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| Moments after this was taken, it became obvious that looking over my shoulder while simply gliding forward was too dangerous, as I almost face-planted. |
I haven't been roller skating since my friend Laura's birthday/Hallowen party when I was in the 6th grade (I went as Medusa). That's over 11 years ago. That is, of course, until a group of us decided to venture out to a skating rink about a fortnight back. Surprisingly, I found it very difficult! I would have thought that it would be easy, considering how little falling I did as a barbie-skate-clad little girl, but that was not the case. Part of the issue was that I've spent much more time ice skating over the past few years (I use the phrase "much more time" very loosely... as I've probably averaged one trip ice skating per year). The blade configuration of ice skates (as well as roller blades), makes turning and balancing much easier. With roller skates, complete with the square wheel configuration and stopper in front, you have to figure out all over again how to turn effectively. Kirsten, who has always been the best ice skater of the bunch (again, I use "best" loosely, but she is the only one who doesn't look stupid trying to skate backwards), even fell over trying to employ the same cross-over turning tactics that she uses on the ice.
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Regardless, it was a really fun outing, even if we did spend the entire evening getting shown up by 10 year olds and were all kind of sweaty and gross by the end of it. The next morning, my legs were even kind of sore from trying to turn and stabilize themselves all night. It's always really fun when we're able to get the whole gang together to do something active! I mean, they even had all the old school games, which, as you can see on the left, Kirsten and Kim were really excited about (although we never did the skating limbo that seemed to be at every rink back n the day).
Best of all, if we can get good at regular roller skating, a whole new arena of sports is open to us: trick skating, roller disco, roller derby, etc. The list goes on and on (or maybe that was the extent of it)!
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| Peter and Kirsten were so cute skating together! A few of us tried similar methods of joint skating in an attempt stumble less, but apparently, if both parties are unsteady on skates, this really isn't helpful... |
Seriously, when was the last time you roller skated? Do you prefer roller skates or roller blades? Do you remember that episode of That 70s Show where Eric was a trick skater?