2009 NW Inline Reginal Championships or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Unitard"
Really, I didn't learn to love the unitard this past weekend, but, you'll be happy to know I did survive the wearing of it. I've been holding off on posting because I was hoping to get a few decent photos to accompany my recap and for your endless enjoyment/ball busting. Thankfully I haven't had much luck (flash photography is not allowed during the meet so my camera's pics all came out blurry). I'll piece together what I can for you.
In a nutshell: I had a great time and I'm really glad I went. I learned so much just by watching people. I ended up competing in six events even though I thought I'd only have five total. I was under the impression I'd have two races on Saturday: a 500 meter and a 1000 meter and three relays on Sunday (Classic Mix 2000m, Women's Classic 2000m and Senior 4-Mix 4000m).
On Friday night, I was already nervous about the Saturday solo distance of the 1000 meter, and as I was lamenting it out loud to my race and travel partner, Amber, she decided that it would be a good time to tell me she had signed me up to race Standard Division instead of Novice, which meant I would also have a 1500 meter race. Shock, dread and fear overcame me. She saw it on my face and chuckled to herself, satisfied in knowing she had waited until it was too late for me to back out to tell me.
Saturday came much earlier than I had hoped--meets start at an ungodly 6 am and since we had to be there an hour early, we were up at 4:30. I had to force a banana down my throat and pray that my stomach would keep it down. Luckily for me and the rest of the rink, it did. And by noon on Saturday I had placed second in my three races:
Women's Grand Classic 500m
Women's Grand Classic 1000m
Women's Grand Classic 1500m
I got a shiny second place medal and we all promptly headed out to Dairy Queen to celebrate with a chocolate fuckin' dipped cone ---->
Sunday started off with my mixed relay. My partner for this relay is a 40 year old guy from Sweden named Fredrik who speaks with an accent and, who, unfortunately for him, is much faster than me. We finished fifth out of five. My fault. But, he was very sweet about it and was very nice to me despite my holding him back.
The next relay, the women's 2000m that Amber and I did was so much fun. I loved it. By my third time out, I was really gaining on the gal from the team that ended up beating us. If we had one more lap, I know I totally could've caught her. We definitely made them work and it was the race I was proudest of. It's the one that earned me my second lil' medal.
The last race, our 4 mix 4000m was pretty much a joke. See, my team's all old. There were no other 4 person teams to race in our age division, so we had to bump down from Classic to Senior in order to race. This meant we were racing World Champion speed skaters in their prime (late teens/early twenties). Guess who my team put on the start line? That's right: me. I got the start lane next to Julie Glass. Derby people know her as Atomatrix with the Oly Rollers. I kinda already knew a bit more about her which is why I showed no shame and begged her not to break any of my limbs when she blew by me. Aside from her 12 World Speed Skating titles and Pan American Games medals (etc. etc.), she's the mom of twins. Thank God I had bench coached Oly earlier this season so she kinda knew me and knew that I was a newbie. She couldn't have been nicer to me, but holy shit did she ever leave me in the dust.
Oh, by the way, most relays are 2 laps 5 times, but again, my teammates decided to tell me about 20 min. before this race that for the 4 man, I'd be doing 5 laps twice. Fuck. That's some tiring shit. By the time I came around on my 5th lap, Julie had lapped me twice going on three times. At the first tag, my team was disqualified. The ref said we had miscounted, but he was wrong. Really, he was. But because there was no way we were even close to being in contention, we didn't officially dispute it. Still, it was a lame way to end the meet. I was the only one who had to skate. And now that it's over, I'm glad I did. I can now say I've raced against literally the best in the world. I may not have won, but I never quit.
-----------------------
Here's a crop of the cheesy podium photos they take after the races. It's a shame, but these guys are really uptight. This photographer hated me. They want serious poses and this guy was not down with my big dumb smiles and my general goofiness. He ushered me to settle down and get in the T-Stop pose. He tapped his finger on his thigh, waiting, waiting, waiting for me to comply. I gave him the pose he wanted eventually, and at the last second, right when I saw his finger hit the shutter *BAM*, he got the tongue and the horns. Man did that piss him off. He was very disappointed to see me at the podium again on Sunday and he wasn't about to fall for it the second time where, with his assistant posing me "properly" the best I could get away with was a big, toothy, ear to ear, shit eatin' grin. Fuck it, it's my picture, I earned it so I'm taking it the way I want to.
In a nutshell: I had a great time and I'm really glad I went. I learned so much just by watching people. I ended up competing in six events even though I thought I'd only have five total. I was under the impression I'd have two races on Saturday: a 500 meter and a 1000 meter and three relays on Sunday (Classic Mix 2000m, Women's Classic 2000m and Senior 4-Mix 4000m).
On Friday night, I was already nervous about the Saturday solo distance of the 1000 meter, and as I was lamenting it out loud to my race and travel partner, Amber, she decided that it would be a good time to tell me she had signed me up to race Standard Division instead of Novice, which meant I would also have a 1500 meter race. Shock, dread and fear overcame me. She saw it on my face and chuckled to herself, satisfied in knowing she had waited until it was too late for me to back out to tell me.
Saturday came much earlier than I had hoped--meets start at an ungodly 6 am and since we had to be there an hour early, we were up at 4:30. I had to force a banana down my throat and pray that my stomach would keep it down. Luckily for me and the rest of the rink, it did. And by noon on Saturday I had placed second in my three races:
Women's Grand Classic 500m
Women's Grand Classic 1000m
Women's Grand Classic 1500m
I got a shiny second place medal and we all promptly headed out to Dairy Queen to celebrate with a chocolate fuckin' dipped cone ---->
Sunday started off with my mixed relay. My partner for this relay is a 40 year old guy from Sweden named Fredrik who speaks with an accent and, who, unfortunately for him, is much faster than me. We finished fifth out of five. My fault. But, he was very sweet about it and was very nice to me despite my holding him back.
The next relay, the women's 2000m that Amber and I did was so much fun. I loved it. By my third time out, I was really gaining on the gal from the team that ended up beating us. If we had one more lap, I know I totally could've caught her. We definitely made them work and it was the race I was proudest of. It's the one that earned me my second lil' medal.
The last race, our 4 mix 4000m was pretty much a joke. See, my team's all old. There were no other 4 person teams to race in our age division, so we had to bump down from Classic to Senior in order to race. This meant we were racing World Champion speed skaters in their prime (late teens/early twenties). Guess who my team put on the start line? That's right: me. I got the start lane next to Julie Glass. Derby people know her as Atomatrix with the Oly Rollers. I kinda already knew a bit more about her which is why I showed no shame and begged her not to break any of my limbs when she blew by me. Aside from her 12 World Speed Skating titles and Pan American Games medals (etc. etc.), she's the mom of twins. Thank God I had bench coached Oly earlier this season so she kinda knew me and knew that I was a newbie. She couldn't have been nicer to me, but holy shit did she ever leave me in the dust.
Oh, by the way, most relays are 2 laps 5 times, but again, my teammates decided to tell me about 20 min. before this race that for the 4 man, I'd be doing 5 laps twice. Fuck. That's some tiring shit. By the time I came around on my 5th lap, Julie had lapped me twice going on three times. At the first tag, my team was disqualified. The ref said we had miscounted, but he was wrong. Really, he was. But because there was no way we were even close to being in contention, we didn't officially dispute it. Still, it was a lame way to end the meet. I was the only one who had to skate. And now that it's over, I'm glad I did. I can now say I've raced against literally the best in the world. I may not have won, but I never quit.
-----------------------
Here's a crop of the cheesy podium photos they take after the races. It's a shame, but these guys are really uptight. This photographer hated me. They want serious poses and this guy was not down with my big dumb smiles and my general goofiness. He ushered me to settle down and get in the T-Stop pose. He tapped his finger on his thigh, waiting, waiting, waiting for me to comply. I gave him the pose he wanted eventually, and at the last second, right when I saw his finger hit the shutter *BAM*, he got the tongue and the horns. Man did that piss him off. He was very disappointed to see me at the podium again on Sunday and he wasn't about to fall for it the second time where, with his assistant posing me "properly" the best I could get away with was a big, toothy, ear to ear, shit eatin' grin. Fuck it, it's my picture, I earned it so I'm taking it the way I want to.