Roller Derby is a fast-paced sport. Being able to maintain your spot in the pack, or catch back up quickly after being hit out or knocked down is incredibly important. Its just as important to be able to dodge those blocks, turn around quickly and head back in the right direction.
I personally am not very good at turning around. This affects not only my game play (I'm less likely to go for a hit that involves me turning around and skating backwards and its more difficult for me to recover when knocked out of bounds) but it limits what I can do during training. Since I'm taking the next two months off of derby (I'm starting up with school again and I have to pass my next to classes or lose my financial aid. boo.) I've decided to take advantage of my time and work on some of the basics. This will hopefully help when I start back up in November and have to re-take my minimum skills test (a WFTDA requirement and all around good idea).
I decided to do something stupid over the weekend.
Super awesome swag
I ran a 5K! It was an event I did with some of my derby girls. I'd signed up for it months ago with the idea that I'd do the Couch to 5k training and be all kinds of in shape for it.
I was feeling rad
Needless to say, that didnt happen. I think I ran on my treadmill twice. I was really worried I was going to get out there and die.
Clean and pretty before the race
Our group consisted of me, my hunny, my derby wife Steph, her sister Jen (who is also one of my teammates), Jens husband, one of our refs and one of our new Psychos.
We're hardcore
The wifey wasnt planning on participating but a last minute dropout left a space open for her. The race was sold out.
All in all, I did better than I had expected. I ran most of the race, walked part of it and only really ran out of breath once. It was great to have my hunny right there with me cheering me on.
The best part of the race. You can see how much color was in the air (and on the people)
While Im super proud of myself for finishing, It made me realize how out of shape I really am. I have got to start working on my endurance if Im going to improve in derby.
Me and the hunny. Aint we cute?
After we crossed the finish line, there were people handing out waters, granola bars and color packets. I, of course, grabbed Sunnyland teal and Steph grabbed Arkham green.
Being tainted with each others team colors
Wifey love.
She got more color on me than the race did.
The aftermath
After a bite to eat and a good long shower, I picked the kids up from their dad and took them to a birthday party. After dropping them back off with their dad, I went home and passed out.
ACK AND OMG! ITS HERE ITS HERE ITS HERE I'M SO EXCITED I'M GOING TO PUKE!
OK, maybe I wont puke, but I am TOTALLY excited!
We had our photo shoot with the ab fab Phantom Photographics a few weeks ago for our "official" league head shots.
I got mine yesterday.
I almost died.
Here it is:
I kind of look like a badass
Its so amazing, I want to show everyone, even strangers on the street. I think I may make it into a shirt and wear it every day although that may look a little narcissistic.
Also, just cause I love her so very, very much, here is my wifey's head shot (shes going to kill me for putting this up)
On Saturday, April the 14th I am doing a Skate-A-Thon to get some funding for our league. Its a 10 mile skate (ack!) on the West orange trail (Heres the route we'll be taking) and we're looking for sponsors to donate per mile (like a marathon. If you're interested in donating, please comment with your name and email address and I'll send you my paypal information. Anything will help!).
Because I really dont skate outside very often and thought it might be a good idea before I try to do 10 miles, I decided to hit up a local trail this afternoon for my lunchbreak. The trail is about 1.6 miles one way, so roughly 3 miles there and back.
While doing my little skate, I came to some realizations, so I thought I'd share them :D
It is totally possible to put a car key, a drivers license, an ipod touch and a cell phone in my bra without looking like a mutant.
If you are of the pale-skinned persuasion like me, its probably a good idea to put on sunblock
People seem intimidated by a chick on skates
Skating on concrete is very, very different than skating in a rink (duh right?). There are things like small hills and wind. Fun, but exhausting.
That even though Im not in practice, I need to work on my derby stance. Standing straight=Falling over for me.
That it is really nice to skate outside like I used to do as a kid, enjoying the sunshine and my music. It was a really fun experience.
This was the beautiful view on the trail
Updates tomorrow on if I managed to make it into the league!!
You may recall my post from a few weeks ago where I mentioned starting roller derby recruitment. Well last Wednesday was my final "skills test" and today I find out if I've made it into the league!
I'm feeling pretty confident about making it in and I got a lot of encouragement and tips from the Psychos (the girls already skating on teams).
I feel very lucky to have gotten in with such an awesome group of women. There isn't really any of the petty bitchiness that tends to happen when you get a group of very outspoken girls together, and everyone is very supportive and willing to help.
Our awesome group of recruits. Im the tiny one in the middle with the purple helmet.
(Yeah I know this probably sounds like I'm pandering but I'm really not. The girls are just that awesome).
Ill leave you with a video of us doing the cupid shuffle in the middle of Ale House after wednesdays test. And this is before we started drinking.
No, there is not need to adjust your television screen.
I've done something a bit.... daring...
I've joined the Roller Derby!!
I know you're probably all thinking that this has come out of left field and that I've totally lost it. You're probably right.
I had heard about the local team (the Orlando Psycho City Derby Girls) a little while back from a friend of mine who emceed for them. I got so excited when I found out there was a local team and I knew that I HAD to try out.
I've always loved to skate and that was my main form of transportation before I was able to drive (although I rarely used quad skates. I wore the crap out of my rollerblades though. Hey, it was the 90s).
While I cant say that this has been a life long dream, it has been a desire of mine for about a year now. When Santa granted my Christmas wish of a brand new set of skates (and pads, helmet, mouthguard, and purple nuts for my wheels called "astro-nuts") my excitement knew no bounds.
Till I put the skates on for the first time and immediately busted my butt on the sidewalk.
Me + sidewalks= bad idea.
And this was with kneepads on
A few days after Christmas, I was playing on Facebook, as i do when i don't have much else going on (which isn't often lol) and I saw a little advert saying that the Psycho City league was having open requirements on Jan 2nd. My little heart went pitter-pat and my brain came to a screeching halt (screaming "WHAT ARE YOU NUTS? YOU CANT EVEN PUT THE THINGS ON WITHOUT FALLING!").
Thankfully my wonderful honey is always the voice of reason. He did a little research (i.e. he actually read the flyer) and it stated in big bold letters "No Skating Experience Necessary". I was thrilled (and nervous, and scared, and kind of felt like I was going to puke).
So I showed up for the first informational session, got all my info together, and showed up last Monday not really knowing what to expect.
We learned how to fall (the right way, not on our butts), and how to stop (which is incredibly important and does not include running into the wall). So far everyone has been super helpful and supportive (my boss has even suggested coming to a game as a "team building event" which i think is HILARIOUS!) I've ended up with some not so pretty bruises but frankly, I've had a BLAST! I cant wait to really start getting into the knitty gritty of playing and getting to know the awesome ladies better.
Here are a couple of videos on some of the skills we've learned. I'd like to keep updating throughtout recruitment and maybe encourage some girls out there in blog-o land to try out for their local teams!
