Roller Derby

Somehow, I've become a roller derby girl. It all happened so quickly, and before I knew it, I was wearing knee socks. A while back, my friend Misty, who I originally met through mommies' group, suggested I do roller derby. At first, I had mixed feelings, I thought it would be fun, but a little scary too. Then, it turned out that Loudoun County was getting their very own team, and the first "meet and greet" was in Leesburg. How convenient. It couldn't hurt to just go watch... right? I showed up in flip flips and khakis. Within minutes, I was loaned socks, skates, a helmet, and pads and was shown to the rink to start skating. What? Wait a second... And that was all she wrote!

I've been going to practice twice a week for two hours each time since then. People who know me know that I did not skate when I was growing up. All my time was spent in the gym doing gymnastics. Anyway, it's been extremely challenging. I believe everyone else on the team did some amount of skating growing up or had previously belonged to another roller derby team. Anyway, the girls have been very welcoming and patient with me. I've learned to skate, do crossovers, walk on my toe stops, stop, and fall correctly. I've eaten pavement more than once. But - on the bright side, I get to wear knee socks, short skirts, and hot pants - an awesome departure from my mommy-of-two-under-the-age-of-three lifestyle. And - the practices are brutal, so I'm getting in two great workouts a week! What could be better?

This weekend, Jodi, Bret, and I took the kids to see roller derby in person at the DC Armory. It was actually a lot of fun. It wasn't nearly as violent as I thought it would be. And I could see myself participating at some point in the future. For now, I need to practice staying on my feet and off my hiney!

Oh yeah - one last thing... my roller derby name and number:

Mary Lou Wreck'em, 10.0