“BROWN IS A SYMBOL OF THE RIPENING AND MATURING OF A PLANT. THE BROWN-BELT STUDENT IS GAINING THE MATURITY NECESSARY TO ADVANCE TO THE HIGHEST LEVELS. HE IS REAPING THE BENEFITS OF HARD WORK.”
~GWEN BRUNO, LIVESTRONG.COM
We had to start running at brown belt; to achieve black belt, the student, or senpai, is required to run three miles in twenty-four minutes. Our instructor kept track of our efforts after class each day. I had never run in my life, except that day when I was eleven and ran around the house thirty times to burn off a candy bar.
I started by running around my block. Then I worked up to twice around my block. One day, I realized I was running three miles and making my time, and had become, in my thirties, something of an athlete. I was thin but muscular, my arms and legs no longer belonged to a stick figure, and I was healthy again—and possibly for the first time in my adult life.