Musings of a Miscellaneous Nature

The heat is really on now, in more than one way. I am glad I picked ice skating as my hobby sport in my advanced years. With the temps hitting 103 to 107 range here in the Sacramento area, the rink is a great place to be. That said, yesterday was a zoo!

You can certainly tell that skaters and coaches alike are revving up for Worlds. I skated the 9:30 freestyle session. Major mistake. Could hardly get anything done and my anxiety level was exacerbated by the many excellent, young skaters doing their programs. There were a number of my adult friends who are going to Worlds also on the ice and, with the exception of one, we all felt the same way - it was a waste of $7.00 for the ice time. That said, I can only imagine what the practice ice will be like in San Jose. Oh horrors!

I managed to limp through both programs, nearly wiping out one young skater who was clueless as to my presence. I am hyper-vigilant when I am on the ice, watching as many other skaters as possible. The littler ones (who I don't think should even be on the FS sessions with teen and adult skaters) just do their thing. I suppose they don't have the realization that danger is all around them with "the big skaters" zooming to and fro.

The two practice runs were alright, but certainly not anything to be proud of. I do hope I skate better than I did yesterday in SJ. I know my programs, like them very much, but I have never grown used to skating with lots of people on the ice. I just am too nervous and this definitely affects my performance quality.

Dear Husband will be coming to the rink this week to see my "dress rehearsal." As he is not going to be at Worlds, I wanted him to see my programs. This is the acid test for my ability to perform. It is always difficult to skate in front of your peers, but in front of your husband is nigh on to terrifying!

After skating at my home rink in the morning, I then had to travel to another rink for additional practice. This rink is pitiful, but I did have the pleasure of seeing my former pairs partner and his new partner in their lesson with my dance coach. OMG, they are looking absolutely fabulous and as if they have been skating together for a long time. It was very cool watching them skate.

My dance coach, Coach Chris, is drilling me on things that I should have learned long ago; rather, he is correcting some very bad habits I developed, like NOT keeping my hips underneath me, which results in a very unattractive tendency to have my bum sticking out. This is the single biggest problem with my dancing. If I can fix this, I can do any dance, I am quite confident.

We started working on the dreaded Ten Fox in anticipation of testing this dance again in the future (like 2012 maybe!). Coach Chris gave me homework - practice the end-pattern running steps into the Mohawk - by myself. He showed me how he wants me to execute the Mohawk. EEK! Blade parallel the other blade at the instep going into the move. Alright, like I can do this? I don't have dance blades, so it's HIGH ANXIETY time, but I will practice this and get it right. I refuse to get another re-try on this dance; one was plenty.

Working with Coach Chris is so great. He has a great sense of what it takes to work with adult skaters and is perfect for me. I suppose I am a pretty high-maintenance student but he doesn't seem to mind the fact that having fun in lessons is a big requirement of mine. And, watching him ice dance is a treat in-and-of-itself. He makes everything looks absolutely effortless. I wish, I wish, I wish that someday I could even come close to this goal.

I am attempting to stay calm as the excitement (and anxiety) builds towards Worlds. This is a great challenge with all the chaos going on at the rink. So, onward we go, getting closer to the big event.