Saturday, January 21

I know it sounds completely ridiculous but I am seriously never sore until at least a day and a half after working out. What's up with that?? I wasn't sore from Wednesday night's practice until Friday morning. Then I bravely decided to go run at the gym for 25 minutes that night. Never felt that decision until Saturday morning, as I woke, was having my coffee and getting ready for practice at 9:30. I still maintain that this phenomena is the result of some sort of super heroish genetic mutation involving extended adrenaline rush/derby high, but Alan, who is the person you'd totally want as your lifeline on "Who wants to be a Millionaire" and knows EVERYTHING always poo poos me so alas, my daydreams come to a screeching halt.

The point I am eventually getting to (I admit I am a meanderer both in speech and writing) is that Saturday morning was COLD. Arctic, windy cold. And I was freshly sore. But I slathered on the BenGay, took a couple ibuprofen, pulled on some awesome derby socks, got my ass in the car, turned on my beloved 80's/90's satellite radio station and got myself to practice. And as usual, I was so glad I did. I left two hours later energized.

We did crossover and footwork drills, skated 25 in 5, and did a ton of drills working on our T, plow, and tomahawk stops. It was a big turn out so we also skated in a super long pace line and the front person got to weave backwards through the line. The skaters in the line were also passing several sponges back and forth as we skated. So much fun. At one point I was passing the sponge forward and someone was weaving in front of me. They bumped my arm as they weaved and I dropped the sponge. In my giddiness I shouted out something about dropping the spirit stick, referencing one of my favorite movies (apologies for the annoying ads):

Since I'm referencing this movie I will indulge my need to include another favorite clip. Sparky's flourishes kind of remind me of the types of wacko things I end up doing when I'm practicing my tomahawks and therefore I believe this clip is somehow a pplicable to my blog...

And let this entry be deemed an entry of video sharing!! I got a few new pairs of socks last week and being the nerd I am had to try them on with my skates. This is a video of me showing off a pair of new socks, my girl enthralled with my skates and my husband egging me on to skate in very tight, toy filled, carpety quarters. Just an average pre-dinnertime at our house:

All joking aside, I'm marveling at our bodies and how they work, all the things we are capable of. The league is officially back in full swing, practicing 3 times a week. I am in heaven, feeling a bit guilty that I'm allowed to have this much fun, feel this vibrant, strong, focused and alive. It feels slightly selfish, having the absolute luxury of enjoying this experience so fully. I'm discovering how isolated and stagnant I allowed myself to fall in attending to my mom responsibilites. I am not in any way complaining, but these kiddos are totally consuming. It is extremely challenging to miss 2 bedtimes a week, knowing how fleeting these moments with the wee ones are. But when I'm out on the track, gear on and skating with these amazing, intelligent, powerful and funny women it recharges me, makes me remember who I am underneath the necessity of momming.  It's so incredibly easy to allow myself to fall into letting the kids and their needs define me. Somehow I had forgotten about my spirit, that spunky fire I possess. So I have decided that derby makes me better, happier, more tolerable, and most importantly a better mom and person.