Skate Your Life

Hey Blogosphere! How is everyone enjoying their summer? I have been having so much fun on my eights! It’s been a gorgeous, hot summer in San Diego and there is nothing like rolling with the cool summer breeze washing over you.


I know I have been a terrible blogger and I have zero excuses. But I will update you on the relevant skating happenings and do my best and keep up in the coming months.

America’s Got Talent finally called and said thanks but no thanks. Sad face! BUT the silver lining was that they invited us to participate in the filming of the opening sequence for the show. While it may seem like a token compared to being on the show, it was still really nice to be included. They said they wanted colorful, lively acts which is why we were included. We filmed it up in January and let me tell you, THE BEST TIME EVER. We had an absolute ball! The shoot was funny – everyone participating was rejected by the judges either this year or last year. Some people had been called randomly after their YouTube videos were seen. There were showgirls, dancers, punk rockers, can-can girls and then of course us – a groovy disco roller skating couple. Our part of the video was so cool – Nick walks up, lip synching in the camera, and we come in right behind him. Along with everyone else. BUT since we were on wheels, it was no problem getting right ahead of everyone! Perfect! After the shoot, Nick was so gracious taking pictures with everyone. So without further ado, here is the video below. Check me out at the :37 mark on the left hand side of the screen. Yes I am the cutie with the red afro wig and I get about three solid seconds on screen, amazing!

http://www.nbc.com/americas-got-talent/video/nick-introduces-americas-got-talent-season-8/n37404/

So that is that. In other news, May was Back to Cali, my 4th year going! Such an incredibly rad time, every year it gets a little better. Since my accident in 2011, I keep a cautious distance from the super-fast lane, and at an event like this, it’s even faster than usual. Scary! But so exhilarating at the same time. I was able to skate two of the four nights. The second night was fun but somehow even more packed and of course someone got hurt and we had to wait a good 20 minutes for the ambulance and getting the floor cleaned. That definitely interrupted the flow. But all in all an awesome event and you know I’ll be there next year!

My street skating every Sunday continues. The beach has been getting so incredibly packed, I am parking further and further away. Those beach parking lots are treacherously dirty, full of little things that want to take this skater girl down. So far so good. I stumbled on a rock on the intersection a few weeks ago TERRIFYING. Let me fall on the sidewalk or parking lot please, don’t take me down in the middle of the crosswalk in front of a dozen cars.

So come out and see us do our thing every Sunday at Mission Beach. You won’t regret it. in fact you will probably want to buy a pair of skates and learn how to downtown. It’s what happened to me!

Time to Roll

Hey skaters!  April greetings to you and all that.  Been getting my roll on like a boss.  I've never felt stronger on my eights.  The feeling of racing around the rink with the wind blowing my hair back - I truly think I will never get tired of it.

The weather is starting to heat up in San Diego and it's so perfect for roller skating.  I skated at Mission Beach last weekend, the weather was sensational.  Felt like the middle of July.  It was spring break so the beach was packed.  I couldn't find anywhere to park amongst the millions of other people so I parked a few miles away and skated in to the skate spot.  It was so awesome to flex my street skating muscles and not have anything go wrong.  Using your roller skates as a form of transportation is the best feeling.

I was at Skate Depot on a Thursday a few weeks ago.  The first time since my accident, actually.  Man, I'm rusty!  The crowd felt very intense and intimidating.  But my skating has changed since my accident, and I'm definitely not as much of a risk taker as I was.  I still had an absolute blast and it just makes me want to get back to going monthly so I can get used to it again.

My newest skill I've been working on it backwards crossovers.  It's also good for couples rexing.  It is hard!  But it's exciting to learn something completely new in backwards.  Backwards skating is still frightening for me and I'm very hesitant to do it without a partner.  I am trying to work back to backwards skating alone again, but the crowd is so sketchy in San Diego.

Looking forward to rolling hard all this summer.  Definitely want to do more street skating, that was such a rush.  Roller skating, the forgotten form of transportation.

In Love with my Eights

Hello out there in the blog world!  I am absolutely thrilled to be writing a regular old blog post.  No more off topic entries or horror stories about my injuries.  In short, I took two months off following my accident in September.  It sucked, I hated not skating.  But I was messed up and needed the break.  Now I am finally working again and yes, skating again.  People close to me are alarmed and concerned.  My doctor's advice was to "please, please never roller skate again".  Sigh.  Where's the sense of adventure?  I am so passionate about skating, there's no way I can stop.  Sorry, worrywarts.

It's hard to describe just how great it is to skate again.  I guess it's because of the forced break, it's made me appreciate it so much more.  Feels JUST AMAZING.  The first few weeks were understandably shaky.  I definitely have lost some of my confidence.  But it's not scary - what is scary is backwards skating since that's how I got hurt.  Session skating and roller dancing, I haven't hurt myself doing those things so I have no fear.  But after the initial few weeks, my confidence is back where it was and I feel like a million bucks when I'm on my wheels.

As for backwards, I am really afraid of it.  In some ways, I just want to forget how to do  it so I can relearn the skill.  Obviously I was doing something wrong.  My friends want to help me.  I have done some very, very slow and careful stuff.  What I have done is backwards couple skating, lots of that.  It may sound silly but I feel safer with a partner. If I were to fall back, I would land on them.  Of course I only skate with highly competent skaters that know how to make sure we don't fall.  We haven't.  Just doing the couples skating has made me feel better about backwards altogether.  I know I will do it by myself again one day. It's just too soon right now.

I've been going to Adult Night at Skate World, of course, but what's even better is I've been able to get up to Cerritos almost on a regular basis!  It's so completely awesome.  Fingers crossed that my ride stays solid.  I've started doing downtown with the skaters up there and they are welcoming me with open arms.  I love it.  They do the same roller dancing we do but with different names and slightly different moves.  It's a trip.  I go up there and pick up new steps and then I show my crew when I come back home.

That's about it, and of course skating at the Bay every weekend.  Been doing a lot more teaching there, I like it.  We are always trying to recruit new skaters to learn roller dancing. It's a dying art!  You know you want to learn.  Hit me up.

Me and my buddy, Paul, getting our Halloween roll on

See Sara Skate!

Hello out there in the skating world!  I have been having the absolute best time skating.  I know I sound like a broken record, but I can't help it.  Roller skating is too awesome! I have some new skating adventures to report on.

I skated up in Cerritos last week.  I went up with Nero so it gave the two of us lots of opportunities to practice our couples skating.  We did a fantastic job and neither of us fell the whole night.  We did a bunch of backwards couple skating, which was really exciting because I have only done that a couple times before.  Once we established the steps, we were golden and our steps were perfectly synchronized. Being up there at that rink, the music and people were as incredible as ever.  I saw tons of awesome skating.  I was really in the zone the whole night, and my confidence was way up.  I skated over in the fast lane a good amount of the time and held my own.  Some of my friends that do downtown were also up there and it was super fun to do routines in the middle.  We got a lot of kudos.

After doing this blog for more than a year, I actually have some video of me skating.  Now calm down, because it's not like a proper skating vid or anything.  But Paul and I did make some instructional videos to teach downtown, and this is them.  Shooting the video was a good time.  It was a gorgeous sunny day.  I wish I hadn't been chewing gum, but I can fix that next time around.  I was honored that Paul asked me to do the videos with him.

Roller Dance Instruction #1

Roller Dance Instruction #2

Adult Night at Skate World has been great, as usual.  No place like home.  Last night the power went out in the middle of the session.  What a trip!  Absolute darkness.  Luckily no one got hurt as it was towards the end of the session.  I was in the middle of the rink with Paul doing routines so I did hold on to him for dear life for a split second haha.  But of course your eyes adjust after a sec.  And everyone in that place had their cell phone to use as a flashlight.  Then they told us to leave and the excitement was over.  But a memorable night for sure.

I'm going back to Cerritos in a couple weeks *excited* can't wait to do it again.

Photo Credit to Fashion Edit

Eight Wheels of Happiness

Happy weekend out there in the blogosphere!  It's a gorgeous, sunny day in southern California and I can't wait to get out and skate in it.  I have been having such a blast skating lately.  Not to say it isn't always good, I've just really been in my zone in the past week or two.  I skated up in Cerritos last week, and..drum roll please....I didn't fall!  Woo hoo, yeah me! Thank God.  That fall last time was awful.   Anyway, it was a great Adult Night.  The DJ was playing slow music pretty much the whole night.  He seemed like he was in a romantic mood.  I had to make the most of it, even though I prefer more upbeat stuff.   The crowd was awesome, as always, perfectly in time with the music and grooving all night.

I skated the Trios special with a couple of my friends, and it was pretty damn terrifying lol.  It is only my second time doing it.  There were lots and lots of people on the floor and being in the middle of the trio, it really feels like you are going to completely whack into the people you are coming up on.  It's a bit hard to explain.  But up in Cerritos, all the specials are for three songs and that felt like an eternity when I was out there skating the trios.  I was so ready to quit after one song, but I hung in there.  It's terrifying but also very exciting.  I would definitely do it again. And check out this awesome 1922 postcard I found online.  This is exactly how trios are done!

I recently learned this new backwards step, it took me FOREVER to master it but finally, I have! Such a good feeling.  Everyone knows how to do it and it's so awesome to be able to join the others and follow the step correctly.  We always do this step to that song "Forget Me Nots" and they play that at the rink every week.  I also learned how to do the cha cha recently, another type of skating line dance.  It's so cool!

I've been watching some roller skating movies lately.  I watched Hell on Wheels, which was a very good roller derby documentary.  Most roller skating movies out there are about roller derby, but I did watch Xanadu.  I hadn't seen it since I was a kid.  Pretty dated but I liked the skating.  I watched a ridiculous movie called Kansas City Bomber, starring Raquel Welch as the Bomber!  Very 70's and silly.

I'm going to Cerritos twice in August, it's so awesome!  I can't wait.  Until then, see you at Skate World.

(Photo Credits to Style Me Pretty and Foxy's Antiques )

Hello Summer

Hello out there in the blog world! It's a hot sunny day in San Diego and I am behind on my blog, as usual.  I'm a very busy girl so please bear with me.  I am home from my trip to Vegas last week.  Man that stuff goes so fast!  I shouldn't complain about the 85 degree heat here since it was a cool 115 in Vegas.  Vegas was awesome, I had such a great time.  I did all sorts of non-skating things so I won't go into that.  I was so tempted to put on my skates and skate the Strip and at the same time, not tempted at all.  The hordes out there were pretty frightening and I would imagine that it is illegal to rollerskate on the Strip.  But a girl can dream.

I did hit Adult Night at Crystal Palace on Sunday.  Their Adult Night is strange because they have an all day session on Sundays from 10-10 or something like that.  They just stick the Adult Night at the end, from 7-10.  So the kids can stay, which is annoying.  There were some tiny kids there and yes, they could skate but not good like the adults.  The music was hitting it but the crowd was tiny.  It was the night before the 4th of July so it may not always be like that.  I made the best of it and saw many of the same regulars as previous trips.  I saw some very cool shuffle skating going on and of course I did my downtown thing.  San Diego style, yo.

It's so hot now in San Diego, it couldn't be more perfect weather for skating at the beach.  Love it!  The awesome thing is that I just got my boy some roller skates of his own so I really want to help him get his skating legs this summer.  As a small child, being able to roller skate well brings you so much clout.  I know he will like it more once he gets better at it, plus skating at the beach will probably be more fun for him than being at the rink.  I will bargain with him - one hour of skating equals one hour of sand play.

Cerritos next week, baby!  I am so excited already.  I cannot wait to roll up there!  It's going to be the bomb.  I haven't been to Cerritos for over a month and all my injuries have healed.  I am ready to get re- injured lol!  Every time I skate up there, I pick up a little something else.  So here's to picking up a little something else.  Now put on some skates and get your roll on out there!  It's a great way to stay cool.

Skate Like It's Summer

Hi out there, I know it's been a few weeks since I have blogged.  Honestly, I was struck down by the flu bug.  Forced off my wheels but the evil hand of fate!  Oh well, it was bound to happen as I haven't been sick for a few years.  Guess it was my turn.  I didn't skate for a solid week, which was so bizarre.  Then I went skating and it totally got me sick all over again.  I wasn't ready to be back on my wheels, apparently.  Let me catch you up.

Right before New Years, I skated in Cerritos.  So unbelievable.  There is simply nothing like skating up there, it's just the best.  I had such a fantastic time.  It was really crowded and very frightening over in the fast lane so I stayed out of it for the most part.  Lots of people do the same style of skating as me around the floor so it was a blast to follow people, or get in a line of five or six people and mimic their steps.  So fun to know I can keep up now.

I am just barely returning to a normal skating schedule after my illness.  I will definitely remember that I have to stay home on Skate Night when I've been ill.  I have so much fun skating, I don't really think of it as an exertion or exercise.  I skated last Tuesday for the first time after my sickness.  It felt a little weird!  Just took me a couple dozen rotations to get comfortable again.  Then I was golden.

We are having unbelievable weather right now in San Diego, so after a long two months off, I was able to skate at the beach this past Sunday.  It was glorious.  Brilliant blue skies, hazy sunshine and a cool breeze coming off the water.  I love to be on the wood in the rink, but skating in the sunshine is an experience like no other.  Fantastic skating day.

Skating at the rink tonight.  Some of the rexers organized a Skate Night so it should be on the crowded side.  Last week, there was a gal there who told me she rode her motorcycle 80 miles to skate with us.  Very cool!  She told me about a rink in Fountain Valley.  I mapped it and it's about the exact distance of Cerritos, maybe slightly less.  She claims they have a great Adult Night on Thursdays.  Have to see for myself but sounds like a road trip in the making.

Faster, Skatecat! Kill! Kill!

What fun I have been having skating. I'm on to the next level, and it feels incredible. :)

The Labor Day Skate BBQ was an awesome time. It's great having this new family of friends. We bbq'd and then headed over to wow the tourists. We did a skate show on the hour every hour 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00. I skated routine after routine after routine. I am really, really trying to bend my knees more but it's hard, so many habits are ingrained. As always, trying to improve. But it feels awesome to get called over anytime routines are going to be performed, and I'm one of the only skaters that can do every routine - 2-6 and the Fly. Paul is even teaching me the rare #1 routine. :) Cool!

Skating at the rink last night was the bomb! I skated faster than I have ever skated before. How invigorating! Scary too of course, even though my braking continues to improve all the time. I was even braking during the turns last night, a first for me. A couple times I came up so fast on a group wearing rentals that I had no choice but to cut through the middle to avoid a fall. This is a no-no. I sure know that being a skate dancer myself. But luckily I didn't take anyone down with me, and the only solution is to improve with braking even more. I found out that I can only brake with my right foot. So now to practice braking with my left foot.

I was really watching those derby girls last night. Yes, I watched Whip It - I know it's so cliche but it did give me a new found interest and respect for roller derby. Finally I can understand how the game is played and why the girls skate so fast and are so aggressive. No I'm not saying I'm going derby, no way! I'm a skate dancer all the way. But the girls are very talented, and their style of skating crouching low is a good style to follow. I did try that last night and saw some looks from the derby girls (is she going derby?) lol Always fun to try new things.

Jammed out on the backwards special last night. I wish it was for more than one song. I should backwards skate when the rink is still empty at the start of the night, but I'm warming up during that time and don't have my "skating legs" to confidently backwards skate. In time.

Cerritos Style

Wanted to get in a skating greeting before the weekend begins. I have had some other commitments this week so have not skated as much as I would like. How can that be, how can there be anything more important than skating? Yeah that's how it is when you become a mom. BUT the San Diego skating group was making its monthly trek to Skate Depot in Cerritos and after missing Adult Night at Skate World on Tuesday, I was itching to go.

The rink was not quite as crowded as in previous times I have gone, and that was really cool. I had time to warm up around the oval and I am going so much faster these days. I used to be so afraid to crossover at a higher speed, now I can do it and it makes me feel so proud. I can go even faster if I don't do the crossovers. Even now they make me nervous but gradually, I am getting better and better at them. Awesome!

I went in the center of the rink and the turn out from the San Diego group was fantastic! Must have been a good dozen or more people there. It's always nice to see some familiar faces in the crowd. I skated downtown and totally rocked it, it was too cool! My confidence is getting stronger in my skating all the time, and it's just thrilling.

Music was a bit slow but picked up around 10:00 pm. Then the rink started to get crowded and you could see some amazing performances in the center of the rink. I was still skating routines with the group but it started getting too crowded. This guy danced right into me and I would have eaten it hard if he hadn't caught me. That gave me a fright and I stopped doing routines then, just too crowded.

I was also backwards skating - not just on the special, I even skated it during the all skate! I never do that as it makes me too nervous but my backwards skating has improved to the point where I know I need to keep it up so I can improve even more. My backwards skating has no rhythm and nothing will make you see that like being in Cerritos with all the amazing skaters grooving all around you. I watched them carefully and tried to pick up little moves here and there.

Skating BBQ at the beach tomrrow so that should be a lot of fun, although the music probably won't be going for skating until late in the day. I still want to hit up the rink tomorrow night so I'm not going to overdo it at the beach, want to save my enery for the rink skating.

4th of July Skate

Hello out there! I know I haven't been posting as much in recent days and weeks, but trust me when I say it's because I've been skating! The summer is just going great, all I can say is I Heart Roller Skating! Here's a bit about my recent skating activities:

July 4 Bay Skate

This was a great fun day of skating. The weather didn't turn out unfortunately, so it was gray and ugly the entire day, but we didn't let that stop us. Put in a good three hours of skating time and it was awesome to see the pros that showed up to strut their stuff. Did the numbers with the other skaters and was right on the money, too cool. Started learning the Fly, this is my next routine to conquer. My #6 is shaky too so working on that all the time.

July 1 World on Wheels

What a blast! I had the best time skating here. It's funny because their name is World On Wheels so everything is WOW. Wow Rules! Wow no refunds!

They have a few different adult nights and this one was not well attended but I like that. You actually have a bit of space to move around. One of the coolest things is that the center circle of the rink is enclosed so no worries about people knocking you down when you are dancing. Very cool! There are two entrances/exits and even room to sit down on benches. It's hard to describe but it is super terrific. I showed them how we roll San Diego style. It was a trip to check out the different routines they do up there. The music was pretty good - there was a painful slow set that seemed endless but other than that, the music was up tempo.

July 6 Adult Night at Skate World

Fun adult night, although not very well attended. I guess people were still tired from Sunday. I got some work in on the Fly and skated the routines with the other skaters. I am really trying to focus on 1) Looking up (0r anywhere that isn't the floor) and 2) Finessing my moves. Even though I know the moves, I need to make them smoother and add even more bounce than I already have.

Always room for improvement. Busy weekend coming up - won't be able to skate at the beach, which is disappointing but I'll be at the rink Saturday night. See you later, skater.

The Pain of New Skates

It's Friday and I wanted to get a blog post in before the weekend. My computer is very slowly being repaired. I am crossing my fingers that I will get it back in May. Last weekend I need to stretch my skates because they were killing me, particularly on my right foot. The skaters told me this old school method to stretch your skates - put on your thickest socks, soak them in alcohol and put on your skates. The theory is that the alcohol makes the leather expand. I liked this idea better than leaving my skates at a cobbler for a week so I went for it.

I thought it would be wise to wear two socks on my right foot since that was the one that hurt more. I could barely even get my feet in my skates as they were snug already. Standing up was pure torture. I walked around my house cleaning and doing laundry to take my mind off the pain. I was able to endure 25 minutes before I had to get them off. My feet looked all crazy from my toes being cramped in there, and the pattern on my socks was embedded in my skin. Lovely!

So I skated at the rink Tuesday for Adult Night, and I wore my newly stretched skates. Amazingly, it actually worked! My left foot is just fine, my right is still a bit ouchie but nothing like the previous week. The skaters recommended I do the alcohol thing again - noooo! But I guess I will. My skates felt pretty good on Tuesday. I am only able to wear them indoors, and I have to wear my old skates for outdoors because of the type of wheels that are on my skates.

In other news, I asked the guy that sold me my skates if he could tell me anything about the history of my skates. I found out that my skates were bought in 1960 and were used for competitive skating. Fascinating!

Can't wait to get my skate on this weekend. Tomorrow night I'll be at the rink - hopefully it's not crawling with kids because I am really looking forward to it. Then Sunday i am skating at the Bay, the weather man is promising a beautiful weekend. Get out and enjoy the sunshine on your skates!

Roll With It

Hello Skating World! I know I have been out of touch and you all are suffering. I can tell from all the emails you guys have been sending me, begging me for an update. The world needs to know what I am up to! I understand and I am here to calm you with my tales of roller wonder.

I have been skating up a storm, like usual. I was at the beach last weekend, which was a lot of fun. I took my son so that was challenging. He is asking for some skates, it's too cute. Skates for tiny toddler feet are super expensive, so we'll stick with the plastic for now. I did a lot of practicing on the continuation and the duck walk. Ugh so hard but I am very slowly improving. Need to practice, practice, practice.

Adult Night on Tuesday was super fun. The whole Skate This group was there and I wore my new Skate This shirt. The group lined up to do downtown and I was actually able to keep up for a few minutes! It is a real rush to do downtown with a big group like that, there must have been 10 people. It was very cool. Paul really wants me to get up to speed on it before the heart of the summer gets here, and his help is so invaluable. He will call out the steps right before they come up if I don't know them so I can try to stay on the beat, it's really helpful.

In other news, I got some new skates, new to me, some old vintage skates that were recommended to me. They are very cool and I have been informed they are quite professional. People in the know sure give my skates tons of attention! The thing about my skates is they have these Douglass Snyder plates that are apparently quite special. Above is a picture of my skates, and here's a shot of my fancy plates:

I'll be skating at the beach on Saturday. I've never done the Mission Beach thing before, I've been going to Mission Bay, so it should be interesting. I will just do my thing and not worry about the tourists watching me, and hopefully I will have some opportunities to learn some new things. If I'm not too tired, I'll be skating at the rink that night. Viva la Skating!

Roller Skate for Poise and Charm

Had a great weekend skating my little butt off! Friday night I hit up the rink, I got there early before there was too many kids. But even still, it was just one of those nights where the kids are acting crazy. Too much kool aid or something. I don't like skating with the kids acting that way because they are reckless and taking too many chances around the floor. More than once I saw a preteen boy jumping over a fallen child. Bunch of punks is what they are. But I am trying to give off a super friendly vibe at the rink, even with those punk kids since they are there every single weekend, just like me. Anyway, it was a decent night of skating, just a little nerve wracking for my taste.

Saturday I decided to do a little skating in my garage - I know it sounds funny but as a beginner, I need all the practice I can get, anywhere, anytime. Also in my garage, there is a section of the concrete that has been worn down over time and it's very smooth and ideal for skating. I turned up the car radio, opened my car doors and got my roll on. It was beneficial to practice alone as I usually don't so I was able to try some things that I might not normally try with an audience. It was a good practice session.

Sunday I decided to put on a brave face and take Felix with me to the beach to skate. I was nervous but my friends said they would help, plus Felix also told me how good he would be. He was true to his word! What a little trooper. It was chilly but he was bundled up and he sat and played in the sand for a good long time, long enough for me to get warmed up. There were lots of good skaters there. Then he asked if he could sit on the rock wall and watch the skating. He loved it! It was so cute. I got some more instruction from Steve, and this lady, Kathy, was there, who is an amazing skater. I introduced myself and asked her for some help with my toe jam, since she does it so well. She gave me some good tips, and I was eager to spend some time practicing but I had to keep my eye on Lixy. It will be cool to practice what she showed me at the rink on Tuesday. A great skating weekend all in all!

Rink Sessions/Outdoor Skate

Hi skating world! I have been having a ball doing plenty of skating in the last week. I went to the rink on Cesar Chavez Day since I had the day off work. There were plenty of kids but I am getting better at negotiating them. I was one of the only adults there and I had the center circle completely to myself, very cool. I got in some good practice that day.

Easter Sunday I was able to get to the Bay just before everyone left. I got there at 6:00 and everyone else got there at 2:00 so I was way late. Steve was still there so I immediately tried to grab a few lessons before he left. He showed me a bunch of the steps for #3 so now I just need to practice so I can do it at the right speed. I'm pretty slow right now. I also told him how I was going to buy some jam skates, and he gave me a lot of good info about the difference between a high boot and a low boot. He has both so he knows. Apparently the lack of a heel in the low boot is going to be a major factor for me. He said it would almost be like learning to skate all over again, which just sounds depressing. He also said my skates aren't as crap as I think they are, but it would be good to have a higher quality boot. But it would just be so boring to buy new white boots, even if they were a quality brand. I want red skates!!

Skating tonight and I won't be there - boooooo! (sigh) Oh well, I am a mom first and skater second and tonight I've got kid duty. It will be great to see my boy but I know I'll be thinking of the rink when 7:30 rolls around. Hate to miss Adult Night! The good thing is that there is a Rexers Reunion at the rink on Thursday so I will be able to go to that. Only two hours so I'll have to skate hard. I'm also toying with the idea of taking my boy to the Bay with me on Sunday so he can play in the sand while I get a little skate in. It's a little intimidating though - I might try to recruit some of my skater friends to go with me for an extra parental eye. Skater friends, you know who you are - wanna go?

First Day of Spring/Skating Practice

Went skating early this morning by the water. I haven't skated since Tuesday so anywhere I can fit it in is good. I went downtown by the convention center. Behind it there's a very pretty park area that sits right on the water, and I know some basketball courts there that are good to skate at. The cement is nice and smooth - it's no roller rink, but it will do. Here's a pic of where I skated:
I took my broom and swept one of the courts before I started. There were only a few guys playing basketball, so it was pretty deserted. One thing that sucked is you have to pay the parking meter there. So I paid $2.00 to skate two hours. Later skateboarders and more basketball players came, but they were pretty respectful of my space.

It was a beautiful day today here in San Diego. Pretty darn hot if you are roller skating, that's for sure. I was boiling but that's the beauty of roller skating - when I would get hot from the dance skating, I would just skate around a little to get the breeze and cool off. Here's a pic of the view I had to endure while I skated: :)
I got in a very good skate practice and morning work out. I did get some tourists watching me, and that makes me feel nervous like I'm going to go down. But I guess if I want to skate at the beach this summer, I better get used to it.

I'm heading to Skate World tomorrow for the afternoon session 1:30-5:00.

Summer Kick Off

I was able to get in some outdoor skating after work today! It was awesome. The weather was utterly perfect today. I didn't get to Mission Beach until nearly 6:30, but it was still very sunny. I skated down the boardwalk but it was super crowded. I think this week is spring break. There were tons of people around and they definitely got a kick out of my skating.

Skating outdoors is much more complicated than rink skating. All the debris you have to skate through is pretty scary. You just never know what you might roll over that could take you down. I didn't fall though. The skate was along the boardwalk and then back on the bayside.

I practiced some dance skating near the roller coaster before I left. It was a good skate for endurance, and a great way to get the summer started. Looking forward to Adult night tomorrow at Skate World!