We seem to be making the most of the winter and getting involved in winter sports (which, if you know me, is surprising considering I don’t like sport in general). Tonight we had our first ice skating lesson at the Harbourfront Centre. We’re enrolled in an “Intro to Skating” adult class that lasts for an hour. It was great.

At first I thought we were going to be in a really simple class as there were people there who’d never, EVER, been on ice skates before. However, it worked out really well for us because we’re already that little bit further ahead that we can be easily directed and left to our own practice, and we get to go back to basics too, building a solid base on which to improve.

We spent a little while learning how to fall down on our butts from standing position (the trick is to not land on your wrists). It’s easy to fall safely when you’re standing still but when you’re moving around it’s a bit harder. We then walked up and down the ice, then a big of a glide, then balancing on one foot (which I never tried to do by myself but in a class setting I found I could do it).

We were just starting on gliding towards the end of the lesson and I’ve been told that I kick or walk or whatever instead of lifting my foot/leg out to the side. I’m glad there’s an instructor there. I want to be able to do this properly.

Just before our class there was a class for small kids (about four or five years old) and they played a game at the end called Red Light/Green Light. I wished we got to play games in our class, and lo and behold, we did at the end of the lesson. It was called Octopus. I was one of two octopuses who had to catch the “fish” as they made their way across the rink. When they got tapped, they turned into seaweed, which could then also trap fish.

I zoomed around catching a lot of fish until the instructor told me to maybe ease up and go after the fast people only. After that, I think I only caught two other people the rest of the game. I get very competitive. Who knew? The one person who got through the whole thing was one of the instructors. I almost got her but she just scooted out my reach at the last second. I want to be nearly as good as her, or at least get some more confidence on the ice.

As homework, we have to go ice skating for two separate one-hour sessions. Easy for me to do, as long as I make the time during the day, but a bit harder for Glen, particularly as he’s on-call from Friday. This also means he misses out on the second lesson, which is unfortunate.

Bring on week two and the Rideau Canal at Winterlude!

P.S. Our skates are new so there is absolutely no give in them (if there’s any give to give). Our feet were cramped the entire lesson, though each of us had pain in different places. My right big toe felt really strange. Need to wear the skates more often to get used to them.