it's happening

Image via Wikipedia

i know, many of you read these posts about skating and go, "what the HELL is she talking about and why is she so excited about this?"

for those new ones, myself, t, and about 7 other guys in the area, are on a skating team called the Speed Weasels.  we travel around the country, because there are none in Colorado, and participate in inline marathons.  Contrary to what most people think, these are fairly common events in some states.  In Duluth, at the Northshore Inline marathon, i believe they have had close to 5,000 people participate in some years. Granted most marathons are much smaller, but nonetheless, FUN!

How on earth do you even hear about these things or get started?  i don't know...but i'll tell you what happened to me. 

i met t and wanted to get some exercise in.  i was pretty heavy when i met him...and not just by a few pounds, i mean, unhealthily heavy.  i didn't want to run, so he suggested i try skating.  now, i have never skated at this time.  o.k., i did my stint at the local Roll-A-Rena (yes, that's what it was called), but i never spent any formidable time in my life doing it.  just the random birthday party in the dark, dank rink where they served slushees that made your mouth blue. 

i went to watch t at a marathon in st. Paul and left thinking, "i could do that".  anyway, for some reason, i bought skates.  what?  i had never really skated, hadn't tried doing so, and yes, i bought skates.  i trained for a month and did my first marathon in Duluth a few years ago.  yes, i didn't really know how to stop, and no, i really still don't, but that's the beauty of it...you don't need to have that skill to complete a very great feat!

lo and behold, 4 years later and 4 or 5 medals later, this is something that i love.  i think any sport that allows a 30 year old to start it and succeed is one to stick with.  have i gone without injury, no.  but it's all been avoidable things and decisions that i made that were not smart ones.  i still wear pads, helmet, everything, evertime i skate and that has cut down on injury dramatically. 

i love it, so much, in fact, that we are working full force now, to get an inline marathon in Colorado.  This will be my latest project, for the next year, at least.  there are so many logistics involved in these things, it's amazing.  i'm just starting, but have a meeting coming up to start discussing things with a hopeful start of June 2011. 

we'll see what happens!  ;)