I'm so strong.

Training 6 days a week when you have 4 kids is challenging...especially in the summer when camp has ended and they're home all the time.

Sometimes Dave leaves work early for me to make a night class, and other times I pay a babysitter. On weekends they stay home with Dave, but this week I tried what I thought would be a disaster...I brought them to the gym.

I packed a bag filled with toys, snacks and screens and gave them a stern lecture on the way.  I begged them to be good.

What happened was possibly the best thing that will happen on this journey.  My kids saw me training.

They watched me work the bag, they watched me in the ring.

Then they went into the other room and started working out.  They put on gloves.  They hit the bag, they got into the ring.  They got along, didn't disrupt our training, or break anything.  Sometimes they'd take a break and color or play Minecraft in the play/locker room but they always came back to watch.

They love the gym.  Now they ask every day if they can go boxing.  John (19 months) has new words..."box" and "sweaty".  He walks around the house in Cecilia's karate sparring gear.

The moment I felt what was happening was when Ruby (5) came running to me in the gym, so proudly showing her muscles, exclaiming "Momma, I'm so strong!!!".  I then realized how much I can influence, by example, how they feel about themselves, and how this could affect their whole lives. This is exactly how I want them to feel as children and adults - strong, fit, confident, empowered, disciplined, hard-working, encouraging, humble, fun, courageous and fiery.  All of these things I feel in boxing.  I wish I started boxing years ago.  I am so proud to be an example for them.

I'm so glad that I decided to bring them to the gym, and I'm so thankful that Kathy, Sione and my F.A. friends welcome them.  Maybe seeing how tough their Momma is will make them behave all the time...haha.

 

Boxing Stinks.

3 weeks into training.  (Has it really only been that long?)  94 days til Fight.

Here are some things I've observed.

 - Boxing stinks.  Really smells.  The gym doesn't smell somehow.  Fitness Advantage is super clean and comfortable; however anytime I'm in there I stink like you wouldn't believe.  Of course, I'm sweating like I've never sweat before, but I prefer to think it has something to do with the leather gloves, bag, and the sweaty hand wraps and not me.  This theory doesn't explain why my hair elastic smells the same way.  Oh well.  I have to sit on a towel when I drive Dave's car home from the gym.  I've been soaking his seats.

 - Your opponent's sweat flying into your eye burns nearly as much as her punch.

 - Trying to pick up your water bottle or mouth guard with your gloves on is hysterical and makes me giggle in the gym.   Everyone else takes off their gloves but I can't get them back on fast enough.

 - Thinking that holding the bag for your partner is your "rest time" is a big mistake.  If you lay your head on the bag while you hold it, you may actually get knocked out...especially if your partner is Christine.

Christine is the best part of this whole experience so far.  I met her right away because she is there every day, sometimes twice.  She's originally from Rosi/JP like me, and she instantly took me under her wing.  She is the most powerful woman I can imagine and she looks very intimidating; however her heart warms the whole gym.  She's happy, funny and encouraging.  Instead of concentrating on her own workout she watches me and has been teaching me everything she knows.  I am so blessed to have her in my corner.

The whole Fitness Advantage family is very special, actually.  Everyone works really hard, encourages each other, fights each other, and jokes around.  We're always laughing.  I love going there, and I'll really miss it when the fight is over.  I don't want to think about it yet.

Here is some of the gang.

At this point I feel very well conditioned (thank you, DHAC trainers for the head start!), and I'm working on technique and power. I'm no longer nervous to spar.  I'm starting to look forward to it because I see it as more of a chess game now.  I have a few tools to avoid getting hit and I'm working hard at them.  I especially love to spar the big men who aren't allowed to hit me back and I'm not afraid of hurting.  That is fun.

I get to spar my Haymaker's opponent on August 17th (Two 2 min rounds) to make sure it is a good match-up.  I'm excited for this and hope that we're around the same level; although she's a full-time personal trainer with no kids to distract her, and she's 3 years younger.  I know, I know....it doesn't sound good, but remember...I'm Irish.  ;)  

Broken

I'm Irish.  Like many good, old, drunken Irish men walking home from a pub I have a fighting spirit.  We feel like God made us just a little tougher than the rest of the world.  After taking a women's self defense class I walked around for weeks hoping to get mugged by gunpoint because I was sure that after one lesson in gun disarming I was good to go.  :)  I didn't say I was smart.  I'm stubborn, feisty and know how to throw a punch (just ask a few Hooters girls from Tallahassee).   I was sure boxing would come easily to me.

And then I got hit in the face.

OMG that hurts.

For me, at this point in training,  it goes a little something like this in an instant....

"Whoa!  #$%&!  Did that just happen?  You better watch out.  I'm going to get you back.  Am I bleeding?  They'd tell me, right?  How much time is left in the round?  I'm really tired.  This is not fun.  Why does 2 minutes feel so long?  Why am I doing this?"  As you can see, it is very distracting.  

Another Haymaker's blogger quoted Mike Tyson as saying "Everyone has a plan...until they get punched in the face."  If you've never taken a punch to the face, you should try it sometime (call me!).  It is pretty crazy.  I wonder if you ever get used to it.  

My first training sessions at Fitness Advantage Medfield were very humbling.  I got hit in the face over and over again.  I was so focused on throwing punches that I could not defend myself.  All of my instincts were screaming to kick her and get her to the ground, but yet I wasn't even allowed to change my stance.  This is a sport, not a bar fight, and I have a lot to learn.  I was stuck there with my left foot in front of my right not knowing how to help myself so I just kept punching...and kept getting hit.

I think this is the "we're breaking you down" phase of my training.  Well, Sione and Kathy, I've put my Irish pride aside.  Consider me humbled and broken.  I'm ready to be molded into the fighter you need me to be to compete because Fitness Advantage has a winning record that I'm not about to break.

Why?

A few years ago I noticed a high school friend posting pictures of himself boxing on Facebook.  I learned that he was training to compete in an amateur boxing match through Haymakers for Hope (http://haymakersforhope.org/), an organization whose mission is "to knockout cancer the only way we know how,by literally fighting for a cure."   I was intrigued.

After I had my 4th child I was itching to do something interesting and Haymakers came to mind again.  I noticed that they were just about to have sign-ups for their next Boston fight so I threw my name in the hat.  I met with a local boxing trainer who talked me out of it because of the dangers, so I withdrew my application.  It was Christmas time and I had put on a few lbs and didn't feel great so it seemed to be the right decision...plus I have 4 kids.  I have too many responsibilities to fit it in the type of training necessary to compete.

I trained hard, lost 11 lbs and was in the best shape of my life when fight night came.  I regretted withdrawing my name.

The next day I received an email from Haymakers for Hope announcing their first all women's event happening in Boston on October 17th.  I knew that this was my time and I wasn't going to let anything stop me.  I will turn 39 before fight night and the last year of my 30's is dedicated to giving back and living more.  This event epitomizes both for me.

It also gives me a powerful outlet to set an example for my children...that I am more than just their Mom.  I chose to stay home and leave a career behind, so they don't often see me challenging myself, setting goals, or  doing things I enjoy.  I want them all, especially my girls, to know that they should be strong, brave and disciplined.  They should pursue things that interest and scare them.  I want them to see me doing something that I love so they remember that, and not just me as their taxi driver.   I also want Dave to see me in an unusual light...doing something that makes him proud of me...something that makes me proud of myself.  The day to day dishes and laundry just don't cut it.

It's really funny because when people hear what I'm doing they're shocked and wonder why I would want to box.  I can't explain it.  To me, it sounds like a perfectly normal idea.  Why wouldn't you?  I love the challenge and intensity of it.  I look at all you people who run marathons and think there is something really wrong with you.  To each her own crazy.  :)

For the next 4 months I am going to soak up the pain and glory of this once in a lifetime experience.  I allow myself to be selfish, to put training ahead of other commitments, to do something extraordinary, something that challenges and inspires me.  Something that helps others.

I have a friend who also has 4 kids who was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, who was not given much hope, who has now beat the disease.

Dave lost his Grandmother to breast and other cancers.

I have a friend who lost his young wife to breast cancer.  He is now raising their daughter alone.

My oldest and dearest friend is a cancer survivor.

Some local friends have fought, and are currently fighting breast cancer.   Not one of us is safe.  Our lives can be changed in an instant with a cancer diagnosis.

Getting punched in the face is so much easier than the fight they fight, and if our fundraising can help researchers find a cure...bring it on!