I leveled up in karate last week. I study Shuri Shorin Ryu, and the levels (kyu) are broken down as follows: (stolen from my friend Vaughn's blog)
初段
準初段 (black)
１級
２級 (brown)
３級
４級 (green)
５級
６級 (yellow)
７級
８級 (orange)
９級
１０級 (blue)
I am now at 6 kyu (６級) and have a yellow belt. I am awesome.
Last year, I took a trip to Iheya Island to cheer on some fellow English teachers during the Moonlight Marathon, which gets its name because it is ran in the evening. There purpose was to run a half or full marathon. My purpose was to drink. I had a lot of fun, but I ended up drunk and feeling fat.
Fast forward a year later to last Saturday, and this time I was one of those runners on the ferry to Iheya. I had just gotten over a cold/light fever, and I even puked over the side of the boat because the waves were so bad. But I had arrived and was ready to run. (actually, I felt horrible getting off the ferry, but after an hour or so, I felt better)
A half marathon is about 21 km, and I ran it in 2 hours and 46 minutes.
I am not exactly proud of the time, as I did a 10k in 62 minutes, but since this was my half marathon debut, my goal was only to finish.
I learned a lot, too. I felt great around the 15k mark, but around the 17 or 18k, I stopped to adjust my shoes, and a wave of exhaustion came over me. I also became conscious of the amount of pain my legs were experiencing. Stopping once caused me to stop again, and again, and again.
Next race, no stopping.