Midwestern Sectionals aka "Mids"

Mids was a disaster for me on so many levels. First, it was in IOWA...seriously Iowa. Cedar Rapids to be exact. I drove all the way out by myself, which was actually a very good thing because I really like to have the time alone to think or chat with folks on the phone. Our "official" practice was a nightmare though... I am not at the point where i can do our program again and again and again and again and again. I need a moment between to, oh I don't know, breathe? I finished practice pretty much feeling like I was hurting the team. I know I'm not the worst skater on the team, but sometimes it really feels like I am and it's terribly frustrating. I really don't like being yelled at by the teen members on the team...it doesn't make things easier for me. I just get more frustrated.

Early practice on Friday morning didn't go that well either. Again, i was struggling to keep up and my feet were killing me. I don't understand why my feet hurt so much, but I just have to keep fighting through it every time. There has to be a better way. We came back to the hotel to have breakfast (yay waffles) and then do the "hair and makeup thing". A friend of mine says we look like a group of figure-skating zombies. I tend to agree just a little bit.

Somehow...and i'm reallly not quite sure how, we managed to skate a fairly clean program (only one fall and it wasn't me) and we came in 4th! That was good enough for a pewter medal and if we had been a regular team instead of the "open" division it would have earned us a trip to Nationals. I'm shocked by the placement but very pleased. We got medals and everything! That was pretty awesome to be honest.

I guess the moral of Mids is that hard work does eventually pay off.

Here are pictures from Mids: http://picasaweb.google.com/beccaminister/Skating

Testing Success!

I went to RFD to skate. I had my pre-bronze moves in the field test. I was annoyed that I had to take the pre-bronze moves because I had passed pre-bronze free skate like 10 years ago, but new USFSA rules prevent you from moving up in free skate levels if you haven't passed moves. So, I took the dang test and I passed! Now I can test bronze moves and bronze freestyle in March and then hopefully at least get to silver before fall.