eurgh, what was I thinking!!

So yesterday I had this great vision of a young muscular, erm how should I put this.. I’ll go with, a “bronzed god” streaming past unsuspecting members of the public as they look on with an expression of ore on their faces. “Is he floating on a cloud” they would ask as angels sing in the background.

And that’s exactly what happened… well not quite.

I work up this morning and the ground was wet so I thought I would walk. That turned out to be the best decision I made all day.

After showing off my backpack and skates to my co-workers, I finally had to grin and bear it. I was going have to skate home from the bus stop. I’m getting to know the bus driver quite well now and we quite often have a little chat before we go our separate ways in the evenings.

As I sat on the bottom step of the bus, he congratulated me on going for it and saying “remember, take it slow”…and off I went.

There is a smooth bit of road behind the Meijer store where I get the bus… gently, gently all going good. I didn’t take into account the fact that the weight of my backpack my just have caused me to be a little off balance (excuse #1).

Man, my ankles hurt… keep going, just keep going, bend your legs… keep going straight… MIND THE…. Too late. I was on my bum.

If you fall off a horse you get back on… keep going, swing your arms… God its hot… don’t look at your feet, D’oh! On my arse again. I finally got to the Monon train which is like the home stretch. After three falls I got to a fence where a girl was listening to her iPod, stretching her legs from running.

“I should of got a bike” I say to her.

“You’ll get better with practice. You just need to use your ankles more. It’s difficult to explain but you push off with your heals then steer with the front of your feet.” With this in mind off I go again. And it worked!........ for about 30 seconds.

A quarter of a mile from home, and I am spent! I literally have bruises on my arms and legs and no energy left at all. I gradually went up the hill that just yesterday I was zooming up. I made it to the door and collapsed in a heap as the kids were eating their dinner.

Two bottles of water and a shower later I have just about got my breath back.

I think looking back at it in hindsight, it was a bit ambitions on the first attempt. Like my great father once said to me: “If at first you don’t succeed, give up and do something else”. I will try again though, but maybe I’ll walk a bit too.