
Practice kicked my ass tonight. But in a good way. I am "contact legal" now, so I got to skate in my first scrimmage jam. I screwed it up massively at least once, but I did manage to knock at least one person down without falling myself. This is progress. I also managed to get checked by other people and not fall over.
I really need to adjust my skates. I took them to get stretched at this awesome shoe repair shop (Jesse's Instant Shoe Repair in Grandview, on 5th behind the Penn Station restaurant) so they feel a lot better, and I can lace them tighter on my ankles without cramping my feet up. But they are still hard for me to control on turns, especially when we're doing drills where we skate on one leg. I took my wrenches with me, but sadly, neither of them fit the bolts that hold the trucks onto my skates. (The truck is like the axle -- look at me learning vocab words!)
I really need to study up on the rules. I am still confused as to where I should be in the pack. It'll come with time and practice, but I asked one question tonight that's been bugging me (can the blockers pass the pivots?) and was totally wrong on my answer (I thought they couldn't, but they can, so long as the pack stays within 20 feet.)
Only bad thing is, my carpal tunnel is acting up in my right wrist when I put weight on it. I need to get back into yoga for that. Downward dog helped me tons with that before. Then it'll be ok. Gotta remember to bring my braces home from work tomorrow so I can sleep in them too when I need to. I know I woke up last night with them bent funny. That's bad!
Wearing the mouthguard in practice seems to make me grind up the bite plate I wear at night much less though. That's good!
Gotta make a derby icon too. I plan to spend some time this weekend working on a logo with my name for the back of my helmet, so that should fall right into place.
Wooo! Off to the shower....