Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Week 41

Weight: 17st 3.5lb
Loss this week: 1.5lb
Total lost: 78lb

Yaaay I got a shiny! And that's 4 consecutive weeks with a loss now, I am truly on a roll!

Guess what I did on Saturday night? Go on, have a guess and then I'll tell you!

OK, I only went rollerskating!

Since last November I have sat on a bench, or often the floor, at the side of a hall in the leisure centre every Saturday night watching Rebecca skating. That whole time I have longed to join in. I even went as far as getting some skates for myself from Freecycle, but I could never do it. First of all the skates didn't fit because my ankles were too fat, and second of all I'm a great big cowardy custard! To be fair the last time I skated was when I was 9 years old, and I broke my arm that time so my fear isn't entirely unfounded. But still.

But on Saturday I was riding the crest of a joyful wave, after my Cinderella experience, and I vowed that this would be the day that I would skate. Rebecca argued very strongly against it, and I had to promise that no one would ever know she was with me before she caved in with a resigned sigh and agreed that it would be OK if I gave it a try.

I'd given my skates away by now so I had to hire skates from the skater dudes. I elected for the kind with a wheel at each corner rather than inline skates because I really wanted to minimise the "making a total arse of myself and breaking my collar bone" opportunities. Rebecca kindly reminded me that she was advised to learn on inline skates because the wheels are slower. Damn, that left me open to the terrifying prospect of flying into orbit with no way of stopping until I hit a wall. Or a small child. Or, as nearly happened, a show-off skater dude who got right in front of me then proceeded to do a series of jumps and spins. Nice and impressive and all, but I would have killed him if I'd hit him at speed!

So when I first wobbled to my feet, my legs were like jelly with fear. But I have watched kids learning for nearly a year so I know what you have to do! I put into action the lessons I have been absorbing and teetered round the hall, grabbing the wall and praying no one got in my way.

An hour and a half later my legs were like jelly from the sheer physical exertion of skating for all that time. I was loving it! I had my balance, I was skating relatively confidently, I had released the wall to those in greater need, I'd had only a small handful of collisions, none of them fatal, and I think I had somehow annoyed my daughter because she had been sitting down and demanding to be taken home for about half an hour. Sorry baby, no dice. I sat on that bench for 11 months. Now I'm off it I'm staying on the skates!