What did you get (yourself) as a skating Xmas gift?

Over the last year I pretty much wore all my skating accessories out. I felt that my stuff just 'went' like the 'Deacon's Masterpiece' in The Wonderful One-horse Shay..

"You see, of course, if you're not a dunce,
How it went to pieces all at once, —
All at once, and nothing first, —
Just as bubbles do when they burst."

Soakers, guards, footbeds, and  Katz Strapz all wore out after a 2 to 3 of years of hard wear. A skatingsafe knee pad disappeared (yet another one!) despite my best efforts to account for them after every skate.  

And yet, the things that gets the hardest wear, my laces, look like they're new. <Shrug>

I tried Amazon first for soakers, but they mostly have Terry's (which are fine), but I prefer Softpawz. And to be frank, Amazon pretty much sucks for figure skating stuff.

So after Christmas I  poked around various skating suppliers and ended up on a shopping trip over at Northern Ice and Dance which has a really nice selection of skating accessories (and a good selection of videos), plus apparel, skates, and blades. What I got was....

Soakers: Orange with pink lining Softpawz. I love orange and pink.

Footbed: Riedell adjustable footbed (yes there will be a review)

Beige Sk8Tape. It's so hard to find!

From other vendors: New blade guards still need to be ordered. And I already got new KatzStrapz. And just ordered another skatingsafe pad.

I'm still burned about losing that skatingsafe pad.

What did you get yourself?

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."

The Return of 'Craig' the turn spotting tool

Anyone remember 'Craig', the little smiley face Miss Bianca draws on the ice? When she wants me to face in a particular direction during a pattern or a turn, out comes the marker of doom, and Craig's face appears.

So today, Miss Bianca draws Craig on the ice.

"Craig"

 Someday I need to tell her that I'm an adult. She doesn't have to draw Craig, she can draw an 'X'. But she's spent too much time in with 5 year olds and Craig-face it is. In fact she has "Craigs" drawn on the walls around the ring so her students can spot on Craig through the glass.

She says, "There's your little friend, 'Greg', look at him during the turn."

"That's 'Craig'," I say, "Don't hurt his feelings."

I'm sure Miss Bianca suppressed a roll of her eyes, "Oh, I thought it was Greg, well, face Craig during the turn."

So, I do my FI3,  and when I come out on the back edge, I don't check very well.

"That was okay," Miss Bianca says, "Except you turned your butt towards Craig."

"Well, maybe Craig likes looking at my my butt." I say.

 Craig's a little perv, y'know.