Warrior: The Forging of a Champion

Chapter 11

Chapter 11 

The alarm goes off at five a.m. I roll over and hit the button and lie there for a few seconds to remember why I set the alarm for such an early time on a Saturday. Then it hits me. I'm going to get up, drive two hours, compete, and then come home, all on less than five hours sleep. Getting up, I wander over to a pile of clothes to throw something on. Picking up the shirt from last night, I smell Chris' perfume, and I'm brought back to our kiss. It's going to be a tough day, but last night was worth it. 

After a shower, I eat a big breakfast of eggs, cereal and a fruit smoothie I put together in the blender and wash it all down with a big cup of coffee. I will need all of that food to fuel me through a long day. I get my bag and double check to make sure all my equipment is in it, throw it over my shoulder and take my bike to the Tae Kwon Do school. 

When I come around the corner, I see Master Lee standing outside of his truck drinking a cup of coffee. I get off my bike, and bow to him. He nods to me. He looks like he might have also stayed up late last night. We wait for Jane and Adam, who come after about a ten-minute wait. 

All of us get into the truck and head to the highway. I put my headphones on and try to fall asleep, but the coffee keeps me awake. I close my eyes, but it is no use. I spend the ride awake with my eyes closed listening to music. 

We get to Richmond really quickly and arrive at a little after eight. The competition doesn't even open until nine, so we just sit in the truck waiting to go inside. If I hadn't drunk the cup of coffee, I would have ended up with a relatively good night's sleep. At a little after nine, the doors open. We enter and hand over our applications. Master Lee goes to hang out with the other Masters. Jane, me and Adam all climb the bleachers. I take my bag to use as a pillow and lie down. 

Jane looks at me and asks, "Are you okay?" 

"Just had a hard time sleeping." 

I wouldn't dare tell them about Chris in case they let it slip to Master Lee. We sit there and wait for the thing to start. This is not going to be a very big competition, which means it will really drag out. The Masters like to brag that they had a big competition and to tell how long it was by saying what time it ended like, "We didn't finish up until after ten at night there were so many people there." They would never want to say that nobody showed up and the thing ended at eleven in the morning. I would be willing to lie to people all the competitions ended at nine p.m. I really would. Each part takes forever. The opening ceremony is long, the competition goes on and on and is delayed and stalled.  

Finally, around noon the smell of soy sauce, garlic, onions, Kimchi and cooked beef starts to make its way into the gym. That means that it is time for a lunch break and they bring out the usual Korean food and pizza slices. Never fails, every competition has the exact same food like the same catering company goes to gyms all across the country and hands out the same food. 

Mercifully, they start the competition. They go with the white belts and work their way up the belts. I get my stuff out of my bag and start strapping all of my equipment on. Then I do some deep stretching and some warm up kicks. It is really hard to tell when you are going to spar, so you have to guess how hard to prepare. 

All of the belts go through their sparring and soon enough it is the black belts' turn. I see that there are only two other competitors in my group. The most I will have to spar is twice. I look at both of them and can tell that one of them is a total hack. His arm pads have extensions over his hands; no real competitor would be seen dead with those things on. The other guy is, Mario. I 've never actually fought him, but I've seen him at competitions before.