Death Sport

We recently moved from our nice big home to a much smaller rental. With this move my trampoline and my treadmill did not make it into this little rental. I did manage to get my total gym in the house although it is currently residing in the hallway to my bedroom for lack of a place to put it. I have been so busy that I really haven't missed exercising. I have tried running in the past and realized that it just wasn't my thing. My friend in Arizona has been rollerblading since last year and is always telling me how fun it is and how much of an awesome workout it is. So, I finally decide that I would get some roller blades and hopefully have some fun while trying to burn some calories. Can you guess how this went? Does my title give any clues?

I went down to our sporting goods store and picked myself out a pair of Rollerblades and could hardly wait for the kids to get home from school so I could try them out. I got all the kids' bikes pumped up with air and Jordyn loaded into the stroller and strapped on my Rollerblades. My first reaction was "wow, this is harder than it looks." Off we went on our little bike ride and I was stumbling and using the stroller for balance. I was starting to feel bad that my daughter was now a victim of my learning curve. We arrived at the park and while the kids played I rode around on a paved path and discovered that without the stroller I was road kill waiting to happen. The slightest little descend had me blazing down the road out of control. So, you may be saying to yourself, "why didn't you use the brake?" Well, I'll tell you why, it doesn't work. It mildly slowes you down if you don't careen out of control in the process of trying to use the darn thing. We made it safely home and I decided that I would try out my new sport out on the Bosque the next day while everyone was at school.

Day 2, the Bosque. Now the Bosque is a straight flat trail for bikers, walkers, Rollerblades etc that runs along the Rio Grand River. I thought this would be the safest option for me since there are no cars to run me over. My plan was slightly flawed in the fact that in order to get to this trail you must go down this pretty severe hill to get to this nice long flat trail. I looked down this hill and remembered my problems from the day before and wondered how I was going to get down this little hill. I started from a stopped position hopping that it would keep me from picking up too much speed. Wrong! The problem with a nice new pair of expensive rollerblades is that they practically roll themselves. All of a sudden I started picking up speed and I realized that I was out of control. I was praying that no one was coming toward me and that no one was behind me. I started trying everything I could think of to slow down. Snow plow -nope. Turn into the hill- nope couldn't turn deep enough. That just made me zig zag out of control. The brake, surely the brake- nope. Even more out of control now. Ok, only option left, head for the rocks on the side of the trail. Totally biffed it. I landed on my rear end with my right hand catching my fall. My first reaction was, "man I hope nobody saw that." My next reaction was, 'holy cow I just escaped death." Some girl that I had seen only minutes before coming at me on the trail had now been going my direction and had seen the mad scene unfold and informed me that I really need to get some wrist guards or I was going to break my wrist. Thanks! Then she comforted me by telling me that she falls all the time and you just fall a lot as a result of rollerblading and so don't go again with out at least some wrist guards. Seriously?! Well, I brushed myself and my ego off and took off down the trail knowing that the rest of the trail would be flat. I'm sure that I was the source of many people's entertainment that day while I tried to figure out stride length and not letting rocks on the trail send me flying. When I had turned around and reached the fateful hill again I realized that there was a hill on this side of the trail as well only less steep. I decided to walk down the hill sideways in the dirt to save myself from the fate that was waiting for me if I tried going down the hill again. All in all, not too bad of a day.

I went out and bought the proper gear and have been using a sidewalk at one of the parks near the house to practice going down hill at a safe speed and eventually stopping. I just go up and down the hill while the kids play. I've been 4 times now and I am getting the hang of it a bit more each time. So, I haven't given up on the "death sport" yet. It is actually quite fun aside from the anxiety from the constant danger. :) It really is fun and an excellent way to spend time with the kids while exercising.