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.
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