Spirit Challenge 2013 - Fundraising Challenge

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Without you, I could not have done it!

This year, thanks to all of my wonderful supporters, I was once again able not only to meet my individual fundraising goal, but also to join forces with my partner Stacey (Sam) Miceli to raise over $1800! For a while, we were even among the top fundraisers!

The name Curleyman is in honor of one of our favorite bands, Girlyman--currently on hiatus :(

This year, besides being on the Thousand Waves Board, co-coordinating the twice-a-year "Dojo Cleanup" and volunteering with the ASK program, I also joined the Fundraising Committee. One of our 2013 goals is to try to raise $30,000 extra in honor of Sei Shihan Nancy Lanoue's 30 years as a martial artist. Therefore, if perhaps you did not get around to making a donation, it is not too late! These pages are still accepting donations: Michele's page; Stacey / Sam's Page; Curleyman's Page

Thanks again from the bottom of my heart for all of your support! Osu!

Day 6: Karate Boot Camp

This was my last physical challenge...and it was a doozy!!! Jun Shihan Sarah gave us a truly strenuous workout!

Day 5: Art With Heart Performance Challenge

Since I was in Italy for two weeks right before the beginning of this year's Spirit Challenge, I was not able to join a team for the Art With Heart Performance. Sei Shihan Nancy (one of the co-directors of Thousand Waves) very graciously agreed to demonstrate Yakusoku 1-4 with me. Yakusoku means pre-arranged sparring. All Seido students must memorize and learn to perform these movements. I was very lucky to have one of the best martial artists ever as my partner! Here is a link to the video of our performance: Yakusoku 1-4 (If you have time, I highly recommend watching the whole video: 2013 Art With Heart!)

Day 4: Soul Survivor Muscular Endurance

On the 4th day, we did an hour of intense tabata style exercises. Here is the description of this challenge from the Spirit Challenge flyer:

"A series of 5 bodyweight exercises will be undertaken - Jumping Jacks, Pushups, [Squat jumps, Punching into a target pad], Sit-ups, and a Mystery Challenge to be revealed to all participants shortly before the event. For each exercise, there will be 8 rounds of brief, high-intensity bursts followed by short rest intervals. Think of 15-20 seconds of hard work followed by 10-15 seconds of rest, eight times. Simple methodology; difficult execution."

The push-ups and the "Mystery Challenge" were the toughest parts for me. The "Mystery Challenge" consisted of all of the other exercises performed tabata style, one after the other, with no rest in between--twice! It was truly a challenge! There are no pictures of me from this event - but here are a few of my fellow karateka!

And a few pictures from 2011: 

Day 3: Breaking Challenge

Here I am breaking a board with my haito (ridge hand)! I also attempted with my roundhouse kick and my back kick; however, those boards did not break this time. Next time!

I did not participate in the Advanced Breaking challenge this year... hopefully some time in the future. However, I highly recommend watching the video of this year's performance. The requirement was to perform a kata in which 5 boards would be broken. This is very hard to do. Very few were able to break all 5 boards. This video is long, but very inspiring!!! Advanced Breaking - 2013

Day 2: Kata Challenge and Sparring Challenge

I arrived home from Italy late on Monday night (June 17), so I was unable to be present at the Kata Challenge for my rank. Therefore, I did my own Kata Challenge at Thousand Waves on Tuesday, June 18, in the afternoon, before the kids' classes. I forgot to have someone take my picture, so here are a couple of  pictures of me doing kata some other times!

Finally, I joined my fellow karateka that evening for the Sparring Challenge!

Day 1: 10 KM Run

Thanks again to all who have supported me and Thousand Waves!!! There is still time to donate!  Just click here:  My personal fundraising page

This year was different from previous years because I was in Italy with a group of students during the first two days of the Spirit Challenge.  I was able to find and signup for a 10 km run in Lonato, Italy.  My friend and colleague, Mike Bodin, had dinner with the group in Verona while I was running my first Spirit Challenge event!

My friends filmed me (Video of my 10K run in Italy!) and took the pics below: