Sixth Lesson - New Skates, New Instructor

I got to the pro shop promptly at 6 p.m. tonight and saw my new skates. They are beautiful! They are heat moldable, so as soon as I got there they stuck them in the "oven" to heat them up. When they were ready (it took ten or fifteen minutes) they took them out and had me put them on & lace them up. I put them on and they felt sooooo good! Very comfy and firm. I know I am going to like these skates. The blades are Ultima Mark IV. It looks offhand like the toepick is about the same size as on the rental skates I've had (which are Mark IIIs) so I don't think that will be a problem. After wearing them for 10 minutes or so and clomping around a bit, it was okay to take them off. While I was waiting I bought some guards and soakers for 'em. They said I can bring 'em in on Friday to get them sharpened and get the remaining screws put in. Tomorrow I can wear them in the house (in the guards of course!) to work on breaking them in.

After putting my skates in the car, I came back and got my rental skates (bleah!) and got warmed up for my lesson. When I called on Monday I was told I would have Anna, but the skate school sheets said I would have Rachel instead. My lesson was okay. Rachel seems very young to me, and I didn't communicate with her as well as with Dawn. I'm hoping that if I have her for the rest of the summer I'll be able to follow better what she is telling me. The woman who was there for my second lesson was back -- she said she had fallen and hurt her head so that was why she had missed. During the lesson I mostly reviewed stuff I'd already learned, plus Rachel showed me how to snowplow stop with one foot, i.e., instead of using both feet to stop, one foot stays straight and the other turns in to stop you. We also worked on my push-off and stroking. Finally, she showed me the backward wiggle again and we talked about it. I'm still not really getting it but I'll work on it some more.

After class and the Z-break, I stayed for an hour or so in the public session. I mostly worked on stroking althought I also worked through most of the stuff I've learned at least a few times. I also tried a couple of one-foot glides, and I may be up to three seconds on that. I felt more confident and happier about things, which was good. I can't wait until I get to use my own skates, which may be as early as Friday afternoon (I'm off early Friday).

I talked with Danni briefly but she forgot to bring the water seal stuff for my boots. Oh well. She said she'd try to bring it Friday. I may try to get some in town before then, or just go ahead and wait. I wanted to get that on before the other screws are put in but that may not be possible.

Finally, I got to introduce myself to a couple of adult skaters that were at the session tonight. One of them, Roxanne, is a Hispanic woman who looks to be mid-30s. She was in the pro shop when I was getting my skates. She has the same model skates (Jackson Freestyle) that I do. She is just getting over an injury (not sure if it was skating related or not) and so was not really skating very energetically; she said she just wanted to be on the ice but needed to take it easy. The other one was the woman I'd seen at my fifth lesson. I took a moment to introduce myself. Her name is Dana. If I recall correctly she said she was taking adult freestyle (already did her basic) but switched to the mixed freestyle because the adult moved too slowly and she was frustrated. I think she said that she is taking private lessons now, but I got a little confused on that. I'm still not sure how old she is but I'd guess between 22 and 29. I know, a big range. She skates very nicely -- not flashy, but elegant and graceful. It's fun to watch. She said that she'd watch me skate and that I am doing better than most of the people in her Basic class were at this point, which is a nice compliment. There's a certain camaraderie that I'm beginning to enjoy about being at the rink and getting to know people -- a feeling of belonging. I like it.