I spent the first 10 minutes anxious and awkward, myself. It's been so long, and I refused to fall. Simply refused. Luckily, my years of practice resurfaced and by the time I got the hang of it, I was whipping in between the slowpokes with the others. It thinned out at the end, and I could speed around the track with abandon. What absolute joy--go fast, turn corners quickly, and fly. A lot like driving in traffic, actually...no wonder I enjoy it!

Of course, I had forgotten about the downside of skating...blisters and bruises. And incredibly sore muscles. I had a pretty big blister from the ill-fitting boot, and my left leg from spine to toe felt like it ran the Hustle up the Hancock all by itself. I was entirely lopsided and tripped going up and down stairs because I had no fine motor control. Imagine doing four hours of squats. That's what active roller skating does to you on a small track--you continually turn to the left, so you push more with the left leg than the right... So yeah, ow.