The Agony and the Ecstasy

I did my Orange belt test last night, and it was a combination of agony and ecstasy.

Agony: Last Friday's class I must have hurt my right shoulder because it was mighty stiff on the weekend. I thought it was better by Monday night but tennis with Andrew on Tuesday showed me I was still hurting in certain movements in that shoulder. Last night I wasn't even halfway through the test when I was hurting pretty bad and by the end it was downright painful to move it. It made doing hip throws very difficult and threw off my concentration a bit.

Ecstasy: For the most part, I nailed the test. I had some trouble with single and double leg takedowns, and kind of flubbed the two wristlock comealongs, but everything else was good. Those damn comealongs are hard because I'm doing movements with my feet and both arms at the same time, and have to master it on both sides. For your not-so-coordinated hero, that takes a lot of work and practice.

I have class tonight and should get my promotion at the end of class. Good thing Thursday's classes tend to be less strenuous than normal so my shoulder can heal and hopefully be in better shape for next week. I'll give it the weekend to recover.