Ok, here I am on vacation in West Virginia - beautiful state park on a 3000 ft mountain top. Trees, deer, lovely scenery, hiking, horseback riding etc....

So, I have these strong urges to do axels - I'm 38 and would look really funny if I was caught. So I did a few descreet waltz jumps when nobody was looking.

I was waiting for my cabin-mates to come out to the car, and guess what I was doing? Practicing my check out exercises that my coach gave me at my last lesson. Hidden behind the car door, of course.

The cabin had great hard wood floors - perfect for backspins. So of course, I did them when nobody else was around.

I wondered if the altitude at Lake Placid for next year's Adult Nationals would effect my skating the same as the altitude in WVA effected my hiking up moutains sklills.

I was ready for the vacation to end - not to go back to work (shudder) but instead to go back to skating. I caressed my skates when I got home.

HELP!!!!!!! I'M ADDICTED!!!

Sound like you have THIS!!! (And I think we're all insane!!!)

__________________
Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

i do back spins in my kitchen and my bathroom. Since my bathroom is small I have to make sure they are centred otherwise I crash into the sink, toilet, or fall into the bathtub.

Hehehe..and when I'm a work I back spin all over the place. I'm a teacher and have a large classroom with no desks. It's the music room so the kids sit on the floor and the fllor is tiled. I've also been known to practice leg position for laybacks in my room, and I have once been sorta caught doing axels.

I used to do axels in WalMart while my husband was looking at stuff in the automotive and tool aisles. I always looked around for surveillance equipment. I'm sure somebody got a good laugh. I also used to jump and spin in the bathroom at work as well and stretch my legs on the countertop and at my desk.

Kay

__________________
Visit my figure skating journal
http://www.skatejournal.com/

I won't add any more pieces of furniture in my apartment because they would take up my jumping practice space!

__________________
This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

I think we're ALL insane! Here's me, a 19-year old girl with very little spacial awareness (I'm famous for bumping into things and my little sister calls me Mr Bump) and who is always cold. I aim leave the house on a Saturday morning at 8am in order to be late for the 10am session at the rink I go to. I then spend two hours twirling around in the freezing cold on a giant sheet of water, avoiding ickle kids in hockey skates, before getting off the ice at 12 noon and getting home at about 2:30pm(!). I then spend all week looking forward to next time, in the process practicing flip entries in a classroom when nobody's watching and trying to spin on a carpeted floor at home. Insane? You betcha. But I wouldn't give it up for anything.

__________________
"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

All insane is right, but it's a FUN insane!

I don't remember any problems at Lake Placid at all. Of course it never entered my mind that there would be, so that might be some of it. The only problem I had was climbing that "mountain" behind the rink to get to my hotel. Talk about huffing and puffing while dragging my skate bag. I'd make a lousy mountain climber, that's for sure.

The altitude of Lake Placid is about 1900 feet.

Tell me about that hill behind the rink. Trying climbing that hill after you had about three brews at the Adirondack Steak and Seafood Resturant!!

__________________
Keeping School Figures Alive!!

At my last job, I had the file server in the corner of my office. I had ordered a bunch of stuff out of Rainbo's catalog and had it delivered to my office address. One of the items was the metal spinner. I was dying to try it out as soon as it came in so I closed my office door and hopped on the spinner. Not really knowing what to expect, but I was horribly off balance and went FLYING into the wall RIGHT next to the server!!

Thereby giving new meaning to "crashing the server".....

I used to practice axels in the restrooms at my college's public buildings (The bathrooms in the new buildings were huge). I was in mid-air one day when someone walked in I immediately said "execuse me" and walked quickly out of there.


Also at this place where I used to work, I was pretending to do footwork on the floor. I thought I was by myself of course, but there was an opaque glass separating the hallway I was in and another hallway where my coworkers were chilling out. Unbeknownst to me, some of them were watching through the glass and saw some figure moving and shaking like a mad person. They asked what kind of dance was I practicing People must have thought I was some kind of weirdo.

Try climbing the hill right after a power stroking class!

Let's see...

• Trying to open hips for a spread eagle in the supermarket line. (I have no turnout!!!)
• At a particular job, the beams to the stairs outside the office was the PERFECT height for stretching out my spiral position! When I got caught doing that, my excuse was "I have a bad back and I'm trying to stretch out the knots." (Which is also true, but that wasn't the original intention.)
• Tried to stretch out hips on same stair beams for spread eagle
• Got caught ONCE doing waltz jumps the hallways outside the office.
• Your former coworkers nicknamed you "Michelle Kwan" (Yeah, I *WISH*!!!)
• Your ex-boss's daughter is a figure skater visiting Mom at the office. The young lady is practicing axels on the carpeted floor. Instead of complementing her and getting back to work, you're doing off ice jump (with me, it was just a waltz jump) along with her. Boss catches me AND daughter doing the evil deed!
• Last but not least, looking forward to the day I actually get a nice software engineer gig...so I can afford a second 1/2 hr. lesson and more ice time.

__________________
Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Yep, we are all just as bad.

My neighbors think I'm nuts as I work on axels, camel/spiral positions & d. loops while I'm out walking my dog.

I've been caught at work standing in 3rd (or 5th) position or in a full spread eagle position working on my turn-out.

My glassware cabinets in lab are very reflective and great for checking positions, including attitudes and layback positions! I wish I had something that reflective at the rink! Also guilty of standing at the lab bench with my feet turned out in spreadeagle position in order to stretch the hip muscles.

I'm happy to take every moment I can to check a position, even if it is in the lab! Nobody cares because they all think I'm weird anyway!

__________________
All that glitters has a high refractive index.

I haven't been caught mid-air before but my boyfriend once caught me practicing a loop jump in his kitchen! He quickly came to the conclusion I'm barmy. Also, ages ago (last year), I was trying to learn how to do outside mohawks properly. During a theatre rehearsal, I was standing on stage, and there was a break as some people were talking. Without really thinking about it, I started practicing them on the stage, in my own little world, trying to get enough turnout and get the rotation etc right. Next thing I know, the talking's stopped and someone's saying "Rachel... what are you doing?" Lol, everyone was looking at me! Hmm.

__________________
"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

Hey, that's why you joined compadultsk8s. You're insane like the rest of us. You just want to skate, skate and compete. You live it and dream it.

If any of you adult skaters wish to join sk8er1964 and I at compadultsk8s, click on my WWW with this post.

__________________
"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

I can't imagine. I'm staying across the street next time. Maybe I should be making my reservations now?

That hill was particularly interesting at 5:30 in the morning and covered with snow............. I should have just rode my skate bag down.

I take my skates with me on vacation ...just in case my parents want to be nice, and stop at a rink...even tho that's what they're getting away from in the first place!!!

I also practice off-ice jumps, spins, and footwork...but its sub-conscious, so I do it at skool, in the kitchen, in the living room...everyone knows that I skate tho, so they sorta expect it, i guess!!

Let's see..now what did Dick Button say about ice dancers practicing in their kitchen?? Must have seen someone somewhere do it.

Yep, we're a strange bunch. Still......I'm having a great time being challenged by this sport. So, I truly have learned not to be worried about WHAT people think. Life is too short to worry about people I don't give a hoot about anyhow. I'm big on floor jumping but do limit this to my home or the rink. I admit the UPS guy caught me doing axels in my livingroom once and totally embarassed me. =-) He did witness very good technique on my axel though! I figure that it's not every mom of two who is working on my skills at the rink and try to wear this with pride. My motto is that, "I'm not strange, I'm interesting."

Chico

__________________
"I truly believe, when God created skating, he patted himself on the back."

oh my... i do most of those things too... except i dont have to hide doing it at home. My family is used to it... i have a pretty long hallway. Good for two cartwheels in a row, or jump combination etc. Even the flying camel i do it from the hallway into the hall and just have enough space not to hit the ironing board... but i still hit the walls and cupboard at times. Today is the first day my ankle felt really good so I tried back spin and backsit spin in my socks... backsit was scary, i didn't dare to go too low because my ankle was threatening to go beyond just the mild ache it had....

__________________
~
Tidesong

I use the ladies' room at work to practice jumps and spirals. I've never been caught, but I do wonder if people sitting in cubes nearby can hear my jump "landings".

My apartment building has a gym with full-length mirrors, barre, mats, etc., and I've been doing jumps and program run-throughs there. I have no idea what others think, because people there tend to mind their own business.

Cheers,
Raine

I was just in my daughter's room getting clothes to iron for tomorrow (so we can make it to a 6:30 am lesson and then straight to school!). I had to run out of the room to keep from waking her up with laughter because in her sleep she mumbled, "Just one more spin, ok?"

No doubt my daughter is addicted.

__________________
Babyskater's Mom

That's cute Babyskates! I know I do my best skating in my dreams...doubles and triples!

Since we are getting near summer, I look forward to hanging out at the pool a bit, and of course doing jumps in the water. It feels cool to do them slow mo, and you can't hurt yourself.

Mm-hmm . . .. Right now I am FREAKING OUT because we’re going on a trip to Key West this summer and I just know there’s no rink there!! Never thought about practicing moves in the water, what a great idea.

sk8er1964, by the time you hit 40 you won’t even care about getting caught anymore. I practice for crossovers in the market, going up stairs, wherever. People can just think what they want!

-- wannask8