Level 1/2?

Last night, I got my first taste on contact... sort of. The contact portion of the league was doing a drill where you form a pace line and everyone is given a "secret number". The person closest to the back of the line with #1 is the jammer and the other person with the #1 further up the pace line had to block them when they came by.

Initially FM Erica and I were over in the freshie corral but Bettie was watching the drill and said that the two of us should be out there - so out there we went! I happened to be jammer #1 and earned myself a minor back block when Osteo came out and booty-blocked me. I didn't fall, and I didn't turn it into a major by pushing her over so not bad for my first encounter with contact!

A bit later when it was Osteo's turn to jam and I had to block I definitely whiffed it. I saw her coming up on the far outside and tried to swoop out to catch her but my timing was way off and I went behind her... I think it'll take some work to get the timing thing down. I hung with the pace line again for about 98% of it... the other 2% I spent on the side stretching a mega side cramp.

Maully O came up to me at the beginning of practice and said that she wanted to work with me on booty blocking and Slam said she put a booty blocking drill on the lineup for Sunday "in my honor"... I must have done something right on Monday!

I know I'm getting a little bit stronger, and a little bit faster, with a little more endurance but impatient me is taking over again and I just want to be better now! I know that endurance is not something that you just wake up one day and have - it builds up over time. Hopefully my 25 in 5 endurance will be built up by the time I master my turning toe stops which are the only two things I'm really concerned about for level twos when that day comes.

I just need to keep pushing the crossovers at every practice. If I am sore and stiff, like I am today, then I know that I pushed it. If I wake up the next morning from a practice and feel fine then that tells me I should have worked harder!

Last night I started to conquer a woosy JFK fear I've had of skating over the track rope. It seems like it would trip me and I would fall on my face. Some people roll over it and others step over it so I guessed it was a comfort thing. During the speed skating drill I made myself skate over it and didn't fall so I was quite pleased with that.