Flinching..

Have you ever seen a coach skate a figure 8 and their glide seems to hardly lose any speed as they go around? Well, that's how it was for me today.  I don't know where this came from, it just popped up in the last week. Today, I nailed my figure 8's inside and outside with consistency of form, precision of edges, the size of 'real' figure 8s, good speed, good flow.

I'm finishing an inside 8, when  out of the corner of my eye, I suddenly see a tiny little girl skating backwards towards me. She passed within a hair of me, and so fast I didn't even have time to flinch. She skates down the length of the rink doing her back crossrolls, zip zap thunderclap.

It's been years since I flinched when someone passed close to me, but this was close enough to be a very close call.

The Close Call

I caught her on the other side of the rink.

"You were doing back cross rolls?" I ask.

She nods.

"And you had me in sight?"

She nods.

"And you knew you would miss me?"

She nods.

"Because I'm so slow?"

She nods.

In my head.

I sigh, and pat her shoulder. "Well done."