Odds and Ends

Hi Skate Fam, today is Tuesday and it’s simply my favorite day of the week! Adult night tonight, I just can’t wait! This week is even better because I am going to Skate Depot on Thursday WHAT WHAT yeah that’s right. I can’t believe it’s been a month already. I keep having flashbacks to when I was there last. Such a blast until…it wasn’t. Falls really sucks for me because they haunt me for awhile afterwards. I get all gun-shy and afraid to take risks. It’s been four weeks though and I’ve skated many times in between.


I still have my injury. One of my derby friends told me she waits two weeks for every injury she gets, and then she goes to the doctor. It’s been four weeks for me. I feel like I should probably wait it out, then I’ll pull my arm in some weird way that is so painful. Still waiting it out. I never really thought I could get so hurt at skating, I guess I am learning my lesson.

I’ve been doing all this couple skating, which is awesome, but the step gets boring after awhile. One of the most fun things about going to Cerritos is checking out other couples and the steps they take. I have been learning one new step called the shuffle. Fun but hard. One leg always weaker than the other. I have also been trying to do better about skating on my toes. It’s the sort of thing you are supposed to learn when you first start skating, but I did not listen to my teachers. So now here I am two years later, not having much skills with skating on my toes. Funny how that stuff comes back around.

I have been advised to take smaller steps when I’m skating and doing cross overs. Ha, easier said than done! It really is scary to bring your skates closer together. Plus I have learned habits with the way I take my steps. I don’t even really know how to pick up my speed unless I am in my usual stance. Everyone says I have to unlearn my bad habits. Um okay, working on that.

With my backwards skating, I have my all consuming fear of turning around. It’s so ridiculous but I must get over it. When I hear the music getting towards the end of the song, I’m already dreading the turn around that’s coming. At the rink on Saturday, I worked on turning around over and over. I felt like I made a little headway. The fast backward skaters, you should see how effortlessly they turn around at top speed. I want to get their.

On a completely unrelated note, how awesome are my pictures for today’s blog?  Check out Olivia!  Funny that they redacted her name from the cover.  The internet is amazing in that it continues to yield good images, some two years later. Keep calm and skate on, skaters.

The Harder They Come...

Hello skate fans! I hope this greeting finds you well. I have been a very remiss blogger. Sometimes life gets in the way, but of course there is always time for skating.


I went up to Cerritos a little over a week ago. I did not eagerly go to my computer afterwards for one main reason – I fell again. Part of me says “why do I keep falling all of the sudden? I thought I was doing better in my skating!” Ultimately my falls have been related to the falls of other people, so I don’t think it’s a reflection on my skating skills at all. Also, I now skate at a much higher speed, so when the fall occurs, I have a lot more inertia to send me flying and falling much harder.

Still, it was a bummer of a fall. My first mistake was I cut to the left to avoid some slower skaters. To the right is always, always, ALWAYS the safest. I cut left and these two old guys (yes they were very old, at least 60 if not 70) fell directly in front of me. I saw it coming and cut even further left to avoid them. It totally looked like I was in the clear, and then one of the old guys flung his arm out in my path as he completed his fall. All of this happens in the span of a second. I tried to step over but I was going much too fast. I rolled over his arm, which I’m sure felt great, and it took me down. I went flying, face first. Came down first on my right elbow – yes the same elbow injured only one week earlier – followed by smacking both knees, and then I flopped down on my belly. Yes I cleaned the rink floor for a few feet. I immediately curled up in a ball to avoid the people behind me but they skated expertly around me. Then one of my friends came and helped me up. My body was aching.

That really took a lot of joy out of my night. Injuries always suck. I didn’t even clean my skates on their fancy skate cleaning machine, or buy new nuts like I was supposed to. I didn’t even do any backwards skating. Sigh. But still, before that happened, I was having such an amazing time. Nero didn’t go, which rocked my world. I felt so disappointed, I had to give myself a pep talk and remind myself I came to skate – period. Not with anyone, not any certain way, not with any certain music. The point is to skate. After that, I was good. I was jamming along with the crowd and staying in the far right lane. My new wheels were complete love on that floor.

My best defense against all this falling is: 1. Fall better, and 2. Learn how to jump. I skated with one of my teachers on Tuesday and he was all over my “bad” form. He wants me to bend my knees practically to the ground (I’m a short girl as it is) and pull one skate clear around to the other side of the other skate. The way he does. Ugh time for more at home practice. Skate on, dear friends.