2016 PCAS Free Skate

Today I skated my "Ashton" adult pre-bronze free skate for the last time!

I got to the rink just before 8:30 a.m.; my event was scheduled for 9:12.  I turned in my music and ate a banana and relaxed a bit, then got my skates on and checked in with the ice monitor.  The competition was running about 8 minutes behind at that point.

Finally we were called out for warmup.  I stroked around a bit, then did a waltz jump, then a couple o spins (meh), and then a salchow.  After that I practiced the spin entry from the mohawks, the lunge-3, the spiral into the waltz jump and side toe hop, some more salchows and then finished with some more spins as it was time to leave the ice.

I was the last of 3.  It was supposed to be four but Wild John Cohen (yes that's his name) didn't show so it was just 3 of us.  One competitor, Aziz, was also doing Bronze Pairs (!) and the other, George, was competing for the very first time.  As usual, though, I didn't watch the others since I don't like to compare myself with them before I skate.

Finally it was my turn!  I went out and took my position, and the music started.  Off I went... and after a few seconds I got really nervous!  I don't know why.  So that gave me some difficulty during the RFI3-LFO3 section and the BXOs.  By the time I went into the spiral I was pretty much feeling okay, though, and the waltz jump was HUGE.  Well, it felt huge anyway.  Side toe hop was fine and the whole section after that was okay.  The spin was probably about 2 revs so kind of average for me at this point.  Lunge-3 was okay.  Salchow was not my best but more or less okay.  I had some minor issues getting into the first pivot but it was okay.  I finished on time.

All in all I was pretty pleased.  I did all my elements and I thought I skated reasonably fast and did a better job on keeping my head up (though I'm sure there's lots of room for improvement).

As it turns out George took first, followed by Aziz (that was pretty close though).  I did get one 2nd place ordinal and the rest 3s.  

I'm a bit disappointed, but not surprised.  I needed another jump in this program (we never did add the toe loop onto the waltz jump), and most of all I really need to have decent spins and more than one, and more than one kind.  Like a backspin or a sitspin.  Ugh.

Anyway, onward.  This was my last time skating in these boots!  I'm getting my new ones heatmolded etc. on Tuesday and after they finish mounting etc. I will have the joy of breaking them in.  From there it will be time to buckle down and pass my Bronze moves, and get my spins to finally work.