Rosie The Riveter

 This was my first attempt at running my 2016 light entertainment program in costume .   It was before my lesson in before we put the finishing touches on this program and I don't have any overhead music playing so of course I'm behind the music .

Coffee Club Roseville CA

I'm down in California with my skates, so of course I had to stop by Roseville SkateTown for coffee club. Ran into my skating buddies Debbie Cutter-Georges and Kathleen Powers. Thanks for sharing your ice! I had a great day.

Choreography Crunch Time

Most of my skating peers will have had their programs long since completed by now. Probably some since before the new year or longer. There are always a few procrastinators. Namely yours truly. I don't start thinking about competition until I register and that's in January. Throw in a long vacation, a few local trips, getting sick and skating other a partner and voila... A recipe for not working on singles and/or choreography is cooking.  Getting together with my choreographer has its scheduling woes for someone like me as well who generally skates (and prefers to skate) on public session rather than FS sessions.and this year I added a new twist ... I had my Dramatic program choreographed remotely by someone in Salt Lake City. So I am trying to learn each step from video clips.... Way more challenging than I thought.

So today I skated some pairs with Hank.. Broke off for a FS lesson, then returned in the afternoon for a choreography lesson on busy FS ice. Tomorrow I have to take a six day road trip to Calif with hubby so ... Again practice will suffer.

 PS the music for my Dramatic is missing because Adele and her record label think I must be trying to profit by using this music to skate to without permission. I'm skating to Skyfall. Use your imagination !!! Grrrrrr.

Pairs Lesson - Cleaning Up The Program

Had a lesson today to work on our Silver Pairs program for Nationals in  LESS THAN A MONTH .... I am shouting at myself as a reminder!  Physically, things could be going better for me at this point.  The cold I got before Sectionals is waning, but I still don't feel 100%.  R ankle problem.  Pain under the boot and up the leg while jumping.  Undiagnosed, but I think it's Peroneal Tendinosis from jumping when my boots weren't laced up snug.  If it gets worse I will see someone.  Going to take the weekend off the ice.














L foot now has a big bump known as an Accessory Navicular ... looks like 2 ankle bones!





















Minor setback.... Our lesson was good but we didn't make any major breakthroughs on our Axel lift.  Scary to think we are set to perform this program in a month.

.. And on a Lighter Note

Working in the choreography of my Silver IV Light Entertainment Showcase program to "Rosie The Riveter".   Should be fun - no pressure ....  Wish we had more time to work on it.

Pairs Program 4 Weeks Before Nationals

Well, singles isn't going well for me today. My coach now tells me every jump needs to be fixed. I have a bad habit it not keeping my left arm in front before jump take off in ALL jumps. It's like staring over... Being at the wall and doing jumps from a standstill already gave me a few bruises on the bum.

Meanwhile in the pairs corner - Hank and I have been making progress on getting our Axel lift in the air. The video today is a piecemeal layout of our program.. Dubbed over with our music. We have not done a real run with music overhead yet.

Pacific Coast Adult Sectionals - Championship Silver Ladies

Well, I did it.  It's over. I feel  so many different emotions.  I'm really proud of myself for not withdrawing as I threatened to do. I was very nervous and the warm-up made me feel like a third grader on the six grade recess.

I did miss three weeks of skating during my fabulous vacation to Australia and New Zealand and recovered from the flu and came down with a subsequent cold ....  But that's where my excuses end.

 Going to these adult events is so inspiring. Half of the skaters who are my idols skate in the gold or silver level and are not only over 50 but many of them are over 60.  They are "training" on and off the ice 15 hours per week and they all have stories of surgeries and set backs.... I am not alone and we are all skating because we love the sport.

 Once again I think my coaches were right. I think that the more you do it (compete) the easier it gets Although I was extremely nervous I felt a very strange calm just before I got on the ice and this time I smiled all the way through my program... probably because I felt like everybody that I was improvising the program .... Which isn't true at all - nobody but me knew everything was rearranged.

 I was disappointed that my spins were not good ... But now I have something to work on.

 Final standing 10th Pl. out of 13 and I have to say I am honestly happy with that.  This was my first competition at the silver level and some of these ladies were in their 20s.




Here is the link to the entire group of the Championship Ladies Silver event.  I skated 3rd -

The girl who skated just before me was amazing.  She qualified - Great speed, good jumps.