each person had their own self-defense techniques, made up on the spot to ward off rubber knifes and plastic guns.

Once everything was done, everyone sat down for the belt presentation ceremony. The red belts went first, receiving their high-red belts. After the red belts came the high-red belts. This part took longer because each person had to say a few words of thanks to the people who helped them get to where they were today while their family and friends presented their new black belt to the grandmaster. The speech and presentation process went on like that until the only people left were the ones testing for their fifth-degree black belt. Each person was personally acknowledged by the grandmaster, and each person thanked the people who helped them through their journey. Once everyone had their new belts, each school location took a schoolwide picture. Once the pictures had been taken everyone was dismissed to go home.