Yes friends, I suffer from the heartbreak of BRAIN MONKEYS. Last Friday I was scheduled for a 12 km training run but I decided against it because I was still so sore from Tuesday’s karate class and Wednesday’s 11 km speed run indoors. My calves were still not healed up yet and Saturday’s karate class promised to be an intense one with an entire migratory herd of fanatical Black Belts showing up from the city.

So Friday, I was sitting, drinking my morning (mourning?) coffee, and pondering whether to risk injury and go for that run or to take the safe road and wait – especially since Sunday’s run which is today – was a major 19 km marathon training run – the day after an intense 2 hour karate class. And Friday’s run was to put me at 161 km, which is just over 100 miles since the beginning of January, as the brain monkeys were fond of pointing out. I was at 149 km.

I really hated the idea of skipping Friday’s run, especially when I had an almost irresistible troupe of brain monkeys shouting at me saying “…get out there and run, you lazy bastard…”

The brain monkeys were spitting, hooting and howling, shouting out insults, screeching, and pounding the ground with their fists. They were chucking handfuls of dirt, twigs and grass at me. They were kicking sand in my face and tearing up clumps of shrubbery to throw at me.

They wanted me to run. Resisting the brain monkeys took a huge effort but in the end they gave up and stopped disrespecting me.

I did not run Friday. I rested. I healed. I rocked in Saturdays karate class. I rocked in today’s 19 km long run given the brutal conditions I had to work with. All because I took the time to rest. I avoided injury. So as of today, January 31 – I am at 168 km since the beginning of the year.

The message I have for you is clear: Don’t listen to the BRAIN MONKEYS. Take the time to rest and you may not only avoid injuries, but you may also do a lot better than if you listened to your own personal brain monkeys.

Anyway, I enjoyed the class. We did kata and more basics, and we did a lot of kicks against the mats that were being held up by some of us. I like using mats because we can use full power without hurting anyone. But I like sparring too even though I’m not very good at it because sparring teaches control and awareness that you just can’t get from kata or from hitting a mat. Sparring gives you a real opponent who almost never reacts in a textbook manner. It’s the closest thing to real street fighting we get in the dojo. Of course, a real fight is over in less than 30 seconds anyway. None of this dancing around stuff, or fancy moves like you see in the movies.

Fortunately, I plan to never get into a real fighting situation.

I’ve decided to stay at my level this year and not grade until next year. Unless things change drastically. I really want to focus on my basics and learn them well before I even think about grading to brown. Blue suits me nicely for the foreseeable future.

We move on to kata, and sparring. I like the new dynamic as it adds variety and makes you stay alert and think.