Week 4 – Dirk Herfurth

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays. Is it the 4^th week already? Time is running! My first weeks of my journey went by superfast. Meanwhile I made it to Germany to spend some quality time with my family over there. I have not been back in the fatherland since October 2019. Covid threw quite the wrench in the gears of family reunions.

Well, the idea was, besides celebrating Christmas and eating some good homemade food, to catch up on my mileage counter – biking around the Geiseltalsee and hiking the country side. I made it one time around the lake on my first day, then a cold front brought steep temperature drops, snow, and icy rain. No biking and running for me. At least push and sit ups do not care what country you are in. These numbers add up nicely and I am on track. However, I neglected my katas a little and will have some catching up to do when I am back.

Also not much sparring possible over here. The whole country has limited public gatherings to reduce the spread of omicron Covid variant. Sweaty sparring practices are definitely on the Do Not Do list.

This means, I have to make it up with some heavy bag time. I will start that as soon as I am back in the States. I just hope that Omicron does not rain on our parade at the beginning of next year. Oh well, we will figure it out and will find a solution. The black belt journey is like climbing a mountain. If the climb is not steep, it is not a mountain.