Finding my sea legs

Over the weekend I watched some of the figure skating world championships on TV and I found myself loooonging for the ice again. It's strange to think that I used to spend multiple hours a week training at the ol' Williams Center in Tulsa. I quit competitive figure skating about 15 years ago. Since then, I go skating about once every couple of years, which is a shame. I really do enjoy the feeling of the ice under my blades, the smell of the cold, dry air. I feel different out there - stronger, more free.

The rink closest to our house has a special adults-only session on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. There's a coach on hand to offer help & give lessons. They even provide coffee & muffins. I've known about this for years, but I was just too nervous/lazy/whatever to go before. This week I was ready. I uncovered my skates from the box on the top shelf of our closet & away I went.


Do you still call them "sea legs" if the water beneath your feet is frozen? Obviously, my body is a lot different than it was back when I skated regularly. My legs are simply too weak to do the things I used to do. But some of it is still there.

All of the other adults were so welcoming, so encouraging. The coach - Mary Jo - was marvelously helpful, too, and helped clear away some old cobwebs in my brain. She reminded me of some little tips, encouraged me to do some things that frightened me a little & was so impressed by my progress that she even asked me to demonstrate a few moves to other skaters. I managed to do a few spins & even a number of waltz jumps, but some simple things like back 3-turns are still escaping me. Gimmee time.


No, that isn't me. It's Coach Mary Jo doing a bit of ice dancing with one of the men in our group. Watchinging them take those familiar steps made me smile. Maybe after a few more sessions I'll fell confident enough to try my hand at it, too.

After skating for 2 & 1/2 hours, the last few members of our group wandered off the ice & we all swapped our skates for street shoes. The coach and I chatted for a while, speaking in an old language I hadn't spoken in a dog's age (words like "scribe" and "patch" mean completely different things to skaters). Before I left, the group told me again how nice it was to have me there & encouraged me to come back anytime. I think I'll have to take them up on that.