The Summer of Derby

All I can think about is skating. Form, wheels, socks, laces, toe guards, form, form and form. And sporadically thrown in: Will it rain today and keep me from skating? I read the sky obsessively, and have a Firefox browser tab constantly open to weather.com.

Clouds rolling in at the rink.

One night I was running late but wanted to get out and skate some endurance exercises before dark. After I suited up, the rain began. Koco, Ima Killya and I laid down and did sit ups and back exercises under a heavy sky as the rain peppered our faces.

Rain on the rink

I can feel my legs getting stronger. But, as with most things worth having, the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know. I head out to the rink most nights around 7 - 7:30. The sun is still hot at that point, so I and whomever is out that night, try to warm up without overheating. I sweat like a motherfucker. Around 8:30 the sun dips low and I finally feel like I can get a decent workout in. We do suicides (begin laying down, GO at full spread to the halfway mark on the rink, do a double-knee fall, get up, skate to the end of the rink, fall on all four, turn around and do single-knee falls on the way back, and a 180 at the end which usually ends with us laying on the dirty rink floor again -- but only because we can no longer stand.) Poison SueSMAC introduced me to endurance skates where you go full on for 5 minutes and I really think that is helping. The BRRG girls have been so kind and welcoming. I want to thank them by kicking ass at the tryouts.

I love it. I have never felt this way about a sport. Tonight my derby baby sister Mallory (Eve L. HeartbreakHer) attended an open scrimmage in Hendersonville. We were able to watch the BRRG in a practice bout. It was my first time watching roller derby since I began to skate myself. I think I am a very visual learner, and I learned so much during those two hours. Seeing their smooth crossovers, how they use the oval rink space, watching them HIT (can't wait), seeing all the falling (worried about lack of health insurance), and the competitive nature of the sport. I was sad when it ended.

Mallory and I spent the 45 minute ride home writing down everything we saw so we can incorporate moves and warm ups into our practices. I swear I was so excited I almost peed myself. I can't wait to be out with the big kids!

I am meeting amazing woman, sweating through knee gaskets, pads, and socks, getting healthy and in shape and having a blast. It works my mind and my body to the max. I didn't know exercise could be fun. My tailbone still aches from when I fell 2 weeks ago for absolutely no reason, and my head aches from time to time from when it bounced off the rink floor, reminding me that I have a responsibility to my body through all of this.

I am snapping laces, and my gear is finally looking like it is used for what it is designed. My beloved unicorn, argyle, and whale socks are wearing thin, so with more excitement than is deemed sane I hit Target for more. I own four sports bras now, which is a lifetime record. My toe guards and knee pads are lookin' loved, and I dream on skates. Poweraid is my new drink of choice, and I go through it like a teenage boy.

I apologize to the people I never see anymore. The first meeting Candy Korn said, "We're not saying it's a cult, but we will make you wear funny clothes, change your name and never see your real family again." I am determined to be a member, even if they don't know it yet.

With my new $2 socks (hearts, some stripes and, duh, argyle), I will head out to the rink tomorrow and work even harder. I have roughly one month until tryouts, and I need every minute.

Calves

After skating with naked calves the other night, I know I need my knee socks. And, how pretty they are...

Wearing 'Em In

They are beginning to look like real, derby girl skates! I keep breaking my laces and tying them higher and higher up. I think I need to just get new ones.

<3

Work (it)

Derby weaving drills featuring gatorade bottles and flip flops.

Have I mentioned that I friggin' love this?
I do.

Derby Friends

I think the thing I dislike the most about roller derby is that you can’t spit on the floor. How do you do a sport without spitting?

Luckily that is minor and overlookable.

I went out on the rink last Thursday, planning on getting a good hour in before a meeting I had to attend. It hit 95 degrees that day, but I figured it would be cooler at 6 pm. It wasn’t. That, combined with the fact that I had barely eaten all day made me quite pathetic on wheels. This was my first day of walking like an upright citizen once more, after hunching and stepping lightly using as few of my aching muscles as possible for about three days. This past post-boot camp week was hell. I wanted to keep skating but it really hurt, and I couldn’t even lift my foot do to a crossover. Last Thursday, I believe I lasted around 20 minutes, tops. But they say everything is for a reason, and perhaps my reason was to run into Mallory.

Mallory and her sister were just leaving the rink and we spoke for a moment about practicing together but neglected to exchange numbers. Much to my excitement, she found me on facebook and we decided to skate together on Saturday night. My first derby sister friend!

Upon reading my obnoxiously excited facebook posts about my newly formed derby obsession, a friend from undergrad messaged me. She used to skate with a woman on the BRRG, Maya Rulez. When I met Maya and brought up our mutual friend, she clapped her hands together exclaiming, “Dana and I were derby babies together!” When I skated with Mallory on Saturday, I kept thinking, someday we will talk about being derby babies! This was a very exciting prospect, mainly because, in my mind, when we are clapping our hands and remembering these weeks of hot summer night practices in Carrier Park, we will be formidable, in-shape bona-fucking-fide derby girls.

But we still have a way to go. My 20 minute practice on Thursday left me feeling lousy, out of shape, and down. I did all the self pep talks and took Friday off. Saturday, Mallory and I met at 7 and practiced everything we could remember. We compared boot camp experiences and I found I was not the only one about to pass out as the BRRG women skated circles around us. We practiced falling, getting up, skating fast, crossovers (she is the reigning queen) and taking breaks. It was one of the best times I have had out at Carrier. I get so bored and in my head when I practice alone.

And tonight, there were four! Delaney and Coco joined us and we had a hard, 1.5 hour workout. How fun is it to be goofy and learn from other beginner skaters! We critiqued each other (“Emily! DERBY STANCE!”); wove, and ran into, around water and gatorade bottles; compared equipment, spoke of our dream skates and how thankful we are for our knee gaskets. We tried out derby name ideas and traded tips. We were red faced and dripping sweat, turning left and right to call out the number of fingers Mallory’s boyfriend, Tensey, was holding up as he skated behind us (to practice focusing behind). We giggled and fell and slid I swear I had more fun than I have in some time.

Aside from getting into shape, I am unbelievably psyched to grow and work with a community of strong, awesome women. This weekend was a glimpse of what my summer is going to bring. Lots of sweat, bruises, and laughter. Red faces, empty water bottles, and broken laces.

I got home and was full of energy. I swept and mopped the house, cleaned the toilet, fed the dogs, did the dishes, took out the garbage and recycling and did a load of laundry. I felt content. Antioch instilled in me such a need for community, and everywhere I go I build one, person by person, friendship by friendship. This could be my best yet.

This post is dedicated to my best friend and the girl who inspired me every day to be a tough, bad ass lady. Bela, you are missed.

The Night After the Morning After

Holy shit. I thought getting back on the horse would help ease the pain from falling off the horse. Or whatever. I mean, I know I fell off the horse on purpose, but wouldn't the cure be the same?

I hobbled to the rink this hot and sweaty southern June night to get back on that proverbial horse. There was an older gentleman there with his grandson playing soccer, but they cleared out when I began my stretches. He sat on the bench and we chatted for a minute. He was excited to hear that I was going to try out for the BRRG team and told me, "If you're strong and you're tough, you'll make it." I am the latter, but still working on the former. And tonight? Not feeling so tough. It is hard to look like you are strong and/or tough when your thighs hate you.

Every crossover felt like my skates weighed 100 pounds. I tried to practice falling and got myself back up only due to the fact that the grandpa was watching. Otherwise I swear I would still be laying there.

After a while it felt a little bit easier, and I made myself push through it. That said, I was off the rink and out of my pads in under one minute when I saw lightening strike suddenly and the clouds began rolling in. I made it home just before the downpour, and just in time to comfort the shaking, panting pit bull and the old big brown dog pacing on three legs as I changed and made dinner.

My old husky/shepherd girl, bela, has a nerve tumor that is causing her muscles to waste away. She no longer uses her left front leg for anything and hops around like a large, hairy 85 pound bunny. When she goes from a laying position to a full down position on her side, she just kind of collapses due to her no longer having a trapezius muscle. You can hear her head hit the floor from any room in the house. It is heartbreaking, but she doesn't seem to mind, and aside from strapping a pillow to her head I am not sure how to help her.

That is how I sit down now. I go lower, lower, loooower, and WHUMP I collapse into the chair/bed/bench. No control, no grace. It hurts. I just begged my dear roommate to go get something for me just so I wouldn't have to repeat the whole unattractive scene again. Me and bela. The 105 year old and I.

And tonight I discovered by pure accident that I have been wearing my wrist guards backwards. This explains why I have bruises on my arms from where, when I practiced a full on-all-fours-fall, the guards were slamming into my skin. Check. Noted. Fixed. Think I am going to need new ones anyway...the rubber(?) is coming off from using them (albeit incorrectly) only one night.


I hope I sleep tonight. Tomorrow I am going to eat 25 bananas, I swear.

Boot Camp

It's the morning after. It's not as bad as I thought, but I still can't walk right. My thighs have been beaten. Candy said that the derby stance (low) would make it hard to sit on a toilet for awhile and, man, she was right. But it was amazing! The BRRG ladies demonstrated what we are going to have to do for the tryouts at the end of August, and then we had the opportunity to practice them and ask questions. Skating on all 8 wheels, falling on all fours, then landing on left knee and right knee, weaving, cutting, stepping, etc. I thought I might die. My legs were a puddle of jelly after an hour. I have so far to go but I plan to go there quickly. I could feel my body learning and adjusting as the boot camp progressed. I am going to be doing balance exercises while I brush my teeth, and calf exercises while I order my coffee.

I didn't sleep last night. I figured I would be out like a light, but I couldn't stop playing out the moves in my head, trying to make them familiar. Around 5 am I got up and ate a sandwich. I am going to have to ingest more calories for sure.

Heading out to Carrier park tonight. I can't wait.

PS: I love falling. Why is that?

PPS: As for names? I am leaning towards Shady Gaga. Also: Alpha RollHer and Em Fatale. But there is just so much you could do with a Lady Gaga reference....