2012 Skate of the Union

Tags

Half marathon, Inline skates, Inline skating, Roller skates, Roller skating, Skate of the Union, Skating, Sport, United States

The sista’hood takes to inline skating at the Fairfax Police Dept oval track – in a field of pro elite skaters (not us!) and amateurs (that’s us!) for a half-marathon ‘race. Well, maybe not a “race” for us – but we finished standing upright and burned off some calories along the way!

Jill and I started out at the BACK of the pack…and stayed that way for the first 2 laps. It was looking for awhile that we were the clear OWNERS of last place…until Jill started kickin’ some ass….and we picked off a few stragglers one at a time.

Once it became apparent that we weren’t going to fall, we started gaining more speed (with Jill leading again!), and soon other skaters jumped onto very sweet pace line. The vibe was fabulous — and you can’t beat skate endorphin’s!!! We came in JUST ahead of last place (woo hoo!)…with a bunch of new friends (paceline buddies)

Skate Of The Union 2011

Tags

Baltimore, Inline skating, Roller skating, Skate of the Union

With Mother Nature hurling 1 earthquake and 2 hurricanes at the mid-Atlantic over the past three weeks, coupled with complete lack of skating (let alone skate racing) and skate training partners – a very loud voice in my head told me NOT to enter the Skate of the Union race this year. But, no. The lack of skating or skate opportunities didn’t seem to matter. I entered anyway.

Entering an event, means that I have to do it. There’s no backing out. My skate race training consisted of ONE (count it!), ONE hour for the entire year. And yet for some reason, I thought I could win. Go figure.

September 11, 2011 turned out to be a perfect day for Virginia, Maryland and DC skaters (plus many who traveled further!) to get together and draft, heel carve, double-push, maintain skate technique until your quads cave, and GO as fast as possible around a 1 mile+ flat track – for 10K, 1/2 marathon or the full marathon — all to benefit the Special Olympics.

Skating is an endorphin rush…and being a part of a kick-ass draft line is about as exciting as it gets (too bad I couldn’t keep up with any!). Unlike the prior year where I drafted with Team New Jersey, or behind a big man in a blue shirt….this year was different. I skated a few laps with random skaters, in general I was solo for most of the skate – either too fast for draft lines, or too slow. While my quads were screaming from the lack of training – I managed to stay upright and finish…and take second place with a spot on the podium. How ’bout dem apples eh?

The skate community is pretty tight – and it was all worth it being reunited with old skate friends from the days of Leukemia Team-n-Training, A2A-86mile, Eddie Matzgar clinics, Team Skaters Quest, and Team Rollerquest of Baltimore. Will train for this next year!