Puling up my big girl panties and freaking SKATING.

So last post was a bit of a downer. Sorry about that.
I missed practice the next day, due to a major migraine. I mean MAJOR migraine. All told, I had that damn headache for ten days. I was super bummed to miss scrimmage practice, especially in light of my already negative feelings about my abilities. Then, this week's practice rolled up and I was still feeling sore and achy from having a migraine for 10 days and having to work eight of those days. My job is a sore spot in my life, and I won't bring that whole drama in to this post, that's a post for another day.
I promised myself I would go to practice, even if I found myself too sore and weak to skate, and I went. This week was the first part of basic skills testing for our newest members, who are still calling themselves Soy Cheezies. I made a point to go and support all my new friends, and especially Gyro, who is the fiancee of my husband's best friend and a dear friend of mine, even before derby brought us closer together. All the ladies did really well, starting with timed laps (also known as 25/5) and then doing stops. At that point, it was time for full league practice and we worked on whips, and pushes. I loved working on whips, because, as we all know I LOVE whips. We were separated into pairs, with two girls of roughly equal ability to practice pushing. I was paired with Mal, one of our new girls, but she's already a great skater. She was great to work with, as we are matched in skill and size (which is novel for me, I tend to be much bigger or a bit smaller than most of the girls, mostly bigger) . Then we did some hitting and paceline work.
I did every single drill with only one exception. I skipped the jumping drill because I had to adjust my skate at that point. I even did the evil drill where we were asked to skate around the track, come to a plow stop in front of the penalty box, skate the turn and run (not sprint skate but pick up our feet and RUN) the other straightaway. Hard for me. Picking up my feet is still a bit scary for me but I freaking did it. I skated backwards and even tried to turn around. I still fall down when I try to turn around, but I think I have the idea, it's just convincing my feet that I get it.
I pushed myself really hard for once. I decided that I was tired of being the one who's always complaining of pain. I have to keep reminding myself that pain is my baseline. I hurt every day, derby pain is at least good pain.
At the end of the session, some of the vets did 25/5 to see how their time is progressing. I shaved a full minute off of my last time of 6.15. I think that part of that is due to the sheer number of women on the track for my last timed session. Part of it is because I wanted to see what I can actually DO when I apply myself. I did 25 laps in 5.25 minutes. I'll take that for now, but I want to get that time even better. When I tried out for Salt City, I did it in 5.05. I obviously can do better than I have been doing. I have to stop blaming my injuries and weak knees and just skate.
All told, I actually feel better about this practice than I have felt about a practice in months.
For once, I am proud of my accomplishments. I can't wait for scrimmage next week!