Small Victories

I watched Apollo Ono win silver last night in short track speedskating. He does four, 4, two hour training sessions a day and is one of the fastest skaters on the planet. Me, on the other hand, gets pooped doing six 30-60min workouts per week. Apollo Ono I'm not, nor ever will be. I am short, forever chubby and about to turn 48. I am not destined for the Olympics. So why do I still skate? For me it is the little victories: doing a figure eight that has three tracings within inches of each other; landing a good waltz jump (only a half rotation: Axels aren't even on my radar yet); being praised by my coach for a good entrance to my backspin (I still can't do the spin part). This is what makes me ecstatic. Doing something terribly hard and seeing small progressions in my abilities. A year ago I couldn't jump and my figure eight tracings were miles apart. I have improved and will continue to improve. This makes me happy.

Maybe I'll do well in my upcoming competitions. If I get a medal after doing a two foot spin, some crossovers and a waltz jump I'll be just as happy as Apollo getting his medal at the Olympics. Maybe even more so since an older chubby lady shouldn't be on the ice to start with ;-)