A blog about skating...from the view of an adult skater. Sometimes I'll write about my own skating journey or about my adventures on my Synchronized Skating team. Other times, I'll write about my own observations as the Ice Monitor at the Ice Rink where I skate. And still other times, I'll write about skating in general, Team USA, the Olympics, or other skating. For now, the names of the coaches and students at the Rink are pseudonymns, but if you know my rink, you'll quickly recognize who is who.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

So, from 1993-2001, I was a competitive figure skater. I competed with both ISI and USFSA and won quite few medals, some of them gold and qualified for regionals and nationals (as an Adult Skater) and could have made somewhat of a career out of it. Obviously, I did not, but I loved skating and competing and learning.


Then I went to seminary. I was no longer financially able nor did i have the time to skate anymore. It broke my heart to stop skating, but I had an 85-mile-one-way drive to school, a full class load and a lot of work to do. So, I stopped skating. I put on weight pretty quickly without the 4-6 days a week of skating and my muscles turned to goo.

Fast forward to September 2009. A friend of a friend was at my house for a Labor Day cook out  and saw all of my old skating medals hanging on the wall and all of my old ISI patches and asked me, "You're a skater?" I politely told her that I *used* to be a skater, but hadn't skated in 9 years. She laughed and said, "You're still a skater" and somehow convinced me that I'd like to try Synchronized skating with the local adult team. She gave my name to the coach (Karen) who e-mailed me and convinced me to come to practice and well...the rest, as they say, is history. Well, not so much as history as painfully amusing, but same difference.

My first night back on ice was at synchro practice. I skated for an hour. I only fell twice. It's amazing how muscle memory kicks in even after all these years. My body was like, "come on, lets jump" my brain said, "You weigh 60 pounds more than you did last time you skated...do you think that would be wise?" I did not jump, but I was able to remember all the basics. But the next day I was so sore I could barely walk. It was a pretty sad scene.

Things were really difficult those first few months on the team. Really difficult. I cried on the way home from every practice. I started skating 3 days a week just to "catch up" and in the process quickly lost 16 pounds. Karen called me out in front of the team about my inability to make it through the program one night, and i was devastated. I couldn't believe she had said that, but ultimately it did motivate me to work even harder...

So to catch you up, there will be a few blog entries remembering the  2009-2010 season and to keep all my figure skating thoughts in one place.
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