I passed!

I mentioned this in a bulletin (yes, it warranted a bulletin) but I finally passed my level 1 skills assessment! It's taken me many tries, but speed has been my achilies heel for some time and I am beyond proud that I've managed to work past that HUGE problem.

One of my biggest problems was that I took ridiculously sharp turns when doing crossovers. I could do great doughnuts, but circles bigger than, say, a VW bug have always been impossible for me. Because of that, I coasted for at least half of every turn, and that slowed me down tremendously.

I spent some time lamenting this fact in the car on the way to practice, and Xena larter noted that I wasn't pushing off with my outside leg.... at all. I guess I took the whole "pull under" thing too seriously. After fixing that I could finally control how deep my turns were. This shaved six seconds off of my "five laps in a minute" time, and I finally made it!

When I heard Kitty say that I'd passed, I completely flipped out. I was so happy that I screamed and got al teary-eyed. I saved bursting into tears for the ride home, but it was REALLY hard to hold it in until then. I'm so glad that I managed to keep control of myself until we got in the car, because if I had been sobbing during the pushing drill that took place after the assessment I wouldn't have been able to see where I was going.

I haven't been that happy since I found out I was picked to be a dame in the first place. I completely love this sport beyond all reason. The fitness, the new friends, and the ridiculously exhausting fun that has been derby so far are all great reasons to be a part of BDD, but by far the best is the fact that I'm doing things I never, ever thought were in me.

Even on the days that I really screw the pooch at practice, I'm still so proud of myself. I'm proud that I made the cut. I'm proud that I'm learning new skills that are extremely hard for me to develop. I'm proud that I've made so much progress since I first started. I'm proud to have lost my gut and my weirdly rectangular bum. I'm proud to be a part of such an incredible group of smart, strong, dedicated, amazing women. I'm proud that I go home every night after practice with a shit-eating grin on my face.

GOD I love derby. I am such a dork for this sport that I'm amazed that any of you can stand to be around me now that I can't shut up about it.

I stubbed my hoo.

Tonight I took a skate to the anus, the box, and then I almost threw up. Stubbed vagina and sparkly tadpoles everywhere I looked aside, I actually had a great time. I always have a great time at practice - it's exhausting, taxing, and harder than anything else I've ever done in my life. I am definitely pretty terrible, but I'm getting so much better.

Time for bed. I hope I have skaing dreams again.

Huh.

Today I had a lovely time skating with Rachel and Ali up in NH, up until their friend Mike broke his leg. Poor guy - I hope he heals up quickly and inexpensively!

I also realized that I do better when semi-distracted. When I'm concentrating and focusing like crazy on whatever we're doing, I waaaaay overthink things and screw up royally. However, when I was explaining things and cracking jokes, I was completely fine.

I failed crossovers during my assessment because I wasn't pushing off with both feet. I did them perfectly today, and I could do them on command (so I know this wasn't a fluke). I also did a few decent 180 degree single knee falls, which have been the bane of my goddamned existance for some time.

The most significant thing for me today was this: Rachel asked me to show her what single-knee falls looked like, and I said that I could show her only on one leg because of my tendonitis. I showed her a bunch of times, getting up fairly easily each time. As I was explaining how to position my feet, I suddenly realized that I had been using the wrong leg the whole time! I wanted to do a backflip I was so happy. I hope this means I can do them in practice - granted, I need to check with my doctor first, but this gives me a lot of hope.

I really want to find a way to go and do that again. I really liked skating with them, and I'd love to skate with the other girls who are trying to start the league. I need all the practice I can get, and this was such a nice way to spend my last day off before school starts.