These Are The Times...

...that try men's souls!

I've been struggling a lot with motivation lately, as some of my readers might have discerned. Being in a new, strange place is making me ask questions like "why am I doing this?!" and "what do I hope to accomplish?". I'm sure many of you have asked yourselves the same questions. I just feel very isolated and sluggish, and I'm not happy with my skating.

So, I had a talk with myself yesterday, about how if I'm going to skate, I should just skate and forget the whiny thoughts and drama. Yes, I'm in a strange place, and yes, I have no coach, and yes I miss my friends and the warm cozy environment I had in Tucson. But what's done is done, and I am here and I need to make the best of it.

So... with that in mind I actually managed to drag my butt out of bed and skate this morning before work at the 8:30 a.m. freestyle. I had a reasonably good skate. It wasn't that crowded (5 or 6 people, all adults), so I worked on my Russian stroking (finally getting much better at doing a whole lap at a time and not wimping out), 3s, and 5-step Mohawk. I did my 10 waltz jumps and 5 Salchow attempts (bleah) and some spins too.

I had a chance to talk to one of the coaches (Leone), and I asked if I could set up a lesson with her but apparently she is booked solid. I talked to another coach (Suzy) on Saturday and set up a lesson for Friday at 5:30 p.m.

One thing I've noticed is, I'm never skating around kids anymore. That's too bad -- skating around kids always made me work harder, I think, and they are fun to be around.