We have now entered the season of “Suck it up, cupcake!” In other words, the months prior to my next black belt test, where I can no longer avoid karate class or practice by using excuses like, “I’m tired, I stayed up too late, I’m too busy…” No, now I have to dig a little deeper and get my butt out of bed in the morning so I can head outside to practice, and then haul my ass into class four hours every week and fulfill whatever other requirements I need to make sure I’m ready to test come the end of summer.

Actually, this is an ideal time to suck it up. The weather is warm, which means I’m actually looking forward to exercising outside early in the AM. In winter, when it’s cold, not so much. I hate exercising in the cold for a number of reasons, not the least of which is all the fond memories I DON’T have of getting up at the ass-crack of dawn to participate in ROTC workouts when I was in college. Trust me, running stadium steps at 5AM in the morning in December when it’s 20 degrees out is not my idea of happiness or fun. Heading out for a run and karate practice at 6AM when it’s a warm spring day, though… Well that’s all together a different story.

It also helps that I have a clear goal in mind. Knowing that I am testing for san-dan makes it easier to motivate myself to do what I would rather not do (i.e. shift my sleepy butt out of bed and do some serious exercise). So I know this summer should go well because of those two things – warm weather and a goal.

What I’m thinking about now though is how I might continue karate practice after the warm weather and the test have passed. I know, I’m thinking months ahead, but I’m doing so because I realize this is a problem I have. Finding a place to practice karate is tricky at best. It almost has to be outdoors, unless I can find a large open indoor space. The only one I know of is the basketball court at the local Y. I’ve used it before and it’s perfectly fine. However, I’d have to somehow fit extra trips to the Y into my already crowded schedule. I much prefer to step out my front door for a run and a practice. Not to mention the fact that it’s damned hard to get through the doors of the Y carrying all my gear (and yes, I do have a lot of gear; I work with 8 different weapons, some of which are 6 ft. long).

So heading outdoors is most expedient. I can carry short weapons in a backpack while I run through the neighborhood and then stop at the tennis court to practice. For the long weapons, I can just leave them right inside the front door and when I get back from a run, grab them and practice in the backyard.

The problem is the cold. I don’t have the right clothing to run in the cold, and I need to fix that. So I’m going to be spending this summer researching cold weather running gear and see what I can come up with before the first fall frost. Ideally, I’ll find something that will keep me warm (and dry!) even in the middle of January, when it’s absolutely freezing cold out. I’m sure such an outfit(s) will cost money, so I’ll have to buy it a bit at a time. Thus all the more reason to start looking into the matter now.

So yeah, summer will be the season of “Suck it up, cupcake!” But fall and winter will be the season of “Keep sucking it up, cupcake!” and that will be the bigger challenge.