Time to Relax!

by Mary on March 6, 2016

Check out tonight’s delectable chocolate turn-down service thanks to my fellow skaters! I’ve already nibbled some toffee from the stash, plus the Ibuprofin that one skater thoughtfully included.

tossie haul

tossie haul

I competed this morning and have been relaxing and spectating ever since. I placed third in my group, Adult Bronze III. It’s hard for me to keep all my items together when I’m traveling and that caused a bit of drama this morning. Ready to leave for an early a.m. freestyle session, I couldn’t find the keys to the rental car. After a few fruitless minutes of looking and a mini-meltdown, I realized I could call Uber and got on my way.

En-route (with a driver who missed his exit and seemed to take a very long way) I realized that I could have dropped the keys while coming into the hotel with skates, dress, and groceries last night. I called the front desk and they had the keys, whew!

I had a decent practice, a bit shorter than it could have been but that was OK. Caught a ride from there to the competition arena with another adult and talked skating on the way. Meanwhile my husband, who arrived late last night, drove over in the rental car, which had a few things in it that I needed (luckily not my skates or dress!).

Coach Gary met me at the competition rink. Yesterday he recommended taking out my small and inconsistent lutz and doing a flip instead, and that’s how I’d practiced on my own this morning. On my competition warmup my camel was no good, not even the barely-a-camel that’s the best I can do right now. So he suggested I substitute a scratch spin. I was reluctant since I’d never done my program that way and thought I might get dizzy, but I trusted him on it and it seemed to work out pretty well.

In my program I touched my free foot down on my first couple of jumps. My loop is usually reliable so that surprised me, and after the second touchdown I was feeling kind of bummed. But I kept skating and my other jumps worked out. Despite my vows to just be happy with however I could skate, I was initially disappointed, especially after I saw the video. But, as always, with a little time and perspective I could overlook some things (like the sit spin that doesn’t particularly sit) and appreciate others. My extension is inconsistent, I don’t always get my arms overhead and that looks wimpy, but sometimes it’s there and those moments were nice. I seemed to be smiling and giving some eye contact in the video despite how nervous I actually felt. I need to work on appreciating the meta-level that I can be out there at all.

Hope to share the video and a few other comments later, now I’m ready for that chocolate tuck-in! Did you notice the classy little box with an Italian chocolate covered cherry? Tempting, nice styling, won’t last long. Here’s the close-up:

tossie food etc.

Italian chocolate cherry!

G’night and talk to you soon!

{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }

Jo March 6, 2016 at 8:54 pm

What a great haul! Only at adult skating competitions would someone throw Ibuprofen–that is so funny. Chocolate is indispensable after a good hard skate. I am so impressed that you can come back from recovery after only a few months and compete with a smile. Job well done and chocolate so well deserved!
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Mary March 7, 2016 at 5:39 am

Well I’m certainly not the only one in that situation, but thanks!

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Eva March 7, 2016 at 2:17 pm

Congratulations on your 3rd place finish, Mary! That is definitely something to be proud of. And you got some pretty awesome tossies!
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Mary March 8, 2016 at 4:34 pm

Thanks Eva!

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Melissa March 8, 2016 at 2:27 am

It was so wonderful to skate with you and hang out together this weekend! Thank you for the teddy bears – they sat in my lap on the long ride home! You skated beautifully. Congrats again on medaling.

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Mary March 8, 2016 at 4:37 pm

I’m glad you liked the bears, I thought you might! I loved hanging out at Sectionals! I have our group on video and have watched it again, loved your skate too!

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Sarah March 8, 2016 at 5:44 am

Mary, it was lovely to meet you and see you skating in person! You had a great performance and it’s worth noting that I thought you were noticeably faster and had a lot more power than the skaters in your group, and overall it gave you a very lovely confident flow. Great job!

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Mary March 9, 2016 at 7:09 am

Thanks Sarah! I worked quite a bit on my dances and moves this season, I hope that helped with those things. It was really fun to meet you, thanks for introducing yourself. Hope to spend more time together at events in the future!

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