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<\/a>As I’m pulling up to the gym, my trainer, Jameson Bostic, calls wondering when I’d arrive.\u00a0 He never calls so I knew something was up. When I arrived, he asked me about getting in the ring with fellow trainee\/general badass\/model hot, Jesse.\u00a0 My first instinct was to laugh.\u00a0 Was he serious? “She’s just going to work defense so try to get her good.\u00a0 She won’t punch back.” He says.\u00a0 So wait.\u00a0 I have a chance to get in the ring with someone I totally admire and I can only punch her? Yes please!<\/p>\nSo we all hop on treadmills to get our blood flowing.\u00a0 One by one he suits us up for the ring.\u00a0 Wow.\u00a0 I really had no idea.\u00a0 Not only are there special gloves for the ring, there’s special padding to wear.\u00a0 You wear something called a cup to protect your sides and organs.\u00a0 Also a helmet that is surprisingly uncomfortable.\u00a0 Oh and this protective gear that you wear only makes you sweat about 17 gallons.<\/p>\n
While we are suiting up, the rules changed.\u00a0 Jesse’s coach didn’t see much point in her only working defense.\u00a0 So I actually agreed to take punches.\u00a0 We did agree to no faces however.\u00a0 I simply can’t go to school looking like a thug even for fitness reasons.\u00a0 Also, Jesse had a photo shoot (?!?) the next day.\u00a0 So before I knew it, here I am standing in the ring with a girl who actually does competition fights, whose ready to hit me.<\/p>\n
PAUSE. I, Kimberly Galbreath, have never been in a fight.\u00a0 My sister and I just weren’t fighters.\u00a0 We just didn’t really get into physical fights.\u00a0 Through middle school and high school, other than using my mouth, I never got in a fight.\u00a0 Even as an adult, I’ve never had to physically hurt someone.\u00a0 The closest I’ve ever come was shoving a homeless guy trying to get into our building. I’ve never thrown a real punch with the intention of hurting the other person. In some ways, (although very few) I really am just a white Midwestern girl.<\/p>\n So we are all suited up for the ring.\u00a0 And I’m not even nervous.\u00a0 I can’t explain it but somehow I knew I’d be fine.\u00a0 I trust my coaches and know they only have my best interest at heart.\u00a0 This is absolutely key within a relationship with your trainer.\u00a0 Jameson explains the round time (2 minute fight with 30 second rest) and gives me a quick minute of advice and what to throw.\u00a0 And then the bell rings.<\/p>\n When the bell rings, you forget about everything else.\u00a0 This person is about to punch you and it’s your job to punch back and try not to get hit.\u00a0 Well, turns out I’m not very good at either of those things.\u00a0 While I felt confident that I could survive the rounds alive, I knew I wasn’t experienced enough to win.\u00a0 After 5 or 6 rounds, I survived.\u00a0 I was able to get some good throws in but I freeze.\u00a0 Whenever Jesse would get a good combo in, I would just stand and brace the punches instead of using my punches to get her away from me.\u00a0 My footwork is slow so she was able to outpace me for sure.\u00a0 But, even though I definitely lost, I got in the ring and fought\u00a0 several rounds with an amateur Colorado Golden Gloves competitor and it was awesome.<\/p>\n During the rounds, I took several good hits from her.\u00a0 I expected every punch to leave a mark and wake up the next day with bruises everywhere. I took one to the chest and right hip that hit HARD and even one accidental to the face.\u00a0 But, I only ended up with one injury. All the other hits went away within minutes.\u00a0 The injury I got, was because of my own defense and I know in the future I’ll be much better at defending!<\/p>\n I ended up with a cracked rib\/bruised rub\/tweaked ligament or something.\u00a0 The left side of my chest hurt immediately after getting hit and continued to bother me through the remainder of the rounds.\u00a0 My breathing was shallow and it hurt to take deep breaths.\u00a0 But it didn’t seem so bad.\u00a0 Later that night I even ran 4 miles.\u00a0 By the time I got back from my run, I knew it wasn’t good. My chest bothered me all through the run and when I got back I had to take ibruprofen and ice it.\u00a0 This continued for several days.\u00a0 I asked advice from my coaches and alerted them to what was hurting so they could help adjust my workouts for the rest of the week.\u00a0 They also told me it was best to work through it instead of taking time off.<\/p>\n Now, 5 days out, they were right.\u00a0 Now I know what I can do with an injury.\u00a0 My chest continues to get better even though I haven’t rested a single day since.\u00a0 I’ve even already gotten back in the ring to work offense.\u00a0 However, I’ve grounded myself from any more real sparring.\u00a0 Since my goal and focus right now is the marathon, I can’t risk doing activities at the gym that might risk my training.\u00a0 So, 5 weeks from now, you bet you’ll see me back in the ring! On Tuesday, April 14th I was heading to my gym, Touch Em Up, like it was any normal day and expecting the normal workout.\u00a0 What I got was SO much more. As I’m pulling up to the gym, my trainer, Jameson Bostic, calls wondering when I’d arrive.\u00a0 He never calls so I knew something was … <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"