Rollerblading 101

this semester i am taking a beginning rollerblading class...notice i said beginning
now, before i go any further, it is important to know that
1)i have never rollerbladed before
2)i have only rollerskated a handful of times at rollerworld, and that was a very VERY long time ago
3)i have ice skated once

so...as i looked over the classes i could take, and realized that i needed a p.e. credit, and thought rollerblading would be fun...i thought i would give it a shot

i know several people in the class, so a few of us walked over to class together. we were late (don't you hate that on the first day) and we couldn't find the room (probably because it was never written in our schedule.) we finally find the room and it is very small...in fact too small. the professor is very nice, and tells us we can pull out a few of the fold-out desks that are leaning on the wall.

always the one to be resourceful, i chose a desk (while others just sat on the floor...)
i unfolded the desk (kind of) and felt i was drawing to much attention, so i just sat down...but you see the desk wasn't unfolded all of the way-so i drew even more attention when i sat down and the desk very abruptly opened all of the way...

we had a brief lecture on the benifits of rollerblading and health stuff...
fact: rollerblading for 1/2 hour burns 300 calories
fact: rollerblading puts less tension on muscles and joints than running or other high imipact sports (in theory...that is if you don't fall, roll into traffic, etc)
fact: they actually make padded shorts for rollerbladers ( i may think of investing in some...)
fact: in order to lose 1 lb, 3500 calories must be burned

after briefly looking at the parts of the rollerblade (we will be quized on it later)
we headed outside to the parking lot....

when we got outside we put our rollerblades on...then the prof told us to stretch...

now, for someone who has rollerbladed before, this task may have not seemed so daunting, but as i hugged the side of the building and tried to lift my leg for a hamstring stretch, i realized that the only result of this would be certain death...or at least falling flat on my face...so i wheeled/scooted/pulled myself around the corner and hid.

After stretching the majority of the class...ok everyone except me and another brave soul began rollerblading around the parking lot in a circle. I learned how to stand, then roll, then kind of stop. now i was able to get the going part, it was just the stopping part that was giving me difficulties.(i don't know, but if i am going to be rollerblading down sidewalks and across streets-it seems pretty important)
well...the super nice professor told me to roll to her and stop-in order to work on knowing the distance needed for stopping. after a few times of this, she told me to pick up speed and then stop-well, i did pick up speed and as i tried to stop, i instead ran right into my professor, knocking her down, scraping both my elbows, and hitting my head....and i got up again/making some cheesy comment about how rollerblading was like getting back on a horse after they had bucked you off...

then, as time went on, my confidence in balance a little better, i joined the circle of rollerbladers...i was doing great...

then, the prof said we were going to play a game-where we would be in two teams, each forming a line, and we would skate around, rotating the person who was in the lead....

so, i am in the middle of the line, basically holding on for dear life while we skate, faster, faster, faster...to fast as we were making the turn i suddenly did not have control-my feet went straight, my body kept turning, and i fell, causing my friend mark who was behind me to literally fly over me and fall, causing the entire team to lose their balance and a select other few people to fall....

thankfully everyone was extremely gracious, and it was fun...
next tuesday i am wearing a helmet, wrist guards (my roommate found me some for 10 dollars...so exciting)

needless to say-this story has provided much entertainment the last few days.