whaaa happened?

okay, just got back from Logitech's public skate and here are my thoughts, in a few separate sections.

1: the buildup
at random times today i would bounce up to one of my coworkers and make her guess what i was doing today. not a very fun game because i had already told her (several times) that i was going skating. she was a good sport (as always) and humored me. i was extremely excited, just a tiny bit nervous.

2: the doubt
when i arrived at Logitech, Suzi was already there skating away. i sat down, put on my skates, then the ankle straps. then took the ankle straps off, re-laced my skates, put on the ankle straps. repeat 3 times. by the second time i repeated this, Red was hassling me (all in fun) and telling me to get out there already. by the fourth time, i just sat there on the bench for about 5 minutes. now more nervous than excited. much more nervous.

3: gearing up
by this time, Liz and Andrea (and Nora...nice to finally meet ya!) had arrived and i had another opportunity to stall. time to put on my new pantalones de gold, shin guards, and gloves.

4: get out there already!
all right, it was finally time to stop stalling and just step out there. and as soon as i did i wanted to cry. for the record, i didn't, and didn't even get misty, but it was such a good feeling. it was the feeling of knowing why i had missed it so much.

5: skating
it's already been well established that i'm not a very good skater. this being the case, there was nothing fancy going on. no crossovers. no backwards skating. not much stopping. but the simple fact that i was on skates, on ice, and moving forward was more fun that i could have ever imagined it would be. i mean, i know that's why i missed it - because i love skating around and being with my friends. but this was sooooo great!

6: knowing my limits
skated a few laps, then a few more, and the ankle felt really good. i was actually able to push off more than i had expected and it probably didn't look very pretty but it felt great. i took a few breaks as i felt soreness coming on, then went back out. i was even able to get up a little bit of speed a few different times. but i was good about stopping when i needed to and i'm pretty sure i didn't push it too much.

7: not much swelling!
now that i'm home and it's been over an hour since my skates have come off, i'm surprised that there's very little swelling (if any) in my ankle and it's not very sore. we'll see how it is tomorrow!

overall, i'm psyched that i was skating again. can't wait to get back to the Belmont ice...and i never thought i'd say that!

:-)