Day 2 Again

Ok, my faithful followers, I know you've been awaiting this. The results of my Day 2 assessments. If you're friends with me on Facebook, you may know already. Let's just say, I did much better this time than last time.

It was weird. Everyone else was nervous. I had no butterflies. I wasn't nervous, I was ready. I was ready to kick some ass and pass Day 2.

I had some problems, like my skate lace getting knotted. Thanks to Carrie for undoing it!

I had a lot of fun. Day 2 was great. There were 9 of us. We were all really supportive. The grannies were supportive. Foxy came over and gave us tips. She said it must be the drugs encouraging her to be nice.

I thought I'd failed shoulder checks and I thought I'd failed booty blocking, but I did not.

And the results are: I have 2 redos. 2! And they are leaning and taking inside hits in a pack. Both are things I know I can do. It's funny, because I don't even remember getting inside hits in the pack, only outside. So I'll just get low and absorb. Also I did leaning just fine with Rye a couple weeks ago.

So, folks, I plan to redo these skills Monday. And Monday night, there will hopefully be another granny!

Day 1...again

I know what you're thinking..."Didn't she like just take Day 1?" In fact, I did, just 3 short months ago. Several of us did. And we have been awaiting the TC verdict on whether we'd have to retake since we ran out the 60 days. The TC finally told us that since we're now WFTDA (yay!) and we'll have to re-assess yearly, they'd like everyone to assess around the same time, August/September. Having taken Day 1 in June, we would have gone too long without assessing.

They told us this toward the end of August. If we'd known before then, most of us would've re-done Day 1 when they offered it August 7th.

Alas.

So now I'm an expert at assessing.

I passed once more. This time without any redos. Not quite sure how I managed that. My t-stops are still shaky, but passable. Damn those t-stops. I hate them so. Rye said, "You've been here a year. We need to get a better t-stop." I had a bit of a problem with pacing. One of my slows sort of veered off course and I fell once.

My 25 in 5 is not where I'd like it to be. I got down to 4:18 once. Today it was 4:39. But I haven't skated in a week, so I'm not too hard on myself. All in all, I'm pleased.

Ready to take on Day 2 Thursday.

News!

News in the realm is that I have the interwebs again. This will be good for me and for you, my 4 followers.

Derby news has been good. We "Mid-Lifers" have been with the grannies most Sundays, gettin our endurance on. On Thursday, I got the chance to work on things like leaning and arm whips, which I've been begging the TC to include in practice for what seems like months now.

Also, I was partnered with Rye, so I got some good quality feedback. My outside arm whips need work. Like in a big way. My arm's all floppy. Inside is good though. Sometimes I wing out slightly, but usually they're good. When taking arm whips, I need to hang on like a fraction of a second longer.

Also, I'm way better at leaning and locking wheels than I used to be. We did leaning in partners and I actively used my opposite foot to push against Rye. Also, she told me to put my shoulder in front of hers. All this time I've been trying to have even shoulders. This makes it way easier.

We did wheel-locking and taking hits in a pack. Somehow I wound up with both Rye and Sporman locking my wheels, but I stayed upright. And I took hits well. I didn't fall, and if I fell behind, I caught up quickly.

I have to redo Day 1 coming up, and I'm not thrilled, but I'm gonna kick Day 2's ass!