When the Levee Skates

Last night a group of FM'ers met for Tuesday night practice in the parking lot of PetSmart in order to skate the levee along the San Lorenzo River. (Limited panoramic view is here.) I spent a good portion of the hour before practice dreading this skate. I figured it would be another hardcore, kick my ass skate, but instead of on wood it would be on concrete. Oh joy! Plus, this is not a straight, level track. The levee has a lot of downhills, uphills, tiny pot holes, bicyclists, dogs, junkies, and other skating dangers. Eeek!

I pulled into the lot and sat in the back of the Fit putting my outdoor wheels onto my skates. As I watched people pull into the lot, I realized that a lot of them had not dressed in workout clothes, but in jeans. This was the first indication that this skate was not going to be as hardcore as I had imagined. The second indication was that hardly anyone was wearing their mouth guards (well, I'm still terrified so I wore mine on the downhills!). Heather Headlocklear gave us a few pointers for skating the levee and off we went.

A pack of faster skaters, accompanied by Charlie Red Stick, went on up ahead and I stayed back with FM Daisy, FM Natalie, Heather Headlocklear, Cinzilla and Cinzilla's daughter/junior derby grom Hana Slam Tana, Mildred Fierce, FM September and maybe one or two others. It was nice to take it easy and to stop before each downhill portion. We would gather at the top of the hill and Cinzilla would spend time telling us what to expect, which was so helpful and I am again eternally grateful for all of her encouragement and support.

The downhill portions were really not that bad. Yes, they were really fast and scary, but it seemed that as long as I stayed loose, in a low, crouched position, with pressure off my toes and one foot just slightly in front of the other, then I made it down without crashing. Yay! And then I would hit the uphill portion and would just lose speed. I think that each attempt at going uphill in duck walk formation is what caused me to have a sprained womb this morning. Ouch! The lower abdominal muscles right above my pelvic bone are killing me.

I finished the skate with Cinzilla, Hana Slam Tana, and FM Kellie down a really steep slope and that was exhilarating! I'm really glad I didn't bite it when I ran over a plastic cup lid. Yay! I'm also glad I took time to tighten my jingling toe stops after both FM September and FM Elaina lost theirs. I am also still in love with my outdoor wheels...those monsters can handle anything!