Looking up a steep mountain

Here we are in August already and it has come down to crunch time. While I was on holidays it gave me a chance to reflect and collect exactly what needs to be done to finish this challenge in a full filling way and with some respect to those that created it. It also gave my badly sprained foot some time to heal up. Back in May while trying to earn my board breaking stripe, I fired a roundhouse kick and hit the bottom corner of a black board.  I knew right away that something was wrong about 2 hours later when throbbing pain began. It proceeded to move around from the bottom to the top various areas and different pain sensations. I knew I should rest it and I did use ice, heat, a dump truck load of ibuprofen, oil of oregano, and other remedies. I couldn't stop training, not being this close to completing my brown belt and the motivation of completing a goal. Plus I have bills to pay and mouths to feed, so it is what it is. I will keep going and hopefully it will heal on the fly. Some times I have a very stubborn streak and sometimes just plain stupid. I refuse to stop and pain only hurts if you let it. I did go see a doctor and x-rays where taken and there was no signs of a break or fracture, nothing but some swelling. I have never had a injury like this before in my life, I just don't know.

Moving on though, I will be focusing on completing my goals of 5000 kicks and 1000 stretching minutes this month. I plan on trying to complete a couple goals a month until the challenge is up, its all or nothing at this stage. My kicks need major work and I struggle with flexability issues. Lack of flexibilty is a deterant for me because it takes a long time for me to gain any and when I do if I slack off on kicks or stretching I'm back to square one. So like everyone in some way I get discouraged and pout instead of continuing as diligently as I should. This is why I chose these two goals to do together. What kind of example am I setting to lower belts when I do warm ups and I can't execute a decent kick. What message am I sending to my Sifus when I have been training as long as I have and I still have major work to do on my kicks. Not a very good one in my perspective anyway. So I am hoping to kill several birds with one stone. Improving my kicks, flexability and building muscle and endurance in my legs is the focus. Come September I should have some better kicks and better flexability and a far more stable center. Thats the plan anyway.