A Tentative Hallelujah

As much as I want to shed tears of joy and dance around the parking lot in my hot pink tutu that my skates are amazing I am going to hold back for a few more practices. The preliminary results from practice #1, however, are a tentative "hallelujah". :-)

For the first time in many practices I was not afraid to get out on the tracks as soon as I had my gear on. Lately I've been hesitant to do so because the sooner I started skating, the sooner my arches would feel like they were tightropes being sawed through.

They rub a bit on my ankle bones - more so on my right foot than my left which causes a little tenderness but that will change as the leather softens up and breaks in. I bought some terrycloth wristbands for my ankles to try to mitigate the pain but they just ended up riding up my legs (as Mr. Carnate predicted).

We did a brief session of "Skater Sister Says" followed by a "Diamond" drill - skating in the most efficient path possible around the track, crossing over the whole time. While I felt like I was getting back to where I was with crossovers on my old skates I had some of the faster skaters flying by me which made my confidence drop through the floor.

Afterward us Level 0's retreated to the freshie corral to work on slides and stops. Work in the freshie corral always involved a lot of standing - especially with 19 of us (16 newbies and 3 holdovers) waiting our turn to go. Toward the end of skating my feet started to get a little tender but it was NOT my arches. It felt more like my heels and the balls of my feet - the same place that gets tender after standing a long time in street shoes.

I ran into a little numbness so I am currently experimenting with lacing pattern #3 (Lace 1-3, Skip 4, 6, and 8, Lace 9-10). I'm also wearing thicker socks at the moment to help stretch things out a bit. I'm having Mr. Carnate help around the house because, while I want to get these broken in, I don't trust myself with a pan of hot sausage from the oven while skating around a teeny tiny kitchen.

First Date

I was nervous, but excited as I drove to south Nashua. I've been waiting for this day for weeks. We met briefly several weeks ago but haven't seen each other since. This has a very good chance of being extremely awesome but could still go horribly wrong after I've invested so much. We met at a shop and I was definitely infatuated... it remains to be seen if it will turn to love. There was the usual awkwardness of a first date but overall it was a pleasant experience. I'll definitely go on a second one!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have met my skates.

The above description may sound a little melodramatic but that was exactly what was going through my head as I pulled into the parking lot of the Bruised Boutique. Anyone who read my Facebook page today knew I was excited but I was more nervous than I was expecting to be. What if they didn't fit? What if I don't end up liking them? It's not like I can sell a pair of skates that are two different sizes!

The good news is that so far they are amazing. I wasn't going to skate tonight but fate tipped in my favor. There was a water main break on the road I have to take to get home so traffic was an absolute nightmare. I picked up my skates, called home and found out the traffic was still bad. Stranded in South Nashua at nearly 7pm. WHat could I do. There is only one thing...

Teen Night. *doom music*

I will refrain from ranting too much about teen night. It will suffice to say that it is essentially a roller skating rink packed full of half-dressed teenagers (parents - do you have any idea what your kids are wearing?) acting quite rudely with the foulest mouths I have ever heard (and after 6 years in the Army that's saying something).

Dee loosed my trucks one turn but after attempting to do some scissors on my first lap it was apparent that they needed more. I did them another half turn and switched over to double lacing (which I now see that I need to adjust as my right big toe is tingly as I sit here in skates). Better but still tight. I'm going to do another half turn before bed tonight, put my toe stops up a bit and then try them out at the substantially less busy adult skate on Sunday. The balance point is different so I was definitely a little wobbly, although I'm sure I will adjust in time.

All in all a great way to end the week - my first date with the skates. They're hotties. :-)

Jabberjaw

I will talk to anyone, anywhere, any time about roller derby. Fortunately I had the chance to do just that at the Nashua Telegraph's Every Woman Expo this evening. Myself, Roxie, StingHer, Tiara, and Hollywood were all there sporting NHRD gear. We had an amazing table with a great photo display, slideshow, posters and cards galore, and merch for sale.

This expo was substantially smaller in size than the Manchester WZID Women's Expo back in February. I would say the attendance was probably proportional, perhaps a bit lighter. Being a weeknight instead of a weekend day probably contributed to that. I really hope we can secure the funds to have a booth at the ZID show next year. It would be worth every penny for the league.

From 5-8pm I got to chat to people about roller derby. Attendees ranged from 16 to 86 - some wanted to skate with us, other wanted to ref and everyone agreed that a derby bout is a great evening out! I talked about what it was like just starting, how things are different than they sued to be in the 1970s, and the state of roller derby in the US today (nearly 400 leagues!).

In short. I talked. A lot. I would do it again as often as I needed to to promote this amazing sport and the way in can empower women and delight fans.

Before I went to the expo I stopped by the Bruised Boutique to get a pink tutu and some socks. I am going to need them for the league photo that we're taking the day of the home opener and I figured I could wear them tonight too. When I walked in, Dee gave me some news...

My skates are coming in tomorrow! My SKATES are coming in tomorrow. My skates are coming in TOMORROW!

SQUEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

*composes self* So, yes. My skates are coming in tomorrow. I am going to pick them up after work tomorrow and probably will not take them off all weekend. I need to read up on heat forming leather boots using a hair dryer. I don't want to break my new playthings!

I am also spending the evening making signs for use at Saturday's season kick off party. A group of us will be parked out on the corner of Main and Canal in Nashua promoting both the league and the party at Penuche's. If you're local we hope to see you there. NHRD will be out from 3 to last call. 50 cents of every PBR purchased will go to benefit the league!

How awesome is Riedell?

After another frustrating, painful practice last night I came home and made a post on my Facebook page.

"I think it's time to visit a foot doctor. New skates are still 2-4 weeks away unless I can sweet talk someone at Riedell to make them faster! Foot pain is changing now. It started as a cramp but now it's starting to become sharp under my arch and just north of my toes if I flex my foot. Happens off skates too and I haven't been able to stretch it out. :-S"

The "Riedell" bit was tagged because I'm "friends" with their company's Facebook page. This morning, a couple hours after I got to work I received a direct message from someone by the name of Zach who worked for Riedell. He had been checking their account and saw that I had tagged them in a post.

He sent me a very nice note explaining that they have hit a busy patch and that any boots that are out of stock will have a lead time of about 4-5 weeks to get produced. Obviously my sweet talking failed but he did offer to check on my order if I gave him some details and see where it was at in production.

I sent him the basics on my order and thanked him profusely for his excellent customer service. A few hours later I got a message back that my custom boots (in two different sizes) are in the finishing department having the outsoles attached and that they would be finished in roughly 7-10 days. Tack on a few more for shipping and he estimates that they'll arrive in Nashua the week of April 14th.

Working in distribution myself I know there is likely a little flexibility in those dates but I'm still SUPER excited! You don't get that level of customer service most places these days so major props to Zach and the rest of the gang at Riedell for going the extra mile!

Going to do some super stretching tonight. Everything from my knees down feels really really unpleasantly tight. In fact, I am going to be good and go get on the bike for 30 minutes. The elliptiwotsit (as Mr. Carnate dubbed it a couple of years ago) is currently blocked in by four winter tires and the stock exhaust for his car. Sigh.


Even though I didn't have a very good practice last night I was very glad to see my NHRD sisters. I missed everyone loads while I was away!

Leaving on a jet plane

Indeed... I will not be back at an NHRD practice for two whole weeks. I am traveling for work over the next week and a half. I'm heading to Philly for a couple of days for a trade show this week. I'm home for a day to do laundry and sleep in and then early Sunday morning I'm off to my company's headquarters in Appleton, WI.

While I will be far too busy in Philly to get any skating in, I have made contact with both WFTDA-AL leagues in the Appleton area and am hoping to practice with both during my five days in Wisconsin. The Fox Cityz Foxz and the Paper Valley Roller Girls have both seemed very nice thus far.

I will be bringing my skates and basic gear so I can at least skate at the two open skates that are around. I plan to take lots of notes on what other WFTDA-AL leagues do for training, PR, etc... since we're in NH and they're in WI it's not like I'm engaging in espionage or anything. They will both be a different WFDTA region when we all graduate from the apprentice program.

In other news... the skates were ordered today (4-6 weeks) and my kneepads should be arriving tomorrow. Yippee!

The league found out the results of the votes on team names at the league meeting last night. The B-Team is now the Queen City Cherry Bombs and the home teams are the Granite Skate Troopers and the Seabrook Meltdowns.

We've announced a public contest to design the three team logos. Each winner will receive a pair of 2010 season tickets. I'll update this post with a link to the press release once it's posted on the NHRD website. This is open to artists anywhere (we could probably arrange a different prize if season tickets aren't geographically possible).

Also... don't forget to get your tickets for the home opener double header with NHRD's Skate Free or Die! All-Stars versus the Garden State Rollergirls' Ironbound Maidens and our Queen City Cherry Bombs versus Central Mass Roller Derby! Tickets can be purchased online for $8 or at the door for $10. Don't wait! We're expecting to sell this one out!

I'll try to sneak on here during my travels and give people the scoop on my interleague adventures. Until then, see you in derby land!

A big commitment...

Back in October when I first purchased my gear, I didn't want to get the bottom of the barrel gear but I didn't want to drop $500 either. I was only about 99% sure this was something I would want to do. At this point I am at 110%. Even if I reach the point where I can't bout I can see myself reffing and/or volunteering for a long time to come.

That being said, I spent half of Thursday's practice in near-tears because I was just so frustrated with my feet. Up until that point I had never felt like maybe I just wasn't cut out for this. I didn't like feeling that way. Not one bit.

My friend Lara, who will be joining with the next freshie class, was going to the Bruised Boutique to pick out her gear. I decided to meet her there and start down the path to getting new skates.

After measuring my feet it appears that I am wearings skates that are a size and a half too big for my feet! My right foot measured a size 6.5 and my left foot measured a sized 7.5. The problem is that I'm wearing size 8 skates now!!

Other weird foot things... the backs of my ankles don't have as much of a dip in them as "normal" heels do which is why the stock skates I was trying on felt like they were smooshing my Achilles tendon. My right arch is noticeably higher than my left arch.

This all led me to decide to go whole-hog and buy a set of custom made skates from Riedell. I'm going with the 265 (left image) boot which has a lot of built in support, and is a lot thinner than the boot on the Vixens (top image) that I currently use. The size change alone was amazing when I tried on the stock boots.

Because the size change is so dramatic I won't be able to use my PowerDyne Triton plates. If I'm going to do this I may as go all the way so I upgraded to PowerDyne DynaPro plates. Apparently they're slightly lighter than the Tritons and I'll be able to push my toe stops in a bit more.

This will all pinch my wallet but I have made the commitment to stick with this derby thing until I medically can't and when I medically can't I'll STILL be involved. I need to be prepared that I will still experience some level of pain in the new skates but I am hoping that it won't be nearly so bad. I should find out how much the damage will be and how long they'll take to arrive on Monday. Can't wait!

Recruitment Night!

NHRD had an AMAZING recruitment night tonight at Roller Kingdom.We had seventeen potential freshies show up and I personally know of two who were not present. That makes 19 if everyone joins. That's almost a full 20-person roster team! :-D

Not only did we have 17 newbies, we have more than 67% of the league skaters showed up! It was so awesome to see so many derby people together in public representing the league.

I got warm fuzzies thinking about how excited all the new people must be - I know I was when I started! I can't wait for April 5th... it's going to be such a great, energetic, shiny, happy-vibe practice! I have no idea where we're going to PUT everyone!

I also had the opportunity to try on a couple of different people's skates. I tried May's Hellcats and Bettie's 122's. I definitely like the all-leather boot. It feels so much less bulky than my Vixens! I'm going to try to get down to the Bruised Boutique shop this week and try on some skates. I'll shell out the extra money to get boots in different sizes if I have to.

Skate considerations from one freshie to another...

So... I am in no way an expert in skates but there are a few things I wish I had considered when I was buying my skates. I was so excited to be buying my derby gear that I tried on one skate and bought it. I wish I'd taken a little bit more time and tried some additional boots on.

Leather vs. Synthetic. My current skates (Riedell Vixens) were manufactured in China using synthetic material. They were on the cheaper end (under $200) and have a considerable amount of padding. After trying on thinner, all-leather skates I am in love. It felt so nice to not have the extra bulk around my feet.

Foot shape. I have skinny feet - I always have. In my rush to buy skates I didn't stop to think how my foot feels when it's sloshing around inside the boot. Skates come in men's sizes only at this point and men's feet are shaped differently than women's feet. I should have gotten a boot with a narrower heel to account for my skinny feet. Think about the shape of your foot and get a boot that works for your foot shape.

Plate material. This was sort of a no-brainer for me, given the size girl that I am. Plates are commonly made out of nylon and aluminum. If you're little, you should have no issues with a much lighter nylon plate. If you're big, or tall you will need to get an aluminum plate as soon as you start hopping/jumping (it happens sooner than you'd think!).

The moral of the story is, don't rush into buying your first skates unless you're not 100% sure you want to go all the way with derby. If you're just testing the waters then go ahead and get a cheap skate with the understanding that you'll probably end up buying a nicer pair once you're hooked and have gotten used to the derby style of skating.