On the town on a Friday night networking, partying, dancing, eating great food (served by our very own Hedy Nochimson of Plate & Bottle), and generally having a great time at the Little Black Dress event, a fundraiser put on by Monica Karst of the Santa Cruz Socialites. Awesome event with great friends and colleagues.

I left a bit early (it ended at 10:00, and I left by 9:20 pm), as I had to teach classes in the morning starting at 8:00 am. As is my usual pace (fast, and it’s great for repelling the bad guys), I walked down the driveway, and was just ready to turn left (my intuition told me to get out my small flashlight, however, my head thought it knew better and told me “Nawww, there are lots of street lights. Don’t need the flashlight,” feeling a bit like Smeagle. Not 10 seconds later, my left boot caught the embankment as I was turning, and sent my body sailing across the sidewalk and into the tire of a parked SUV. Both arms were thrown back. I did not have time to break and roll. My right arm hit the tire, and my knees acted somewhat as breaks on the concrete, as I propelled forward. In that moment I felt the right arm protruded wayyyy back, and there was a slight numbing sensation. I knew I had effed up. My brain labored that I would need surgery, and months, maybe years, of therapy. And have pain forever…I just knew it.

Got onto my hands, untouched in this fiasco, and stood up with a bit of knee pain, but still able to walk. I slowly pulled on my arm forward, and of course it was in tremendous pain, not unlike childbirth. It was bent at the elbow by design from the incident. Grabbed my purse (btw, forgot my camera somewhere there on the concrete…so if anybody turned in a Nikon, let me know…lol…yes, it got thrown too), and I walked a few hundred feet. I had to sit down. Got back up, walked a bit more, then realized I was not going to be able to drive (yeah, I was still focused on getting to my car).

Got on my phone and called a couple people who were still at the event. Of course they did not hear their phones, as they were still dancing to great music by DJ Sparkle who played the most fantastic music! (That part of the event was the most fun!) I called a couple more people, and Marica Buenafe came to my rescue. She was at Dominican ER with me until 3:15 am!!! She has more info on the comings and goings in Emergency that night…lol.

Even though I was in pain (after 2 meds, a single shot to the (other) arm, then a double shot to same arm), I was able to quickly fall asleep, as I was by now, exhausted. My arm had a clean break (Great testimonial for the effects of BodyPump training!).

So here I sit, on the mend, ‘eating crow’ because I did not listen to my own intuition, and I teach this! I teach it in my martial arts classes, my self-defense classes, and I even throw it into fitness workouts! Lesson two: slow down fool…

I’m sure I’ll see lessons 3, and 4, and 5…who know how much will come out of this. So far, I am enjoying the fact that I have an awesome staff! My Crew of 19 are fabulous, capable, reliable, fantastic, totally awesome, and so #badass! They get the job done, thank you verr much! Kudos to Marcia Buenafe and Robin Ludington for their exceptional help, and to Analicia Cube, Cassandra Coraggio, Brent Rohrs, and ALL my subs and help: Sophie Calhoun, Connie Kreemer, Anika Wong (for stepping in to teach BodyPump while on vacation here!), Melissa Finsthwait, Samira Hartje, Dixie Mills, Denice Kowalski, and Bernadette Franzel. And thanks to everyone on my entire Crew: Kira Durant, Amanda Clark, Carolyn Wormhoudt, Jenna Giuliani, Jillian Chesley, Katie Landau, Alma Arquiza, and Lorna Russo. They keep the studio humming!

And btw, that night at Little Black Dress made it totally worth it!

Much Love,

Clara E Minor

Cultivating #badasscourage, and encouraging you to #fight4YOURlife!