Jess... Skates?

Honestly, not really and certainly not well!  I went with my derby girlfriend (read more about her HERE) roller skaing last night.  I actually ASKED her to take me.  What?  I knew it was going to be really, really hard.  So I'm not going to say that it was harder than I expected, necessarily, but I will say that, yes, it was really, really hard. 

J'Alissa picked me up and we headed to the Oaks Park Skating Rink.  We were early so there weren't too many people there yet.  I gave the man my five dollar bill and got an original pair of roller skates.  As we walked to the benches, J'Alissa was absolutely giddy with anticipation of the hilarity that knew was to ensue.  I laced up my skates and she helped me get her knee pads and wrist guards on.  Believe it or not, I wasn't the only person there who was padded up...  but most of the skaters didn't bother.  Then she grabbed up her stuff and told me to grab mine and SPEED RACED to a locker.  This is when I knew I was in for it.

I Bambi legged it to the locker, put my stuff in and then approached the rink.  Nervous doesn't begin to describe it.  I kept one hand on the wall and jerked my way down the first straight away.  Constantly having to find your center of gravity takes a lot of concentration.  Like, total concentration.  After my first stilted lap, I asked J'Alissa how to break and she told me to use the toe brake thing...  so I tried and promptly fell flat on my ass.  It hurt, don't get me wrong, but now the worst case scenario was over and behind me!! 

I got up and headed for the retard lane in the back.  After I'd gone up and down that at least a dozen times, I wasn't even using the wall anymore!  J'Alissa showed me how to do a real derby stop and I practiced the foot work for that - but it'll be a while before I'm brave enough to try to execute that at any speed!  Then, she suggested that we try a lap on the rink.  I tried to argue but she generally doesn't take no for an answer.  We actually did several laps and I was well away from the wall.  I even thought I was hauling ass at times until I realized that I was being passed constantly and had yet to pass a single skater. 

We ended up being there for about an hour and that was plenty for my first time.  I knew that I would be pretty sore today and in some new places so I didn't want to overdo it.  Plus, anything that takes that much concentration is exhausting in other ways too.  As we were leaving, I did promise that I'd skate for an hour and a half next time...  so I guess we'll be going back on Wednesday.  And I'll be wearing hot pants and knee highs.  You have been warned.