A Love-Hate Relationship with Water

Yesterday was a scorcher. When I went to get lunch in the afternoon and felt the heat, I knew that training would be a doozy. I have to admit, the scaredy cat part of me briefly considered skipping because I knew training would be miserable in this humidity, but then the other part of me said, 'playa, you've missed too many classes recently due to work and whatnot, and tonight you have the time to train, and you're gonna voluntarily skip?! Stop this crazy talk! So I chomped down and went.

I entered Temple, and only a few of the lights were turned on, but it already felt oppressive. Grrreat. The changing room was sweltering and I could not get outta there soon enough. For the first time, I wore my uniform top with the right sleeve tucked in. I didn't give a crap if people could see my flabby arm. As I warmed up a little by the sink, Gombulla was slicing up a beautiful mango and he offered me a piece, but I declined, figuring I'd puke it right up. Instead, I swallowed a few quick gulps of water from the tap, thinking it'd do me some good to have water in my system. Boy, did that prove wrong!

Basics started, and I was kinda near the front to start. After a while, I started feeling this sharp stabbing pain in my right side. My stomach did not like the water I drank just before class. It was cramping me up! I stood to the side and tried to massage the water through my system. I didn't want to set a bad example for the newer folks, so I pushed myself to get back in line, only to drop out again. My body was feeling exhausted from the heat, yet also combatting this stabbing pain. Oy!

I dunno how, but eventually, the stretching break came. The stabbing pain had subsided but I still felt woozy, so I downed so much water. I figured that since we were done with most of basics (especially the jumps and ceshoufan), I wouldn't have to worry about the water sloshing around in my belly and cramping me up again.

I noticed a curious thing -- the tip of my nose felt a little tingly, kinda numb, like it sometimes does after I've drunk a lot of alcohol and am hungover. I guess because my mind was blasted, I didn't put two and two together until later in the evening, when I realized it must have been because of dehydration that I was experiencing this symptom. When you're hungover, you're also dehydrated. Duh!!!

After class was over, I took my uniform off in the changing room and marvelled at how heavy my stuff felt in my plastic bag. Heavy with sweat! I was proud to have gone through with training, but also relieved.