I went...

SKATING tonight!

I haven't gone skating in a very long time. I mean so long I can't even remember the last time I went. I remember as a kid one of my parent's friends had a house on a lake/pond...I don't remember and they used to go skating all the time. I can see my mom flitting around the lake doing turns and twists (at least I think it was my mom!). But I never really skated. I'm not sure if they had me try or if I just ran around on the ice in shoes.

So tonight my friend and I went to the Millenium Skating Park because he is a hockey player and really wanted to get on the ice so I thought why not. Well I was very nervous because as I stated above, I really wasn't sure I knew how to skate. So trusting the knowledge that I learned over college about how to be athleticish I stepped on the ice and started moving.

Now I in no way look graceful or smooth as I move around the ice, but I can definetly grasp how to do it so I actually move and look like I'm skating. I do have to concentrate fairly hard though. Whenever I got distracted or tried to watch the people around me I would start to lose my balance or catch a tip. Very frustrating for someone who loves to people watch! And whose friend was just sliding along laughing at everyone. LOL We went out for about 40 minutes and I only tripped like 3 times (which my friend was lovely enough to follow me around and give me an arm/catch me when I did, and than I completely fell only once!

I am now obsessed with the idea of getting my own pair of skates and going more frequently because it's free to use the ice you just have to pay for skates. I've spent all morning scouring craigslist and freecycle for a decent pair of skates. It's gonna happen. Of course I'd love to get out on a patch of ice that isn't packed but for now I will have to make do with going in circles, around and around. After all I am a swimmer, I'm pretty used to it.