TCRG Exam Aftermath

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Studying for and sitting the TCRG exam last September in Atlanta was easily one of the most difficult and stressful things I’ve done, maybe ever. The 5 part exam was expensive (not just the exam itself, but also the cost of travelling to Atlanta), but it also required a huge amount of studying and preparation. I spent months learning the music, and the ceilis and the choreography I needed. Even with all my hard work, I didn’t expect to pass the exam outright. As much as I studied, I never truly felt ready, I was always second guessing myself and had such a hard time keeping all the information in my brain.

So, when I got the email letting me know I was unsuccessful (yes, they send you an email simply saying if you were successful or unsuccessful) I wasn’t surprised. Disappointed, yes, but surprised, no.

A week later, I got the full results and was so thrilled to learn I would only need to retake one portion. I thought for sure I’d need to retake two. Thankfully, I passed the written portion, my biggest stressor. I will just need to retake the ceili teaching portion at some point in the near future.

I was eligible to retake the exam as early as this month, but the truth is, I don’t have the money to retake the exam right now. Not only that, but once I finished my final exam section I did a major brain dump and it feels like everything I spent so much time learning has completely left my brain. I haven’t really thought about the ceilis in ages. I have a lot on my plate at work, and two friends and I have started our own dance school, right now teaching adults. I’m hoping that just getting back into dance slowly, and by gaining more confidence in teaching I will have an easier time re-learning all those damn dances. I’ve also got some financial work to do on my credit card again before I will allow myself to spend the 319 Euro and whatever travel expenses are needed to retake the exam.

Fingers crossed, yeah?

I spent quite a bit of time feeling sad about the whole thing. Even though I wasn’t surprised, it was still really hard to feel like a bit of a failure. Not only that, but I had SO MANY people to tell who didn’t completely understand the scope of the exam in the first place, and dealing with the sympathy was kind of overwhelming too.

But, the good news is, starting a new school, and getting excited again about Irish dance mean I’ll have more Jig to add to my Jog here. ;)

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Catherine, March 10th 2013 | Tags: ,
Posted in 2013, Dance, TCRG

Guest Post!

Hey everyone! I am a guest poster over at Kaitlin With Honey today!

A week or so ago, Kaitlin was asking for guest posts about over coming injuries, so I jumped on that! Kaitlin has a great blog, and you should all go check it out!

It was nice to take a chance to share my dance injury/recovery story.  Hope you all enjoy it!

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Catherine, July 13th 2011 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in 2011, Dance, Guest Post

30 Days?

Above you can see a very short clip of me dancing from last weekend.  We’re in the middle, not the first Irish dance group ;)

Piggy backing a bit off a post where Sarah shared about her concerns regarding the C25K program, I watched a bit of Level 1 of Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred yesterday evening.  Yes, I watched it, but did not actually do the workout.  Why? Well, I wanted to see what it was all about first, and see realistically how long it would take to do.

What I like about the work out is that there is a warm up, a good one at the beginning, which will definitely help prevent injury.  I liked that the first series of exercises are basic, and that in addition to traditional versions of each exercise, there is a beginner version available, and Jillian takes the time to point out the differences.   Another plus is that you don’t need a ton of equipment.  Yes, they use weights, but honestly you could sub canned goods if you wanted.

From what I watched there really wasn’t anything I didn’t like, Jillian takes care to talk about proper form and is motivational enough to keep you interested without being overbearing or phony sounding.

Typically, I have a hard time with workout videos.  There’s no one to push me but myself, and finding that self motivation has gotten more and more difficult lately.

In a perfect world, I would wake up early three times a week to do this workout before I went to work. In reality, I have a feeling I might do this once in a while.  I know I need to make workouts like this a priority, and that these are the things that will make my legs and core stronger and in turn make my running better and, most importantly, less painful.

In case you couldn’t tell, I’ve been struggling with motivation in a few places of life lately.  Workouts, writing, those are things that tend to get pushed to the back burners first.

How do you make yourself and your health a priority in your life?

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Catherine, June 30th 2011 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in 2011, life, training

(Former) Life

I know most people don’t know much about Irish dancing, nor do they realize how big of a deal the World Championships are in the Irish dancing world.  Finally, someone has made a documentary about the World Championships of Irish Dance.  Below is the trailer for the film, and it honestly, moved me almost to tears.  Watching the interviews, the montages from World’s, it just brings back so many memories.  I miss that part of my life so much. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy the trailer!

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Catherine, February 11th 2011 | Tags: , ,
Posted in Dance, Movies

Fall Back

Daylight Savings Time ends at 2 a.m., but I’m having a hard time with this “fall back” business.  You see, the weather here in Los Angeles lately has been, well, hardly fall like.  I know we don’t get actual seasons, and we hardly ever see the leaves change, but is it too much to ask for some crisp weather?  You know, something below 80 degrees preferably?  Today, at least, we had a bit of clouds, and the temps have dropped again. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for more drops to come.

My toes are quite sore after more than two hours of dance practice this afternoon.  It had been two weeks since my last practice, and a year since the last time I danced before that.  In street shoes, I wear a size 6 womens, but in Irish dance soft shoes, I wear a 2.5.  I but my shoes so much smaller not only because there is a size difference anyway, but because when they’re smaller, they look neater, and if you buy them with room in the toe, they’re too big, and get stretched out. Basically, you want a nice, snug fit, and the 2.5s are the perfect size. Here I am two years ago at regionals, you can kinda see how small the shoes make my feet look. Although, they are pretty small anyway.  Also, just to clear things up, yes, I used self tanner on just my legs. It’s an Irish dance thing.


When I was dancing all the time, it was rate that my toes would hurt after practice. Usually they would be a little sore after a major competition, because I danced harder at competitions than at class, but even then, usually, more often than not, it was my arches that would be on fire.  There’s no support in those shoes. ;) Anyway, after class today, I noticed I had two tiny blisters on the tops of my second toe on each foot. Ahhh, memories. It’s funny to me that for dance I buy shoes in a smaller size, and for running I buy them slightly larger. It isn’t just my toes that are sore from today’s practice, my right knee is a bit sore, which is I guess a nice break for the left side of my body which normally hurts. Jokes. I stretched, and took some Ibprofen and hopefully some rest will make me in tip top shape for tomorrow.

On the schedule for tomorrow is a 6 mile run.  We’ve got to really start buckling down and working on increasing our mileage since we’re about nine weeks away from the Phoenix Rock n’ Roll half marathon in January!  Time is just flying by. I’m off to read, and then sleep so I can be up bright and early for our training!

 

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Catherine, November 6th 2010 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in Dance, life, Los Angeles, training

Eyes, Movies, Dance!

Yesterday morning I headed out for my first “long run” of my Phoenix half-marathon training.  We ended up walking almost all of our 7 miler, but I’m just glad we got out there and made the distance.  My IT band was super tight and sore, so when I got home I stretched it out.

I had an eye appointment at 1pm which I was really excited about because I hadn’t had my eyes checked in two years, and I’d broken my glasses so…yeah, hadn’t been wearing them. =X  I’m near sighted, but my right eye is stronger than my left, so I have a different RX in each eye.  It’s not terrible, just a small prescription, but it does make a difference.  My new eye doctor is really nice (and also very handsome,) and my prescription had changed.  In fact, my eye is better, so my prescription went down a bit! Yay!  I ordered my new glasses, and they fixed my old pair so I would have something to wear in the week or so that I’ll be waiting on my new glasses.

When I got home, my friend Allie sent me a text asking if I wanted to see NEVER LET ME GO with her that evening. I’d been wanting to see it, so I said of course, and we planned to meet to see a 9pm showing.

For dinner, we roasted a chicken and had some cous-cous, it was good, but I wish we’d had something else to add to the dish.

When I got to the theater, I tried to purchase my ticket, only to find out the show was sold out!  We went to the little bar next to the theater for a drink and decided to see THE SOCIAL NETWORK at 10:40pm instead.  Allie had already seen it, but it was really the only other movie we both were really excited about.  I do want to see IT’S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY, but I wasn’t really feelin it last night.  I was super disappointed we couldn’t see NEVER LET ME GO.

I was pleasantly surprised by THE SOCIAL NETWORK.  After hearing all the hype, I was somewhat skeptical, but it was good!  Also, Andrew Garfield is totally adorable, so that helped :)

This morning I was supposed to go on a hike with the girls, but getting home around 1:30am and not sleeping very well, I decided to skip and sleep in.  While I was sleeping in I had a voice mail from my Irish dance teacher, and after calling her back, I agreed to take a place in one of our teams again this year at the Oireachtas (regionals).  I can’t believe I’m doing this again, but the competition is up in Sacramento, so I can stay with my parents in San Francisco most likely, and only take one day off from work to drive up there.  I’m amped.  I think the Irish dance practices along with my half-marathon training will be a great combination.  It does however, mean that I have to skip out on the LA Prostrate 5k which is a bummer.

Tonight, we are going to our friend’s house for dinner.  While we were grocery shopping I picked up some food for lunch today.

The best part?  There are leftovers for lunch tomorrow! :) Win.

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Catherine, October 10th 2010 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in celebrities, Eating, food, half marathon, Los Angeles, lunch, Movies, training