Announcing my retirement

I think everyone who reads this blog reads skatingforums, so you probably know this, but I have decided to stop skating.

There are a few reasons.

The first is that my heart just isn't in it.  It is a chore to get to the rink.  I don't spend every minute of everyday waiting until I get to go to the rink again.  Instead I stall and wait until last minute to leave, I sleep in late and think I don't want to go to freestyle.  The thing is, when I am at the rink, I still really love it- and I was making progress and ready to test and things are good, when I'm there.  It's too expensive to not love it.

The second is that my coach is graduating this year, and I don't really want to find another one.  I had someone in mind, the coach who helped me with my loop when Carson was gone.  But I kind of get the feeling she is transitory too- coach hoping sucks.

The third is cost.  It is really expensive.  My first three dances have been ready for a really long time- and it is costing a lot of money to maintain them.  I'm happy Carson had me move on and start the Cha-Cha, and now that is pretty close to ready too, and we're doing the swing dance.  But then, I have the cost of 4 dance tests- and dance tests really add up.

The fourth reason is kind of a weird one, but one that makes a lot of sense to me.  As much as I have always been driven to take tests, it makes more sense to me to NOT take the dance tests.  Taking the dance tests actually makes coming back to skating harder for me, not put me further along the line.  Skating is lifelong, and I tend to be cyclical with hobbies.  I very well might skate again.  Having these tests to work on means something that is achievable.  If I came back to skating with Silver moves and the Swing dance to work on- it will be a long row to hoe before I could really feel like I was making progress.  But being able to take the Dutch Waltz- that gives me an achievable goal to work on with what will likely be a diminished skill set.

So, I decided to stop now, rather than wait for Carson to leave.  It just made more sense than spending another five or six months on something that is less fun than it used to be.  But man, I'm so happy I learned to spin like a real skater- I hadn't reported on it for awhile, but my backspin was consistently foot crossed, my change foot spin was doing much better, and I was getting a good 3 revolutions on my camel.  Spinning is what skating is about to me.