One for the Bucket List

I’m not a bucket list kind of girl.

I make tons of lists. One day I’ll have to show you. I make multiple lists every day – chores, projects, ideas, reminders. Lots and lots of lists. I even make lists of goals for each year. But I don’t truly have a bucket list of things I want to accomplish in my life.

And for the record, I just don’t want to do scary things. Heights? Not my thing. Scary movies? No thanks. Bungee jumping? Nope, nope, nope.

I do not have a list of things I need to do in my life that are scary – just to overcome the fear. If it’s something that’s going to scare the living daylights out of me, I’m pretty sure that’s a sign I shouldn’t do it.

So when I boxed for three rounds in front of about 400 people last Friday night, that was probably not part of my general life-accomplishments plan.

But man, what a rush.

Let’s back up for a minute so I can explain how the heck this all happened. If you’ve been following along with FCV, I talked about why I started the boxing training here, but I didn’t really give you the news that I was participating in the fight. I think I was in denial until I actually stepped into the ring. Once we started sparring in training, it became clear there weren’t enough girls to fight and that I was in whether I liked it or not.

And let’s just say it was more like not. I think I sparred two times, and both times I got nicked in the face and panicked and nearly cried. Between the mouth guard and the head gear strapped around my neck, I felt trapped. I’m not naturally aggressive. If you hit me in the face, it makes more sense to me to turn around and run the other way than to hit you back. So that may have been what happened in my only two sparring sessions before the real fight.

Fast forward to the Friday night fight. We had shiny boxing outfits and three rounds of ninety seconds in front of 400 screaming friends and family. Michael and I practically didn’t speak for weeks because we were both so nervous. I was so nervous my hands shook for at least three days before the fight. Michael sighed every twenty minutes for a week.

So on Friday night, here’s what happened. There was an enormous boxing ring set up in a hotel function room, filled with the friends and family of the thirty fighters. At 8pm, we paraded around the room in our shiny red and blue boxing gear. My fight was fourth. I took a few big hits but didn’t back down. (My heart is pounding just thinking about it!) I held my own and landed a few punches as well. In the end, I didn’t win, but it was by majority decision, not unanimous, so that means I won one of the rounds!

But it might as well have been an all out victory for me. I didn’t panic. I didn’t make a fool of myself. And I was a whole lot tougher than I thought I ever could be. The next day, my body felt like I’d been in a car crash. Neck, shoulders, arms, even my nose. Sore and creaky. But I did it. And if there was a fourth round, I would have won it!

{Or maybe not, apparently I punch with my eyes closed!}

After my fight, we still had Michael’s to get through. His was the penultimate fight of the night and by far the more exciting. And even better? He won! He did so great and even looked like a real boxer out there. Which is probably why he’s got a bruised face and I don’t. But the other guy looked much worse, I heard he had two black eyes to Michael’s one.

All in all, it was an incredible evening and we’re both just a little bit proud of ourselves. It was a night for the bucket list – or maybe to start one at least!

And that photo there proves I still have all my teeth!

Special thanks to my dear friend, Sebastian (with me above), for the amazing photos. I’m so glad it was captured!