Go Get 'em, Sharon!

I had intended to do a post about the stuff I learned in the Salt Lake Masters Camp (which was a lot), and about my plans for the upcoming ice season (which at present don't exist).  But I just can't quite figure out what I want to say, and so I won't say anything.  At least about that.  Fortunately there are more fun things to write about.

My blog friend Sharon, of Speed Skating Mom, is doing her first-ever meet tomorrow.  It's short track, but I'll forgive her for that since there is no long track where she lives.  She's a little freaked about it, so I thought I'd send her some good vibes.

What I'd really like to post for her is a picture of my first race.  Unfortunately, our scanner is a bit cranky and since the race happened in '94 there is no digital version of the photos; thus, you'll have to settle for a description of the event.  However, I can tell you that the pictures feature me in two-sizes-too-big (very) used long track skates (which insured that I was skating completely on my inner ankles instead of just partially); wind pants and a windbreaker (which insured that I blew up like an inflatable car-dealership ornament the instant I started moving); and a complete lack of any discernible long-track technique (which insured that my opponents and the spectators at the small-community-winter-festival-fun-race observed my progress down the track with bemused horror).

A picture or two from that event would have made her feel pretty good.

Lacking that, though, I'll supply a couple photos from the local short track meet that I helped time today.  (Turns out that timing a short track meet is much like timing a long track meet, only without the wind and the sunglare.  Or the snow. But it's still cold).  Our short track meet included everything from the barely-older-than-a-toddler fellow who followed the rink official through his one lap race like an imprinted baby duck...

  ...to a "bucket race."

Really, how can you be nervous about participating in an event that might involve orange 5-gallon buckets?

Seriously, though...Good Luck Sharon!  After watching the short track races today (the ones with full-sized people and without buckets), I once again have to salute your courage.  I never have and (if I have anything to say about it) never will participate in a short track race; they scare the crap out of me.   So I salute you with a Diet Dew, and I hope you have as much fun tomorrow as I did in my first race, and I hope your speedskating obsession is strengthened by the experience.

Go get 'em!