I...am...so...zzzzzzzzzzzz

It's been a really busy few days...but fun busy, so the tiredness and nausea is well worth it! http://www.tilllate.com/ have uploaded pictures from the Roller Disco last Thursday...



Me, Chet Wisconsin, Lauren LaBurn and Daisy Pain


Chet and Daisy


Me and Daisy before the crowds took over the dancefloor


Daisy is a Pain ;)...I'm so jealous!

I didn't even come close to getting an early night on friday, even though I felt like a zombie, but it didn't stop me being uberexcited about the LRG's New Year's Retribution Bout. The minibus was buzzing with chatter the whole two hour and a half hours there, and in a completely shocking turn of events we didn't get lost in London, we arrived early and we even had time to grab snacks before being the first in the queue to get into the hall. It all paid off and we got amazing trackside seats...and later on we were rewarded with no less than three rollergirls in our laps! N-Emma-Si5, Correctional Felicity and Slice Andice all got thrown into us from out of nowhere (it seemed)...but we held fast and didn't spill our beers.

We were cheering for Team Pink, and it was so close, but in the end Pink managed to pull ahead of Team Black and steal the Retribution victory. Unfortunately Ana Ki sustained an injury, but she was so calm that it was hard to believe she was so badly hurt! Kudos to her...I hope she recovers quickly!

The afterparty was also a lot of fun, even if it did take an age to get served at the bar! We hung out chatting with the Bedford Bandits and the London Rockin' Rollers before jumping in the minibus for the journey home. A few of us succumbed to sleep, which was some mean feat considering the rest of us spent most of the time recounting the bout, the roller disco and the next day's practice as well as singing along (very tunefully) to classic 80s songs...

In the end I got home about half three and into bed for 4am in time to grab another three and a half hour's sleep. Mr Gory's an International Paintball Star and so he was up bright and early for training, waking me and Eve L Hart so I put on the coffee and steeled myself for a two hour Trophy Wife practice on very little sleep and lots of caffine and adrenaline.

Despite wanting to puke for the whole two hours (and skating off at one point to do so) I stuck it out and tried my hardest to lead the pack as Pivot. I'm not 100% sure that Pivot is the best choice for me...it's a lot more involved than you'd probably think. To start with, like every other girl on the track you're having to fight to keep your position (and keep upright) but you're having to do this whilst continuously looking behind you and making sure that none of your team have lost their position or gotten in trouble. And while you're doing all this you're also trying to keep control of the entire pack, scream strategy to your blockers, and be the one to hold back the opposition's Jammer when she's snuck past everyone else...

My attention span isn't so great, and many times during practice it was all I could do to keep wide and low and at the front of the pack, let alone keeping any kind of control. I guess it's not the kind of thing that you're going to be perfect at straight away...maybe once I'm comfortable with the skating position then the other stuff will start to come more naturally. It's so difficult to keep dodging around the track stretched out to take up loads of room, and my thighs were killing me after just a few minutes. I was expecting to be crippled this morning but I seemd to be pretty ache-free in comparisson to my usual post-practice agony. I must be getting fitter...it's hard to believe, maybe it's more like my body has given up complaining. It must think I'm crazy! I was even practicing knee-falls with these massive disco-bruises...I swear Roller Derby has made a masochist of me!

Thinking about it, it's got to have done...from thursday to sunday I had about ten hours sleep, Skated for 7 and a half hours (5 and half at the disco, 2 at practice) travelled for around 8 hours from events and home...and it was such a brilliant weekend that I'm worried the rest of 2008 is going to struggle to match up!!

Sgt Major Gory

I think my take on practice was a success….on Saturday night myself, my sister and Eve L. Hart were falling alseep over coffees, and by Sunday morning I received a few texts telling me how much everyone was hurting. It’s two days after now and I still ache like a bastard, and I sat out on one of the most demanding drills because I couldn’t take part and blow the whistle at the same time! The ironic thing was that it was one of the things I needed to practice (knee-dips mid skate to avoid a block or regain your balance), and everyone else already seemed to have gotten it down. But all those knee-dips have got to be hard on your thighs…at least that’s what all the text messages tell me. I wouldn’t know myself ;)

I had so much stuff planned for us to do (I have too many favorite drills) that in the end I had to face the fact that it wasn’t possbile to fit it all in (even factoring in the certainty that with me leading practice the main trouble-maker/timewaster would be occupied) so I focused on endurance skating, games that involved lots of fast skating, dodging and ducking, and relay races. Everyone worked so hard…it was really demanding but we all had fun at the same time. After a few long speed-skake sessions we had a game of dodgeball to lighten things up. It was probably the most fun of all and I sustained a nice patch of rink rash on my ass (and a lovely growing bruise). Ouija Broad and I decided to go for the same fallen ball, but she (the queen of the low-takedown) managed to bump me to my ass as I was squatting down to retrieve it. I was left sitting on my butt as she skated away triumphant. Bitch. She’s too good ;)

I had a wicked time…I’m still glowing from the joy of being ‘Sgt Major’…or maybe it’s just because we had yet another amazing practice? I can’t wait for the LRG bout and our practice next week. We never did get to try out my new drill but I’ll post about it’s success/failure when we do.

Wreck’n’roll xx

anticipation

We’ve been in our new flat for over three months now, and tonight is my second night of web surfing in my own home…I can’t tell you how much I’ve overdosed on the internet in the past 30 odd hours, but it’s obscene.

The new year and seems to be working on me. I’m leading practice this Saturday and I’m actually prepared for it! Organisation is definitely not my strong point (like many other skills that useful adults need) but this time I seem to be on the ball. Sort of. I’ve still got to scale down my list of drills so that it all fits in…I’ve got far too many favorites! Plus I’ve even had the insight to come up with a drill of my own. I don’t know if it’s something that’s already in use and I’ve just overheard someone talking about it, forgotten, and then dreamed the idea up as ‘my own’. Either way, if it works and it’s original then I shall reveal all. I’m a bit paranoid that it might be a big of crap when I try and put it into action.

Saturday is going to be such a challenge. Usually I’m really bad at instructing people on how they should be skating when I know perfectly well what I’m doing for most things. Generally it feels that although I can do it myself, I can’t put together the words to explain to someone else so it’s hard to have confidence in what I’m saying. Every other time I’ve been thrown into it so I’ve kind of stumbled around explaining things, gotten embarrassed and left them to ‘keep practicing!’ This time I’ve had time to prepare, I’ve used it well (shock horror) and with any luck I should make a good immitation of pulling it off.

Roll on the 12th!