Week 1 - Sore

Well, after 1 week of skateboarding, I only fell one time, surprisingly. The first 2 nights that I went out to the vacant basketball court to skate, only my kids and my wife were present. The third night, 2 of the neighborhood girls were playing on the court. They started throwing rocks on the court. I spent most of the rest of that night after they went inside, gathering up the rocks and putting them back on the road. I did ask them to stop because someone could get hurt if they tripped on them but was ignored. Pretty typical for them and wasn't surprised.

On Thursday, I decided to go out to ride my board on my lunch break because earlier that morning, I received my elbow and knee pads. I noticed a little bit of an improvement in my confidence level with getting my back foot on the board after pushing a few times with my left foot and also, I started to make turns! I was pretty excited about that. I'm working from the ground level here people! Later that afternoon, I had to get my oldest son from the bus stop, so about 30 minutes before the bus would arrive, I skated a little bit more and worked on turning. In the Braille Skateboarding video on YouTube I watched, Aaron showed how to turn using the tail of the board. I tried it that way and I must have shifted my weight the wrong way because I was going to fall off the board, but I caught myself. Right now, I'm having trouble doing my turns that way, but I am going to keep working at it. 

That same night, my kids wanted to go outside after dinner. They were enjoying drawing with sidewalk chalk in the driveway, my wife decided to walk the cul-de-sac near our house, and I of course grabbed my skateboard. I showed my wife how I was turning and then I tried the tail-turn and almost bit it. Yep, still needs work. So, I'm moving up and down the court just fine and my wife said I look more confident than the day before. I said, "Thanks!" Wouldn't you know it, I start pushing with my left leg, I get that foot on the board and all of a sudden, the board stops, and I go flying forward. My knee straightens, and somehow, I start moving my legs to catch myself with my arms flailing and I feel a pull on my shoulder blade and a loud pop. I bent down to catch my breath and there was a bit of a pain in my shoulder blade. Thankfully, I didn't hurt my knee, but I definitely should have. I stayed there for a minute or two. My wife stopped walking and came in to check on me. She snapped this photo of me. She said I look stunned and fat...haha. I think so too.

Week 1 in the books. Elbow is kinda healed up and shoulder blade = sore.

Thanks for reading. On to week 2!