F8s & BO8

Today's figures lesson on the Chandler coffee club as usual... I had a work meeting so Lynne took me after Mary's lesson.  Ice was pretty good and there were only 6 skaters.

• BO8s -- we started with these since I'd told Lynne I'd made some good progress.  Indeed they were still pretty good (yay!) and I am doing a much better job of keeping a good position after the push-off.  I was really really happy with this although there's still a lot to do to refine and polish these.
• FO8 -- we spent most of the lesson on these since they are my weakest point.  Still very, very inconsistent :-(.  Not much I can say that's new on these it's the same issues that I've been having.
• FI8 -- these were pretty good.  I still need to really watch on the LFI8 to keep the free hip back -- I think if I turn my foot out on the push it really helps to have the free hip back at the start.

Only one lesson left before the competition in Portland!  Eeep!

Wednesday Night Fun

The summer Wednesday night skate at Gilbert public.  I just skated for an hour or so with skate buddy Lisa and was very social.  I did get a very nice 3+ rev spin (the very first one!) and landed a salchow.  Good times!

BO8 Progress!

I skated Chandler coffee club today for patch practice.  It was my first time skating since Saturday's competition.  It was good to be back on the ice.

FI8s... good :-).  I really love those.  FO8s... still inconsistent.  I need to keep working on them, esp. on getting a good body position and edge from the beginning.  Then I went on to work on the BO8s... and wow!  I got around both RBO8 and LBO8, twice each side!  And while I didn't always come back to center (it was about 50-50) it wasn't that far off.  I was really excited!  Good stuff :-)  Finished up with waltz-8 and that's about where I left it :-(.

Competition Post-Mortem

I've taken some time to reflect on my competition experience.

The first and most obvious is that I've come a long way.  Both JJ and a couple of skater friends have observed to me that I am skating faster (not fast :-), but faster) than even a few months ago.  I also was definitely a lot more relaxed.  If I rated my nervousness level this time vs. the first competition, it went from maybe an 8 to a 4.  That's pretty significant.

The second point is that this is the first time I've done a toe loop in a program, the first time I've done my (crappy) 1-foot spin, and the first time I've (attempted) a salchow.  Oh, and it's the first time I've actually landed a waltz jump in a program :-).  Pretty significant really!

Third is that I actually felt like I knew more-or-less what I was doing.  That was really nice.  I didn't skate a perfect program, and *that was okay*.  I kept going, which is what counts.

I know I have a long way to go and there's a lot I want to accomplish.  I really do feel like I've turned some kind of corner in my skating career.  It's a good feeling.

Cactus 2010 Freeskate

I skated my adult pre-bronze free skate "Apollo 13" program at Cactus Classic today.  Here's how it went.

About 45 minutes before my skate I went to the locker room and changed into my costume and put my skates on.  I also did a set of 20 jumping jacks just before to get warmed up a bit.  After that I had about 30 minutes to kill :-) so I talked with JJ.

About 15 minutes prior we went down to the ice entrance and checked in with the monitor.  There was an ice cut right before my event so we had to get out of the way for that.   I did some stretches and JJ and I talked more about.. nothing much, although he did quiz me on my warmup etc.  I also talked a little with the two pre-bronze ladies (skate buddy Melissa, and another lady named Jodie) who were skating after me (we had a shared warmup).  Finally the z-break was done and I took off my guards and handed my stuff to JJ and they called us out for the warmup.

Since I was skating first after the warmup, I'd practiced a 4 minute warmup.  I guess it's a sign that I am making progress, but I didn't really feel I quite needed all that time (after all my program is only 1 min 37s!).  I did a lap of slaloms to feel my edges and get used to the ice, then a waltz jump, footwork into the toe loop and spin.  Then I did the footwork into the salchow -- but I had to dodge one of the ladies and so I had to skate a little before doing the salchow (which I landed, woo!).  Then I went and practiced the opening (2-foot spin and RBI pivot).  I skated back to JJ briefly and got some water, then went and did a waltz jump with some speed and a little stroking and then skated back to JJ and they called the one-minute warning, so I was done warming up. I took off my club jacket and grabbed some water.

I have to note that although I'd practiced on the ice earlier that day, I was rather surprised by how hard and slick it was (it was freshly zammed).  It was FAST ice.

Anyway... so I talked with JJ and looked at my list of reminders:

• One thing at a time
• The music is there for me, not me for the music
• Chin up and smile!

Then they called my name, and JJ and I did our little fist-bump thing we do when we are done with a lesson, and I skated out to position.  There was a lot of cheering!  It was very encouraging :-).

The music started and as has happened a lot lately I didn't quite register the very first part so I missed my cue.  I wound up doing a sort of improvised one-foot spin instead of the two-foot I was supposed to do; then on to the RBI pivot and into the program proper.   From there it went pretty well as I'd practiced.  The waltz jump felt really good (people cheered!  how odd :-)) although maybe a smidge early.  I biffed the salchow (*sigh*) not sure exactly what happened there.  Everything else to the end went quite well and I was ending just slightly late... and I went into the closing lunge and with the aforementioned slick, fast, wet, fresh ice I was sliding... and sliding... I tried to dig in my toepick to brake myself as I have usually done but I was offbalance or something and I wound up sliding onto my back, or something (did I mention how slick it was?).  Anyway I managed to right myself and stop in some sort of pose.. and I was done!

I got up and did my bows, collected some toys from the ice (YAY!) and skated off feeling very happy.

After I got off I went with JJ to a spot near the lobby and a bunch of people came up to congratulate me.  I was really surprised how many people had been cheering for me -- it made me feel very loved :-).

I will post a post-mortem analysis of my skate and what I learned in a bit.

Fun Times At Cactus

I spent the day at Alltel, I was there from 9:30 a.m. or so until 9:15 p.m.!  I will post about my skate separately, but I wanted to write about the day here.

My buddy Jose skated (Adult Silver) at 10:05.  He didn't have a good skate, which was surprising to me (and him!) since he's done this program very successfully many times including AN.  Geez!  Skate buddies Melissa and Tracy were there watching too -- it was good to have some company and really good to see Tracy, I had not seen her in a while.

After Jose we watched the Adult Silver ladies and then the Open Juvenile girls, then I had to get some food and change for my practice ice at 12:30.

Practice ice went well.  It was a "low" session so a lot of basic skills girls.  They had a random drawing for order to play music.  I warmed up my legs and ran through my jumps and various pieces of my program.  I was lucky that my music came up to play about 12 - 15 minutes into the session so I was nicely warmed up.   My program runthrough went pretty well (about as well as it's ever gone), which basically means that I biffed the salchow but everything else went okay and I finished almost on time.

After practice ice I had lunch with Jose at the restaurant there (18 Degrees) and just hung out (the afternoon was all basic skills) and relaxed.  A little before 4 was the Intermediate free skate which was pretty good.  At 5 p.m. I went and checked in, gave them my music.  They were giving out really nice bags that said Cactus Classic Scottsdale, AZ on them and the obligatory bottle of water.   I finished watching Intermediate, then went and found JJ and we conferred on stuff and then it was time to get ready to skate.

After my skate I had a chance to say hi to a bunch of people who had come, it was very encouraging and made me happy.  Then I went and changed out of my skates and went to collect my medal (they offered engraving for $5, how cool!) and pay for my video.

After that I went and watched Adult Silver artistic, and the novice ladies, intermediate men, and junior ladies free skates, and went home and conked out exhausted!

Last Practice

I skated the 8:30 a.m. FS this morning at Chandler for my last regular practice before the competition.  Unfortunately the session started late due to a) the hockey people not getting off on time and b) an ice cut.  I was happy to have the ice cut though.

Skating was a mixed bag.  I did 3 okay salchows and worked on a bunch of stuff. However when I ran my program I still biffed the salchow (in a new and different way) and was a little thrown so I forgot to do the arm-thing into the spin.  Grrr.  Other than that and a bit of weakness on the 2-foot spin it was an okay runthrough.

So tomorrow I have practice ice at 12:30 and then my warmup (w/the APB ladies) is at 6:30... so by 6:40 I will be able to log another competition in the books!

In other news I signed up to skate at the Sherwood Invitational at my old home rink at the end of August.   It's a fun competition and it lines up nicely with a work trip to PDX that I already had planned anyway so it was kind of a no-brainer.  My old coach Sonya said she'd put me on the ice, so that will be fun.  Anyway it should be a blast.   I'm a little surprised in a way, though -- it's been almost 2.5 years since my last (and first!) competition and now here I am doing 3 competitions (Cactus, the All-Figures competition and Sherwood) in the space of about 5 weeks! Wow!

Down To The Wire

I skated Chandler coffee club as usual today, but instead of patch practice I brought my freestyle skates and worked on program stuff.  When I got on the ice I gave myself exactly 4 minutes to do my warmup just like for Saturday, then did my program.  It went very well!  Okay, I biffed the salchow but I do that even when I'm much more warmed up.  Anyway other than the salchow and ending a little late still it was really pretty good and I was quite pleased.

I spent the rest of the session working on spins and salchow and running other parts of the program.  It looks like I've fixed my issues with the 2-foot spin at the beginning.  In general I think it will be okay; I just wish I were landing the darn salchow.  Oh well.

Edges & F8s

Today's figures lesson on the Chandler coffee club.  This is moved earlier this week as Lynne will be at a competition.

Today's lesson:

• Edges -- I was doing these when Lynne got on the ice so of course we worked on them. FI were good, FO... okay.  BI were a bit wonky (I had not done them in a long time) but improved.  BO were actually pretty good, I was quite pleased.
• FI8 -- we started a fresh layout and did one set of FI8s and they were AWESOME!  I was so pleased!  They were really quite good, circe size, tracing, all of it.  
• FO8 -- what a contrast these are.  We spent the rest of the lesson working on them, especially the LFO8.  I did some that were pretty good and others that were not.  They are so inconsistent!  I have not figured out what I need to always do to get a good edge from the outset and if I don't then it's 50-50 whether I can fix it or not (and if I can, whether I still have enough speed to make it around the circle).  Grrr.

Program Final Tweaks

Today's lesson with JJ on the 7 a.m. FS at Gilbert as usual.  This was our last chance for program tweaks and corrections!

We ran the program twice and worked on some of the areas I was concerned about -- 2-ft spin and the salchow.  I know the salchow will be fine if I just relax and hold the entrance and exit of the 3.  I did one with JJ where I was really just trying to do the 3 and I pretty much jumped without trying to.  So, it is possible.

We also reviewed the final pose, bows to judges and audience, and the warmup.  Since I am first to skate after the warmup I only get 4 minutes :-( so that will take some adjusting.  I'm sure it will be fine.  JJ will not be able to be at my practice ice but I'm not concerned.  All in all I would like more time to prepare but I don't have it, so... I get to skate Wed. and Friday and then practice ice Sat. and then I skate! 

Perseverance

I skated the 5:10 FS at Gilbert as usual.  The ice was noticeably nicer than last week!  Much less bumpy, almost as nice as Sherwood ice :-).

I worked a bunch on program transitions and some of my trouble spots, and ran the program once.  In the runthrough I almost landed the salchow; spins were just okay and I finished just slightly late.  I'm thinking if I can avoid hesitating between the 3-turn and the toe loop I can probably finish on time, unless I get a really good spin :-).

I spent more time on the salchow and of the 8 or 9 I think I did I only got like 2 that were good.  Geez.  I worked a bunch on the 2-foot spin and it's still a little wonky -- starting with my arms in throws me off.  I did a bunch of spins and got several that were okay and one that was quite outstanding -- 3 revs and perfectly centered! 

Competition is Saturday at 6:30 p.m.!

Perseverance

Skated the 8:30 a.m. FS this morning.  Bleah!  Ran my program only once -- didn't get the sal, and people kept getting in my way so I missed some stuff from the 2nd half but finished on time (left out RFI3 and last spin).  Grrr.  I spent a lot of time on sal, after 5 or 6 bad ones I did manage to get like 4 good ones, BUT trying after doing the intro footwork -- zilch. Geez.  Also I worked a bunch on that opening 2-foot spin and it's still not 100%.  Geez.  A week to go...

Wednesday Night Zoo

I skated for an hour at the Gilbert public with my friend Lisa; sk8 buddy Melissa was there briefly when I got there too.  I had a good skate -- wasn't really trying to accomplish anything.  At the very end I got video of an actual GOOD salchow and 1-foot spin that Lisa took with her iPhone.  I hope I can find a way to post 'em.  It made me really happy to have photographic proof I can do this stuff :-) plus it is instructive to see!

F8s & BO8

Today's figures lesson on the Chandler coffee  club as usual.  We are on the harder hockey ice this week and next.  Bleah!

Today's lesson:

• FI8 -- these are in pretty good shape but I can't be complacent.  Have to remember to hold that free hip back, esp. on the LFI8.
• FO8 -- a bunch of time on these, mostly on the LFO edge.  I had Lynne hold my hand (I think that's the first time) while I got REALLY far over on the LFO.  Wow! So different to get that really deep edge.  We did that a couple of times and I think it really helped me feel just how far over  I can go and how hard I can push into the edge and still be secure.
• BO8 -- RBO8 is coming along well!  I actually got around a couple of times.  The 2nd half of the circle is difficult for me, hard to get my head turned and keep leaning into the edge so I don't go flat.  LBO8 is not nearly as good but we made some good progress.

I realized today I only have 3 more lessons before the All-Figures competition.  Eeeep!  I am competing the FI8 and FO8 in the "Restricted" category.

Perseverance

I skated Chandler coffee club for patch practice as usual.  Coffee club is on the "South Pole" this week and next -- harder, hockey ice.  I had a pretty reasonable skate. I'm still pretty frustrated with my FO8s but I got some good work in on BO8 and waltz-8 so it wasn't all bad.

Program Prep

I went to bed last night about midnight, and woke up at 3:15 a.m. and couldn't sleep.  When it got to be about 5:20 a.m. I decided that I should just go skate starting at 6:15 instead of 7.

I had a pretty good skate before my lesson.  Did a program runthrough and actually landed the salchow!  That was a good feeling! I am still finishing a little late though.  I worked on a bunch of stuff, the various pieces and parts that I'm having trouble with.

When JJ got there to start my lesson we discussed the various issues I've come up with.  We worked the 2-foot spin a bit; JJ told me I need to put more (most) of my weight on my skating foot and just enough on the other to hold the toepick in the ice.  Anyway that helped a lot.  We ran the program and it went... not quite as well as earlier, but okay.  Then we dissected a bit :-) and worked on the waltz jump (hold the LFO a bit longer before the jump); the salchow (many corrections); and the ending pose.  We finished up with a discussion about the orientation of the program and judges and I found that I've had it backwards in my head from JJ's conception.  Eeep.  So I need to turn the end pose out a bit so that it comes back toward the judges.

The competition is 11 days away and I still have one lesson and about 5 or 6 hours of skating left.  I think it will be okay.

Perseverance

I skated the 5:10 FS at Gilbert as usual.  On the way to the rink I stopped by the seamstress and picked up my competition shirt and pants.  She put some velcro on them so that the shirt will not come out of the pants no matter what I do (pretty much).  Before I skated I got to show them to JJ and he thinks it's good to go.  I still need a V-neck t-shirt to wear under (I only have scoop neck and it shows) and I have to change my laces out (no more blue :-() and also dig out my silver cufflinks.  Other than that I am good to go.

I had a pretty good skate.  I had my skates sharpened on Saturday so I'm still adjusting a bit but no difficulties.  I only did one full runthrough with music though.  It went... okay.  Okay in the sense that I didn't fall and I was only a little behind at the end.  The positives:

• waltz jump was on time and well-placed
• remembered pretty much all my arm movements except, I think, the arms down before the 2nd half.
• footwork into the toe loop was good and so was the bunny hop
• toe loop was good

The negatives:

• Didn't land the salchow (but didn't fall at least)
• probably need to look up (okay I'm sure I do) more
• BXOs into the waltz jump were scratchy
• didn't quite finish on time (need about 4 more seconds)

All in all not so bad.  I am a bit mystified that I am finishing late especially when we moved stuff out of the second half and I started it pretty much on time.  I'm not sure where the time went.  Hmmph.

Perseverance

I skated for an hour of FS at Chandler this morning -- really grateful for the morning ice availability!  Ice was kinda ukky (looked like it sat all night and hadn't been Zammed since) but okay.

I had a decent skate.  Went out and did two decent salchows but all the ones after were pretty bad.  Did a program runthrough w/music and didn't finish on time -- I was actually late starting the 2nd half, which is a first.  Eeep.  I spent a lot of time working segments of the program, especially the very beginning, the footwork into the salchow, and the footwork into the toe loop.  Hmmph.  Less than 2 weeks until I skate; on the positive side I know my program and I'm not worried about it.  On the negative side I'm not sure I've ever successfully landed the salchow IN the program.  Grrr.    Well, I have a little time still so I know what I need to do.

FO8, BO8 & Waltz-8

Today's figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler coffee club as usual.

• FO8s -- we only tried one new layout of these.  They are still being very inconsistent.  Even the RFO8 was not nearly as good as it was on Wednesday :-(.  I did eventually get some decent ones though.
• BO8 -- these continue to slowly improve.  I actually got all the way around on an RBO8!  Posture continues to improve also.  The LBO8 is definitely a lot weaker; I am getting past the half-way mark and then I tend to get stuck on a flat that I can't fix.  Grrr.
• Waltz-8 -- these are about the same.  I managed to return to center on the R side but the L side is still wildly uncontrolled after the step forward.  

I'm really pleased with my progress on the BO8, but very frustrated on my FO8s.  I am competing these at the All-Figures competition in 4 weeks and they are not good enough.  Grrr.   And by that I don't mean "not good enough to win", that is a given -- they are not good enough to be respectable.  Grrr.

Program

Today's lesson on the 7 a.m. FS at Gilbert.  We started with a program runthrough -- a bit rough.  I messed up the opening 2-ft spin, forgot the arm snap before the BXOs.  Didn't land the salchow, and was a bit late getting to the bunny hop.  Toe loop and spin were okay but I was out of time and didn't do the final pose.

So we had a lot to talk about and work on!  We worked on the opening pose a bit then went on to work on the salchow a bit.  I did like 3 nice ones in a row and then 3 bad ones in a row :-(.  

JJ talked with me about being more deliberate on the footwork, to make each step intentional (and look that way).   He also said I need to do the final pose even if it's late, it will still be okay.

After my lesson I was already pretty tired but I worked on spins a bit and then a bunch of time working the opening of the program (I am tired of looking stupid on a freakin' 2-foot spin and RBI pivot!) until it was pretty solid.  Also more time on the other transitions and on the footwork.

All in all I think I'm about where I need to be, I just need to run the program a bunch more times.  Fortunately there is time between now and then so it should be okay.

Skating For Fun

I skated at the Gilbert evening public tonight for about an hour.  My friend Lisa (we skated together in Tucson, I've known her since I first started skating) is in Chandler for the summer and so we decided to skate together.  Skate buddy Melissa was also present briefly (we got there around 7:30ish). 

So I actually spent some time skating for fun and being social.  Wow!  It really took me back, it was so fun!  I did work on some stuff, of course.  Got some good spins (Lisa was even watching!) but not one good salchow :-).  Oh well!  We'll probably do this all summer.  Good times!

Perseverance

I skated Chandler coffee club today for patch practice (my figures lesson is moved to Friday this week).  I only skated 45 minutes since the session started late and I had other commitments.  Some good work on BO8 but it will take a lonnnng time to get these testable; waltz-8 about the same.  FI8 in decent shape, FO8s... very inconsistent still.  Grrr.

Program Revisions

This morning's lesson on the 7 a.m. FS at Gilbert as usual.  Before we started we spent some time discussing a number of issues with the program.  The Cactus Classic registration folks had originally posted that I was going to compete with the women's APB free skate (total of 3 people including me).  I was a bit confused by this since I didn't think they were allowed to group men and women together for a free skate**.  Sure enough I got an email from them Monday evening saying this was a mistake and letting me know that I could skate an exhibition or they'd give me a refund.  JJ and I agreed I should do the exhibition.

We worked a lot on the program regrouping some problem areas and moving some things around.  This is what the final program looks like:

• opening pose
• 2-foot spin
• RBI pivot
• push into L foot glide w/arms
• 2 foot transition w/arms
• R foot glide
• RFI mohawk
• arm snap
• BXOs into
• waltz jump
• Mohawk sequence (LFI mohawk/step forward/RFI mohawk/step forward)
• Salchow
• BXOs w/arms into
• spin
• skate forward, T-stop w/arms
• Arms down
• bunny hop
• stroke-stroke
• L foot lunge
• RFI3/step forward
• toe loop (waltz lol)
• transition into 
• spin
• skate forward into
• lunge w/knee down
• arm gesture (L arm on knee, R arm/hand up)

So we took some pieces and moved 'em around.  We have another lesson on Thursday to work through this.

We also spent some time on the salchow again and JJ gave me a tip that seems to help keep me from getting "stuck" when trying to do the entry -- lift the trailing (L) arm/hand.   I'm not sure why but it really does help.  Good stuff.

** When I skated my first competition (PCAS '08) it was not a free skate but an artistic so it was okay to group me with the women.  Free skate regulations are a lot stricter.

Perseverance

I skated the 5:10 FS at Gilbert as usual... maybe not the best idea; between this morning's skate and Pilates at lunchtime I was still pretty tired.  Did one program runthrough that was pretty awful :-(.  Oh well.

I had some time after the session to confer with JJ about the costume etc.  He likes the shirt I found so I just need to get some minor alterations done and I should be set.  I think we will need to rework some things; we'll discuss in the a.m.

Skating At Alltel

I skated the 7:30 a.m. FS session at Alltel Ice Den up in Scottsdale; it is the venue for the Cactus Classic competition that I will be doing in less than 3 weeks (!).  It's a training center and it's very well organized and a bit pricey -- walkon for the session (45 min) this morning was $14.  Geez.  Contract prices are lower. 

There were about 10 people on the session (it was "open" FS, they have others that are restricted to upper level skaters), so not too bad, but then it was a holiday!  I had a pretty good skate, did several good salchows (including the very first one), which was encouraging.  I did a program runthrough w/music and that went... okay.  I didn't fall but I did totally forget to do most of the footwork after the bunny hop.  What the heck?  And even with that I barely had time after the last spin to step forward and strike a pose to end.  So... not sure about that.  I think there's too much footwork there.  I'll talk with JJ about it.  Still it was a good skate and more importantly I know my way around up there now so that's good.

Bonus Skate

I don't usually skate on the weekends but Chandler had some later FS time today and I was free... and there's a lot to do!  So I skated the 11:30 a.m. FS.  I had a pretty good skate!  Worked a bunch on the 2nd half of the program and ran it a number of times.  The bunny hop is more-or-less okay now, so that's good.  The only issue with the 2nd half of the program for me right now is that JJ wanted me to do all the footwork between the blue lines and it is taking me a lot more space and time than that...

I also worked on the first part of the program and did a number of salchows.  I got several that were more or less okay -- at this point I'm just happy if I'm doing them even if they aren't particularly great.  I really just have to make myself wait on the entrance and exit and that seems to solve my not jumping issue at least.

All in all a pretty good skate and I'm glad I got the extra time.  No skating tomorrow!  Monday I skate in the morning at Alltel and then in the evening at Gilbert as usual.

Perseverance Part II

Chandler coffee club for patch practice.... had a good skate.  The Tucson contingent (Linda, Tracey and Jan) were up, it was nice to see them :-).  I worked over a half hour on FO8s; by the end I had the RFO8 down really, really nice for once and had fixed the weird upper body contortions and early rotation I had had before (sounds weird, eh?).  LFO8... some progress but it's not where the R side is.  A bunch of time on BO8 and waltz-8, not much to say but some slight improvement.

Perseverance

I skated the 8:30 a.m. FS at Chandler as usual today.  As usual of late a bit crowded, about 12 skaters I think and like 7 coaches.  Not as busy as last week though!

I had an okay skate.  Spins were not as good as yesterday :-( -- don't know if it's the ice or me (probably me).  I worked a bunch on the 2nd half of the program especially the footwork sequence; the last step forward I keep wanting to turn the opposite way!  Grrr.  Of course I am supposed to show I can turn either direction...  I also worked a bunch on toe loop straight into spin... my toe loop exit is not as solid as the waltz jump so it's a bit dicey to do the spin without turning forward and backward again but I don't have time.  It got better though.

Program

Today's lesson with JJ on the 7 a.m. FS at Gilbert.. as usual good ice and an uncrowded session until 7:45 then it got kinda busy! We had postponed this lesson from Tuesday.

First off JJ asked me if I was warmed up and I said yes but I hadn't done any spins... so of course he wanted me to do one... and I did a really nice perfectly centered 2-rev spin with a circle size about 4 inches or so... really textbook!  Wow, I don't know where that came from...

We went on to work on the salchow a bit more and the main correction for this was to hold the entrance and exit of the 3 longer, which made it considerably less rushed and much, much better... so we moved on.

Before we worked on the 2nd half of the program we did a runthrough of what we had... and it actually went very well!  Which to me means that I did everything and didn't fall :-).  So we moved on and worked on the 2nd half.  Basically it looks like this, starting at the blue line and from a standing-start pose I get to with a T-stop:

• bunny hop (ugh!)
• 2 strokes
• lunge
• RFI mohawk
• step forward to L foot
• LFI mohawk
• step forward to R foot
• toe loop (well, toe-waltz right now :-()
• spin
• pose

It doesn't look like there will be any time left after the spin in this case to do anything more than pose, it's pretty tight on time.  We spent a bunch of time working on the bunny hop, I just hate them and hadn't done one in a long time.  To be honest I know I am going to worry about the dang bunny hop the whole time but after that it will be home free.  Hmph!

I have two lessons next week and I'm skating at Alltel on Monday so I can get a feel for the ice there.  $14 for a walk-on 45 min session... sheesh!

I am starting to feel a bit more at home at Gilbert.. Nikki had brought some snickerdoodles she had made and she gave me one, it made me feel like a part of the gang :-).   Sometimes it's the little things!