My Life and Karate, Day Thirteen

My dojo, Sun Dragon Martial Arts and Self Defense, is running its major yearly fundraiser. We're a nonprofit martial arts studio, which is something of a rare beast, and we raise money every year for our scholarship fund and the free self-defense classes we offer in the community. For my part, every day until the day of the Kickathon, I will write a random amusing anecdote about karate and self-defense - enjoy!

Here's the less-lovely thing about our dojo's lovely cork flooring - it's very smooth. Now that doesn't sound like a bad thing, and indeed most people seem to have little problem with it, but my feet sweat more than the usual amount, and in the summertime I just can't get a grip on it.

It started after we'd gotten the floor sealed. We had one practice before that, and that was more slippery than the rubber-mat-and-industrial-carpet flooring at the old place, but that was to be expected. The first day on the newly-sealed floor, though, I was slipping and sliding all over the place. I'd try to hold a stance and watch in panic as my feet slooowly slid apart, leaving me to choose whether to heave them back together or to end up in a very uncomfortable position on the floor.

When the second practice proved no better, I went home and googled for solutions to sweaty feet. The easiest seemed to be to coat my feet in aluminum-based antiperspirant, but that didn't seem feasible - I'd leave little antiperspirant footprints all over the nice new floor. On the hippier side of things, quite a few sites suggested I soak my feet in black tea every day for ten days, and it would shrink the sweat glands or something. Well, black tea is cheap, and it seemed worth a shot.

I got a box of plain, unflavored black tea, got out the big stew pot, boiled some water, steeped the tea, and stuck my feet in it. At this point I was working from home, so I could sit there fore the requisite 20 minutes with my laptop on my lap at any point during the day. I felt a little weird about it, and the cats clearly thought I was crazy, but it did make my feet smell nice, at least.

All the websites said it would take a least a week before it took effect, so in the meantime, I slid around the floor like a drunken penguin. At one point during a formal pair exercise I stepped forward to throw a punch and my foot just kept going - I ended up in a seriously uncomfortable half-split. Fortunately my partner was a black belt, long used to dodging the most ridiculously inept of attacks.

I kept soaking my feet in tea. I kept sliding around the floor. I took to carrying a little washrag tucked behind my belt to mop up the puddles, and my white gi pants turned gray below the knee from my frantic efforts to rub my feet dry in between exercises. My stances got shorter and I lived in fear of sliding the wrong direction and blowing out a knee.

Finally, the ten days were up. My feet were a strange yellow color, but they still sweated like mad. After the next practice I went humbly to my head instructor and asked permission to wear shoes. Now I stick to the floor almost too much, but at least my feet stay where I put them.

I have another pair of Vibrams for everyday use, and I get stopped on the street on a regular basis and asked about them. They're awesome! Thanks to everyone who has donated $5 to our fundraiser - we're not done yet! We've still got a long way to go.