Roller Sktaing
Last night marks the second week in a row that Adam and I have gone roller skating at a local rink. I had no idea these places were still in existence, but oh, they are, and ooooooohhhhh there's still an audience. This makes me so happy. I loved skating as a kid and I still love it as an adult.
Last week we were invited out by friends who have been going for about a year. Aside from the blisters on the bottom of my big toes, it was great! I still have my skates from when I was a kid (just had to finish the silver paint job I'd started in 1991 and get some new insoles and I was good to go). I'm still working on blister avoidance, which just may be something that's not avoidable. I guess it's like when I started playing guitar when I was a kid. Blisters will be a fact of life until the callouses form.
Last night we took our 13-year-old niece and a friend of hers, and we met up with another couple and their son (in addition to the friends who initially invited us). EVERYONE was a convert last night. :-) My niece said that she was expecting to have fun, but had no idea it would be THAT MUCH fun. Her friend agreed. The friends we invited out were kinda nervous, but had fond memories of childhood skating and decided to try it again. They loved it an want to go back every week. They couldn't get their nine-year-old son off the rink to go home. Before we left the rink last night, we signed up for a class to learn to skate better backwards and to learn to flea hop, so I know we'll be there every week for the next four weeks.
It's kinda difficult to pinpoint exactly what seems so magical and addicting about roller skating. One of our friends said last night that he couldn't tell if it was fun just because it's fun or if it's fun because it takes us back to our childhood (last night also happened to be 70s and 80s night, so the soundtrack is pretty much the soundtrack of all my childhood skating experiences so it REALLY takes me back). When you think about it, skating around in a circle over and over again seems like it would be the most boring thing in the world, but it's far from it. I seem to zone out when I'm out there. Adam gets frustrated because I skate slower than he does. I just kinda lock into a pace and zone out. For me it's almost like some kind of moving meditation or something. And when the blisters really start to hurt, I say "one more lap", and when I start to get closer to finishing that lap I say "one more lap" and then I get my whole cardio thing going and I do the same thing. Then I'll see Adam sitting down, talking to friends, and I'll decide to take a break, otherwise there will be a couple's skate next or something, and he'll be all rested up and I'll be wanting to take a break.
Last night I took my K2s as well. I haven't been inline skating in years. I'm embarrassed to say that after I bought those, I only used them twice (and I bought those in the late 90s). My old inline skates hurt my feet so much I swore I'd wear the new ones more. And they feel like my feet are being hugged by clouds, but man, did I struggle with those last night. My guess is that it's one thing to be skating in pretty much a straight line on the bike path, but completely another thing going around in circles. I asked my niece if she would trade me so I could have my skates and when I stood up on those skates I felt like I'd forgotten how to use all of my leg muscles. It was the weirdest thing. The wheels on the inline skates are definitely a lot "silkier" for lack of a better word, but I love the roller skates a lot more. My niece loved the inline skates a lot more, which would make sense since she's an ice skater.
Once my leg muscles got over their initial confusion I got up to speed within 15 minutes or so, but not before I had to swap out my fancy gel insoles because my feet felt like they were slipping around inside the skate. Once I bought a pair of plain insoles, the pain began and my blisters started making another appearance. I'll have to resolve this before class next week and not wait to start thinking about it an hour before we leave for class. I'd also like to get some new wheels or at least see if Adam can clean the bearings or something. It seems weird to be buying new wheels for some skates that were $30 back in 1984, but I'm kinda attached to those skates. I guess it beats buying new skates, because that's not going to happen any time soon.
I'm so excited. Sometimes you think that you enjoy things just because you're a kid or because your friends do, but it's great to realize that when you set aside a lot of the self-consciousness and ego, a lot of these things are fun just because they're fun.
Last week we were invited out by friends who have been going for about a year. Aside from the blisters on the bottom of my big toes, it was great! I still have my skates from when I was a kid (just had to finish the silver paint job I'd started in 1991 and get some new insoles and I was good to go). I'm still working on blister avoidance, which just may be something that's not avoidable. I guess it's like when I started playing guitar when I was a kid. Blisters will be a fact of life until the callouses form.
Last night we took our 13-year-old niece and a friend of hers, and we met up with another couple and their son (in addition to the friends who initially invited us). EVERYONE was a convert last night. :-) My niece said that she was expecting to have fun, but had no idea it would be THAT MUCH fun. Her friend agreed. The friends we invited out were kinda nervous, but had fond memories of childhood skating and decided to try it again. They loved it an want to go back every week. They couldn't get their nine-year-old son off the rink to go home. Before we left the rink last night, we signed up for a class to learn to skate better backwards and to learn to flea hop, so I know we'll be there every week for the next four weeks.
It's kinda difficult to pinpoint exactly what seems so magical and addicting about roller skating. One of our friends said last night that he couldn't tell if it was fun just because it's fun or if it's fun because it takes us back to our childhood (last night also happened to be 70s and 80s night, so the soundtrack is pretty much the soundtrack of all my childhood skating experiences so it REALLY takes me back). When you think about it, skating around in a circle over and over again seems like it would be the most boring thing in the world, but it's far from it. I seem to zone out when I'm out there. Adam gets frustrated because I skate slower than he does. I just kinda lock into a pace and zone out. For me it's almost like some kind of moving meditation or something. And when the blisters really start to hurt, I say "one more lap", and when I start to get closer to finishing that lap I say "one more lap" and then I get my whole cardio thing going and I do the same thing. Then I'll see Adam sitting down, talking to friends, and I'll decide to take a break, otherwise there will be a couple's skate next or something, and he'll be all rested up and I'll be wanting to take a break.
Last night I took my K2s as well. I haven't been inline skating in years. I'm embarrassed to say that after I bought those, I only used them twice (and I bought those in the late 90s). My old inline skates hurt my feet so much I swore I'd wear the new ones more. And they feel like my feet are being hugged by clouds, but man, did I struggle with those last night. My guess is that it's one thing to be skating in pretty much a straight line on the bike path, but completely another thing going around in circles. I asked my niece if she would trade me so I could have my skates and when I stood up on those skates I felt like I'd forgotten how to use all of my leg muscles. It was the weirdest thing. The wheels on the inline skates are definitely a lot "silkier" for lack of a better word, but I love the roller skates a lot more. My niece loved the inline skates a lot more, which would make sense since she's an ice skater.
Once my leg muscles got over their initial confusion I got up to speed within 15 minutes or so, but not before I had to swap out my fancy gel insoles because my feet felt like they were slipping around inside the skate. Once I bought a pair of plain insoles, the pain began and my blisters started making another appearance. I'll have to resolve this before class next week and not wait to start thinking about it an hour before we leave for class. I'd also like to get some new wheels or at least see if Adam can clean the bearings or something. It seems weird to be buying new wheels for some skates that were $30 back in 1984, but I'm kinda attached to those skates. I guess it beats buying new skates, because that's not going to happen any time soon.
I'm so excited. Sometimes you think that you enjoy things just because you're a kid or because your friends do, but it's great to realize that when you set aside a lot of the self-consciousness and ego, a lot of these things are fun just because they're fun.