KickFest 2013

Okay, so this post really isn't running related except that today I ran!  I'll start by saying that you can most certainly get a workout simply by kicking.  Candice and I found out firsthand yesterday.  We were invited by our Taekwondo instructors to an event they were holding they call KickFest.  Hence the title of the blog post.  Duh!  We didn't think much of it other than it was nice to be invited and it would be a different kind of workout for us.  So, we agreed to join in the "festivities."  I think that was about a month ago.  So, they created a Facebook event to it.  And being the age where we share a lot on Facebook we of course joined the event.  As it got closer though we noticed that there were only a couple of people that actually had joined the event.  And we were under the impression that "as a collective" we do 2,013 kicks in 2 hours (since the year is 2013).  So, we mistakenly thought that the more people that show the less kicks that you have to do.  So, 2,013 people show up we do 1 kick, right?!  WRONG!  What was really meant was that we all do 2,013 kicks together and every person that attends will do 2,013 kicks.

A couple of days before the event Candice was talking with a couple of the other Taekwondo "mom's" that also do Taekwondo of various belts (blue and above I believe).  They were "warning" her that they weren't even going to attend.  One said she did it once, but she wouldn't do it again.  She learned her lesson the 1st time.  The other just laughed.  Which of course helped Candice's confidence level.  I kept saying that we would be fine.  We've been planning on it and it's a great example for our kids that are coming up the ranks in taekwondo.  Did I mention that kids weren't able to attend unless they were red belt or above?!  No, well I guess I just told you then.  We had arranged where our kids were going to be just after acknowledging that we would attend.  So, we've had it all planned out.  That made it easier to convince ourselves that we were going to do it!  I had talked to a few of the instructors and they kept saying, "It's not that bad!  You guys will be just fine."

Come Sunday (yesterday), we took the kids to their uncle's house and we were having breakfast with them. So, we were talking about it a little and still not that bad in the worrying about how we would do.  After breakfast we left to get some drinks to make sure we kept hydrated knowing that we would get a workout.  I ended up drinking 4 - 20 oz. bottles of water while we were there.  So, I'd say that I kept hydrated and sweat some.  We pulled up and there were plenty of cars there, so we knew there were plenty of other people doing the event.  We got in and people are warming up a little and doing some stretches beforehand. We all lined up and started with squat kicks for warm ups.  We went from squat kicks, to front kicks, to round kicks, to side kicks, to inner crescents, to outer crescents, to alternating side kicks, to front kick/side kick combos, to 10/10/20 round kick/round kick, knee kick combos, to switch kicking, to knee kicks, to more front kicks, to more round kicks, and finished with 13 squat jump kicks.  (FYI...I know I'm missing some in that extensive list.)

There were 27 brave souls that they dubbed the "Conquerors of KickFest 2013."  Taekwondo America (On Facebook) put on an awesome workout event that we will be attending again.  Thanks Master Storm and the rest of the Taekwondo America instructors.

Now to the running portion of the post! I know that I can feel your excitement! Even though I am sore from doing KickFest yesterday I still decided that I should get a run in. Little did I know that my legs would feel like jello shortly after finishing. I figured that I would keep it nice and light and do up to 2 miles in 30+ minutes. I ended up doing 2.67 miles between running and some quick step walking followed by a cool down walk. I guess I shouldn't have listened to my Zombies, Run! app while running because it makes you want to run. I got off of the treadmill and made it to the towels to go shower and my legs were like jello for a minute. Kind of made me laugh. But, I was still happy that I kept my commitment to running even though I knew I worked hard yesterday.

Until next time, keep those beats coming!