Dateline: 22 December, 2011. I started writing this post back in the beginning of November on my laptop, on a plane out of Vegas. I’m wrapping it up tonight, on a couch bound for LA LA Land, thumbing away on the WordPress App for iPhone. A lot has changed between then and now…as it tends to do when you’re busy bumpin’ and bangin’ your way through this mad world.
>>>Been skating much? No. Not really. Not much. Not like I used to. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t been at all, but man, it hasn’t been a lot. Or, it hasn’t seemed that way. Life’s been busy. Crazy busy. And nothing ever used to get in the way of “me time” and my skates. But it ain’t like that anymore. I’ve been making different choices. I’m reaching more for Skittles than my skates, and that’s making me blow up bigger than a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float. Just get a few dozen linemen to hold me down and you’ll see me bounching off the walls down the corridors of babylon here in a few weeks, right behind Sponge Bob and Mr. Monopoly. Hmmm, wonder if they’ll be blowing him up in or near Zuccotti Park…
Team Butterball. We Round. We Roll.
This season came and went and it’s like I wasn’t even there. No goals. No Garmin. No PBR’s. No 100mile enduraskates. No NSIM. When I did skate it was just…skating.
This is where all the high rollers hang out.
Took my skates to Vegas. What the hell was I thinking? In the land of free drinks and free, public smoking, there wasn’t a workout to be had for less than $15, and that was in the hotel I was staying in!
<<<Wow…flash forward to this quiet Winter Solstice night, and I pick up where I left off…haven't been skating much, but I've been skating more than writing, and that ain't sayin' much. I've got eight posts in various states of limbo. Actually, decomposition is more like it. Maybe they'll be published, maybe not. I meant to write more, but the trail to hell is paved with good intentions…
When writing that earlier post, I spoke of life being busy. That was a classic understatement. I've been traveling a lot for work, and in classic First Loser style, I'm sitting here on the eve of doing something I said I'd never do…moving to California! So I've sacrificed my training in anticipation of this move, knowing that I'm heading to the land of the never ending outdoor season. I guess it was inevitable, and knowing how well I do with the "We'll I'll never do that!" statements, I'd be willing to bet the last time I said that about Cali I had a twinkle in my eye.
So as I sit here blogging from my iPhone ("You'll never catch me with one of those!") waiting for the moving truck to show up at noon tomorrow, I feel like Bilbo Baggins, on the verge of another great adventure. To all my friends at Rollerland Skate Center ("I'll never become a Rink Rat!") on the Rink Rabbits, with WestWind Speed, Rocky Mountain Racing, and Colorado Gold, it's truly been my honor and privilege to come to know you and skate with you. I've made some friends for life, and I know we'll skate the same pace lines again together someday in the future. You all now have an official excuse to bring your skates to LA the next time you visit!
To all the miles of trails I've come to know…I like some of you more than you know, and others more than you deserve, but all together it was here on these trails that I began this inline journey that ended at the finish line somewhere in Duluth, and I will forever remember fondly our time together, striding and gliding toward a faster tomorrow. The sun sets on this chapter old friend, but our time wasn't spent in vain.
When the sun rises on my first full day in the Santa Clarita Valley, I’ll think of you as I get that first whiff of foot-funk while lacing up, knowing exactly where my skates acquired their putrid aroma. Through the miles of sweaty determination we skated together. I’ll honor the memories by getting back to that place I know and love so much. That zone I’ve only ever known skating the trail, point to point. Yes…it’s time to pound it out.
Merry Christmas to you all and I wish you miles of bliss in the coming new year.
First Loser 