LOA

LOA stands for Leave of Absence. They say it happens to every skater at some point in their skating career. I am still not sure how I feel about this. Part of me is scared to go back because I have been away and part of me feels like a failure because I am taking a break. My mom had to have surgery so I was out a little for that, My boyfriend is in the military and preparing for his ever upcoming deployment, and I have had training at work. Life happens to get in the way and luckily I know I can go back when everything equals out. My coach reached out to me to let me know that it is okay to take the LOA and that my team is still there for me. After a few weeks of not skating I am going to go back part time starting tomorrow. I may not be skating every practice but I will be there to support my team and help them out.

Like I said, I am scared to go back. That pesky little voice of doubt in the back of my head makes it harder. Sometimes I feel like the team won't be there for me when I need them. But on the other side of the token I am not one to ask for help. So it puts me in quite a conundrum. In the end I am going to practice tomorrow no matter what. I just hope it goes over well.

In other news I am stupid. Okay, so not stupid per say, but made a stupid choice. When I got home from visiting my mom I was inspecting me skates. My feet were still hurting and I had read on several message boards that your feet can hurt if the skates are not the right size. Now, in the past I have always tried on things. Normally shoes, skates, boots, whatever have been too small. So if it isn't too small then normally it fits. This is why I have a pair of converses that are slightly too big. AND a pair of skates. Usually I never noticed it was an issue in skating other than what I thought was my normal clumsiness. But when I try to go onto my toe stops I can feel my foot sliding slightly. That might be part of the reason why I don't feel comfortable at all doing that and practicing. So in my stupidity I hope to help someone to learn that it is ALWAYS important to try things on. Don't just go for what fits, go for what fits well and completely. Hopefully with a pair that fits I can skate a little better, trust them a little more, and be less of a klutz.

So to fix this I went to a used sport store in the 'big city' down the way. I called ahead and they had two skates that were about my size. So I went with a friend and tried them both on. Right now I skate on Riedell R3.  At the store they had Riedell Carrera and Roller Derby brand of skates. The Roller Derby brand skates looked to be a higher designed style, but the boot was worn down. Someone had not used toe stop covers so the boot was extremely frayed. The Carrera was in great condition, in a box, and even with the registration card. The price for both of them was the same. They both fit the same. Which to me is weird. My R3 are size 11 and too big. The Carrera said on the box it was men's size and 11, fits better and is smaller than the R3. No idea. So I decided to go with the Carrera. My plan is to keep the R3, and either upgrade the boot in time or just keep the skate as a spare pair if I need them in case something happens to my "new" Carrera. So I paid 1/3 the price for a well taken care of pair of skates.

I am having an issue on one of the skates with removing the Carrera toe stop. It only turns a half turn each direction. I am still working and researching on ways to get it off. I will update how I get it off eventually in case anyone else has this issue.

I hope through this people can learn from my mistakes and not make the same ones.

~ <3 Kiss My Blarney