After having a great time on Friday, I was super psyched to attend an outdoor skating event with the Hill Country Inline Club on Saturday. They planned a fun scavenger hunt and get-together at the Williamson County Regional Park. The info says skaters of all levels are welcome, Kylie and I are in!
On the drive over, I am still feeling confident from skating the night before. However, as soon as I pull up, my confidence quickly erodes. First of all, there are *BAD ASS* skaters everywhere. Then, if you are not on skates, and have no reason to think about skating, the area looks totally flat. As a new skater, I step out of the car and immediately notice the following: the parking lot slopes in, it’s slightly uphill toward an asphalt loop, then the sidewalk is both uphill and downhill toward the tables and playground. Not good.
I’m content to get Kylie setup and watch her skate off with her buddies. Lucky for me, the Thurmonator is hurt and not skating, so hopefully I can just hang with him and no one will ask about my skates. That lasted for about 10 seconds. Thanks to pressure from my dear, kind, patient, and encouraging friends, I finally go and put on my skates.
As I step out of the mom-mobile (SUV) with my skates on, I immediately realize I’m terribly sore from skating last night. The muscles you use for skating you don’t really use for walking around so I didn’t notice it beforehand, but my legs feel dead and completely unresponsive. I start rolling away from the car, which is kinda funny except that it’s also embarrassing and terrifying. I look “uphill” toward the loop, then “uphill” and “downhill” toward the tables and I would really REALLY like to crawl back to the car and take the skates off. The Thurmonator is patiently letting me hold onto him while I steady myself, which was for most of the time that day.
Thanks to John I make it to the edge of the loop to watch the kids skate in from the scavenger hunt. (Kylie wants you to know her team won) I wedge my skate in a crack so I can quit rolling backwards, and I’m noticing the loop is downhill then it curves around and is uphill on the other side. I mentally cross that off my list of things to do that day. If I could have made it back to the car by myself, I would have. John is talking to some of the skaters, I have a skate wedged in a crack and am trying to figure out how to get back to my tennis shoes, when Kasey Felter offers to roll around the loop with me.
As much as I don’t want to, I realize I will never do it if I never try. (WWDRD?) Kasey is the daughter of legendary Coach Sonny, and has likely been skating as long as she’s been walking. She holds out her arm for me and we start rolling downhill. Which is actually barely downhill but pretty scary as a new skater. For some reason I’m not sure of yet, skating on asphalt outdoors is much scarier than skating in a rink. One reason may be that there is no rail nearby for me to stop myself with and/or hold on to. In any case, I feel completely off balance and out of sorts. We somehow manage to make it around the loop, ie: Kasey is pulling me most of the way, then we start coming back toward the other skaters, downhill. I ask Kasey if she thinks she can stop us. She drags her foot, then we call on John who steps out and lets us run into him, which was actually pretty funny.
At this point I am mentally and physically exhausted. John helps me make it to the picnic tables and I’ve never been happier to sit down. Lucky for me, Kylie is ready to play on the playground, so she gets both our shoes out of the car.
The Hill Country Inline Club is a really fun bunch of folks and Kylie and I are going to become members. I’m looking forward to the day when I’m not embarrassing myself and can join in.
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