Ab on the road (but not abroad)

Tomorrow morning we set off obscenely bright and early to drive to Canberra. O'dark thirty is not my preferred time of day - I am a confirmed night owl. Nonetheless, we need to leave early so we don't get up there too late, and also to beat the morning peak hour in Melbourne.  It's around an eight hour drive (730km), plus stops.

So right now, I'm stocking up on Apps and podcasts and audiobooks and the like. Next, I'll be stocking up on things to feed the kids (and us) to help keep us sane. Later, I'll need to think about packing. Given we're not travelling by air, weight is not an issue for packing, but volume is: much of the boot* will be taken up with the humongous bag which holds our TKD gear.

Because, dear reader, we are going to Canberra to fight.  JD and I are competing this weekend in the Taekwondo Australia National Championships and Australian Open. (The kids are coming too, but not competing this year - they've both expressed interest for next year, though.)

This is JD (in blue) at the Victorian State Sparring Championships. There are no pictures of me, because I didn't get to compete (I was one of only two female Masters competitors).

In this picture, you can see his dobok (uniform), headguard, shield/chest guard, foot guards, and hand guards.  You can't see his shin guards, forearm guards, groin guard or mouthguard. And I have a similar set of gear (no groin guard). And that's why the bag to hold all the gear (plus strapping tape, instant ice packs, Deep Heat, Deep Heat Ice Gel, ankle braces, water bottles, sweat towels, and other crap) is so humongous.

[Edited to add picture of said humongous bag - the dining table is 3'6" wide.]

At least at the Nationals, we both get a fight. JD will fight the same bloke he fought at the Vic Champs, the only other competitor in his belt/age/weight category. I was originally uncontested, but another competitor is willing to go up an age group and weight group so we'd both get a fight (she was also uncontested). On the upside, all four of us (JD, me, and our respective opponents) are each guaranteed at least a silver medal!

Having my first fight ever at the National Champs is far from idea, but the reality is that there are very few 40+ women who compete: the entries for the Nationals show only four other women in that age group, all of whom are black belts (I'm a lowly blue belt). Oh, and they're all 10-15kg lighter than me. Even if my body can withstand the injuries from training, and I'm still competing when I'm a black belt, I will probably still be uncontested as there's no way I am willing (let alone able) to get below 62 kg to fight lightweight! Eh, I'll cross that bridge if/when I get to it.



* trunk, for my American readers.