Rental Skates! Yechh!

I went to the public session tonight to practice. I didn't get there until about 8, and I stayed for just an hour or so.

The skates I got tonight had to have been the dullest I've ever had. I would be gliding (gliding!) around corners and my right skate would be sliding across the ice. Sheesh! Doing even swizzles was a little challenging in these things. It made me think of the Tom Hanks movie "Castaway", where he finds some skates that wash up on the beach and he uses them to cut things, shave, etc. If he'd had skates like these he'd have starved to death.

I managed to work on most of my basic skills -- two foot glide, snowplow stop (difficult), swizzles, rocking horse. I still don't know what the backward wiggle is supposed to be. I also tried a one foot glide a couple of times and still can only do it for about 2 seconds. I also tried gliding backwards on two feet, pushing off from the boards. It was okay but scary.

I think one of the things I want to work on in my last three lessons is just basic stroking and moving around the ice. It really bugs me that I can do all these complicated things but your average teenager who just hopped on skates can move around the rink better than me.

I'm also thinking maybe I should get some kneepads -- not my incredible heavy-duty industrial strength kneepads I use for rollerblading, but just some basic ones to cushion the falls I know I will have. I think my two basic problems right now are fear (still, of course) and that I'm too tight, too tense. I need to loosen up and relax a bit. I'm not sure how to do that, since it's a basic personality trait for me; I find it hard to loosen up in pretty much any circumstances. I'll have to think about that one.

I had a nice talk with Danni (Heather's mom). She asked me when my skates were coming in and I told her tomorrow. She told me I would need to waterproof the leather soles on my skates. I don't know anything about that and would appreciate some input on the subject -- please email me or comment!