Gratitude Journal
A close friend of mine from college has a conventional blog, and in addition, she has her gratitude journal, a simple concept I really like, and it fits into what I am feeling right now.
The kindness of the many good folks who have contributed to my tip jar has lifted my spirits in a way that leaves me at a loss for words…
The generosity of the skate tribe (and others) is deeply moving. I will be able to pay my bandwidth bill! as well as site hosting for the year and a used ibook battery on ebay!
You all are powering this blog, literally, to continue on. There are many names now in my own inner “Gratitude Journal”.
I will work my heart out to return your kindness.
In other news:
- Lisa Floshank-Windham has started a central informational web page for folks interested in the marathon national championships. I really like this event, and skated it in 2002. I trained like an allarounder-marathoner for my first 3 years on ice. I still suck at marathons, but they are wonderful fun.
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The Lake Placid outdoor oval is scheduled to open this weekend. I will be checking out this webcam hoping to see beautiful ice on Saturday.
- The US national all-around team has returned from Europe & 3 world cup races. I have a couple of interviews with them coming up.
Picture of the day, on the left, the final turn from an awkward 500m I skated on November 11th, check out the HORRIBLE back curve, left leg is pushing backwards too… This image is painful to look at.
On the right, practice today, traveling at a similar velocity, I’ve been working obsessively on rounding the back & relaxing my shoulders…
It’s the little things, over and over, drilled into the head & legs & back & soul until the body knows no other way to do it than the right way. That is the only way to play this game of “cool” perfection.
Of course skating technique will always be far from perfect, the right shin is too straight up and down & a zillion other little things.. sigh, I guess I will just have to work on it for a lifetime.
Filed under: from the coffee shop
I remember last year Boris critiqued my form with the same synopsis; arching the back on the turn[among other things] which was mortifying, as I’ve trained for years concentrating on ’rounding the back’, but the dichotomy of power versus grace is our very special gremlin.
Andrew, a pic that superbly illustrates the above contrast is Eva Rodansky versus Jessica Smith at the trials last year, in the turn, they are exactly at the same point in their strokes, but the difference in who’s having the dialed in race is obvious.
…ummm…yeah, until I started stumbling all peg-legged around the final turn, laughing at myself because the following song lyrics were running through my head:
“The noose is falling,
And all my friends are crawling…”
No, seriously, the real comment I wanted to make today was to say how happy I am that so many people are supporting Andrew’s blog (Andrew, next time I see you, I’m going to make a donation, so don’t let me forget.)
Thanks for promoting our wonderful sport. You are doing everything that USSPEEDSKATING should be doing, but are failing to do, with their web site: Showing videos, doing interviews, talking to equipment manufacturers, providing the latest news on competitions, and even sharing advice on technique and training.
In fact, the donation that I give to you will consist of part of the money I saved by NOT purchasing a USSPEEDSKATING membership for this season! Rock on, Andrew!
Fortunately for the $25 I pay to USS every year, I get the opportunity to train and compete in BC. Without the membership, I would be out of luck for skating in Canada.
Oh contrare mi frare (sp)! I believe your right shin to be in a very correct position regarding the shin foot angle. You are clearly finishing the under push and have just landed with your set-down leg. 80-90 degrees as you set down which then continues to close as your Cog and weight moves form just ahead of the heel to the ball of the foot and you sink/compress into the right leg push. Unless the next few frames show a right push with no ankle compression toward the ball, I believe this frame to show a good set down shin angle. Or not!
Mike P.
Andrew — you ROCK! But I can’t believe you outted my Gratitude JOurnal — totally okay. The pactice so makes a difference int he experience of life. If more people had Gratitude Journals, there’d be less war, murder, etc. I really believe that!
I soooooo told you that you produce something that has value for people and people want to contribute to it and you! YAY! It makes me happy to see that you got a little support from your friends!
Now — are you two coming to visit again this year? Ticket prices will surely drop soon. What do you say? Mufasa and I would love to see you.
B!