Roll or Bust?

I was a roller girl when I was younger. I pretty much had my skates on my feet from the time I got up (or home from school) until bed time. I skated most weekends at the rink, both competing in speed skating, and winning the title of junior girls speed skating champion and  competing in the roller disco limboing where I always came home with a lolly :).  I loved going to the rink, and still remember the first time I decided to try the big hill. And that we spent a lot of time talking to boys!

When I was about 22 I pulled out my skates for the first time in a long time and skated around our flats car park. I then decided to try and skate to the shops. I gave myself a hell of a fright as I had trouble stopping and almost skated onto a car filled road, decided I was too old for roller skates and gave them away! 

The truth is, I had given myself such a fright and I had become so cautious, as we often do as we get older, that I was too scared to imagine I'd ever try again.

Flick to 3 years ago. I heard that there was a roller derby team in Sydney and it made me wish I had kept up with roller skating. Then I saw the movie Whip It and again thought 'why the heck didn't I keep up with roller skating, that's so damn cool'.  And then the final straw was a woman I knew (although not well) joined a roller derby team and I though 'OMG she is older than me!!'

Too old!! Too unfit!! Too responsible!! In the end it all came down to being too scared!! And blast if I was going to listen to those little voices anymore.

But I did, oh sure I told myself it was because I didn't want to spend the money on new skates and I was 'trying' to find cheap ones or because I couldn't find a place to try skates on again. But really I wanted skates but was still to scared.

This year my dad and Inge gave me some money for my birthday, with the clause that it wasn't to go into the kitty. I was to buy myself something I really wanted. I had been longing for skates for over 2.5 years and decided, stuff it! Even if I only use them once, I will never know unless I put some skates on my feet and give it a go!

They arrived yesterday and straight away I strapped them on and started the first tentative rolls around the house. Then I decided I needed to get out on the street and actually take them for a burn. And it we awesome!! I remembered how to turn quickly as a way to stop, I remembered all of the moves and yeah, I probably looked completely uncoordinated as I occasionally felt like I was going to loose my balance but yeeHaa I was skating.

Then I fell over, on my butt! It hurt so much I wanted to cry, but instead I got up and kept skating.

Today as I put my skates on again I feel more cautious. I wish there was a rink closer because the hardest part is trying to deal with uneven surfaces while I get my rollerfeet back. But I have decided that for at least the next two weeks I will put my skates on everyday and keep trying because I want to feel like I've put my birthday money to good use and mostly because I don't want to be scared anymore.

My butt is still sore, but hey I'm still rolling and should be (and am) proud of that alone.