Saturday, June 27, 2009

Skating

If there's one thing Canadians know, it's ice.

If there's one thing Australians know, it's how to build air conditioning units the size of a football field.

So, on a cool, crisp winter day (roughly 25 degrees Celsius) in June, we decided to see if I could still skate.

We started off with two skates that were the same size. Big mistake actually. My prosthetic foot is slightly shorter and a lot more narrow than my real foot. This meant that every push resulted in the skate boot slopping over to the side and trying to slip out from under me.

We went back to the skate shop and requested to get a left-skate two sizes down from the well-fitting right one.

The much tighter fitting left skate worked like a charm! I'm not sure why I was surprised, afterall, in a skate boot everyone has a stiff ankle. In fact, it's one of the only times everyone walks just like I do!

I'm not looking forward to having to buy two pairs of skates the rest of my life, but I'm sure I'll find a righty to go "half-sies" with. Know anyone?

Skating was easy and was a great quad workout. The smaller muscle groups and my glutes all got a much needed workout doing something that I don't normally do. This was a great way to cross-train! If only I was training for something...

2 comments:

  1. Way to go with the skating! At first glance I thought that third photo was showing the size discrepancy... that would have been quite a difference.

    Why not start training for something?

    Cheers,

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just wear a couple thick wool winter socks, that'll make up the difference, and save you a lot of money!

    ReplyDelete