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.