This is my attempt to pull from memory a chronology of my skating involvement to this date, for purposes of my own journaling, nothing else.

mid-April 2008: first lessons

May 2008: bought my first pair of skates

June 2008: started working on 1 foot glides

July 2008: remember getting frustrated around this time with apparent lack of progress; started working on going backwards

August 2008: still feeling stuck in a few ruts, but looking back I actually was making progress – working on edges (forward/backward left/right inside/outside on a circle), was starting to get forward strokes under control. Started skating freestyle sessions, under contract, for the first time, doing the 6:45am adult session on Mondays only.

September 2008: Big Office Move over Labor Day weekend, took us to new office that is twenty minutes from the rink. Attended the Colorado Springs Invitational, where I got to soak in a lot of local skating talent, and met World Junior Champion Rachael Flatt for the first time. Also made some contacts for costumes, and spoke with some judges, found out why I hadn’t heard back about my trial judging application. Made contact with the regional vice chair of judges and began the process of finding a mentor. Started to learn to identify elements by takeoff foot, edge, etc. Started working on first “tricks” – lunges, bunny hops, and side toe taps.

October 2008: Attended Southwestern Regionals in Colorado Springs. Met Rachael Flatt again, as well as Jill Trenary, Kathy Casey, Rockne Brubaker, Keauna McLaughlin, and many locally known skaters. Started second contract session, for Monday and Wednesday mornings. Started working on backwards one foot glides and very first spinny things – backwards pivots and two foot spins. Discovered that I am probably one of the 15% of skaters that spins naturally in the wrong direction (e.g., clockwise).

This list is by no means all inclusive. For example, I don’t remember what month it was in which two-foot turns became the bane of my skating existence (I still can’t do them while moving).

Until next time,
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