[ 003 ] oh make me over, i'm all i wanna be- a walking study in demonology

MY FIRST DAY ON MY FIRST PAIR OF DERBY SKATES.

Skating.. if you're not a regular at it, is definitely a learning experience. I can keep balance at a skating rink, no problem. Can't stop without having to run into a wall and can't really turn without picking my skate up.. but I definitely don't have issues starting a skating groove on the floor.

That being said. For me, indoor and outdoor skating are two completely different experiences, even if you're using the correct wheels (because when I talked at the derby open house, most of the girls felt outdoor and indoor skating was about the same. Not me!)

I. busted. my. ass. Maybe 10 minutes of getting out of the door my first day on my brand new pair of skates. And I mean HARD. This was on the 2nd of October.. it's the 20th, and while I did just go to an open house and fall on my ass once, I WAS STILL HURTING WHEN I WENT. I'm talking 2 weeks of ice packs and codone to numb the pain. The day before I went to the meet (2 days ago!) I was still wincing when lifting my legs up into my pantlegs when standing. My fall was no joke. I almost cried. Butt on concrete. You get the picture by now, I'm sure.

Looking back, I was way too excited to get in them. I should've checked the bearings in my wheels to see how tight they were, I definitely should've been bending my knees more than I was, and I definitely should've thought to fall forward onto my pads rather than straight onto my non-padded ass. I also shouldn't have gone out when I noticed how tiny my toe stops were when first going out the front door. Second guessing that one was the worst part, I think. My original stops were so tiny I couldn't walk on my toes. Ridiculous. Anyway. Yeah, I was probably outside like 10 whole minutes, 15 if you count the agonizing walk back to the house.

Definitely eyeball your skates before you try them out..

And don't let something like that deter you from going any further! That fall was fucking HORRIBLE. Walking 2 weeks later, I can still feel pain. WALKING. But I'm not letting it stop what I'm really wanting to be good at. If you want it bad enough, you'll keep your head high! I didn't put my skates back on until 2 weeks later, but I still watched videos and looked up informational stuff every single day until I did.