Monday, April 7, 2014

BUCKET LIST UPDATE No. 140: Ice Skate

My ice skates.
Growing up in Southwest Alabama, a youngster just doesn’t get many opportunities to ice skate. Ice skating falls into the realm of things done elsewhere, like surfing and riding camels. With that said, ice-skating has always been something that I’ve wanted to try, which is why I added it to my very first, official bucket list several years ago.

Fast forward to last week when my family and me paid a visit to my sister and brother-in-law in Athens, Ala., which is just outside of Huntsville. On the third day of our visit, we decided to go to Huntsville Iceplex on Leeman Ferry Road in Huntsville. On the surface, the purpose of this trip was to let the kids ice skate, but I was also looking forward to it as well.

At first, I was pleasantly surprised by how relatively inexpensive the trip turned out to be. Public skating, including skates and one plastic “helper” (kind of like an old person’s walker for beginning skaters), was $3 for children five and younger and $7 for everyone else. Grand total for our little group was just $24.

After we paid to get in, we had to go get our skates. This reminded me a lot of my old roller-skating days, way back in the glory days of fourth-grade. Basically you just give the guy behind the counter your shoe size and he hands you a pair of skates that have used over and over again by countless strangers. The presumption is that they receive a healthy dose of antibacterial spray between sessions.

Before putting them on, I examined my skates closely and realized that in a few minutes two very thin blades of metal would be supporting my entire body weight. The idea seemed preposterous, but I knew it was possible because I only had to look around to see small children walking around on skates like it was no big deal. I slipped on my skates and was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t as hard to walk in them as I first thought.

Our little group of novice skaters made our way down to the ice, and I was immediately struck by the huge difference in temperature between the lobby and the ice rink. The sensation would eventually fade because as I learned later, ice-skating is strenuous exercise and you will work up a sweat, no matter how high they turn up the AC.

My efforts to ice skate were pretty sad, and I suspect someone watching me skate for the first time would have looked away quickly, trying not to notice the almost-forty guy who apparently has little athletic ability and no sense of balance. I vowed to remain on the ice for an hour, to get the full experience and to get my money’s worth. During that time, I took several falls that would have killed an elderly person, but before it was over, I began to pick it up, somewhat.

My feeling is that with a few more visits to the Iceplex I could have become a very competent ice skater, but professional hockey probably isn't in my immediate future. Despite the pain of hitting the floor and having to endure the laughter of small children who could skate circles around me, I did enjoy ice-skating and would have not problem doing it again someday. If you’ve never tried it, I highly recommend it. It’s fun.


In the end, how many of you have ever ice-skated? What did you think about it? Did you like it or not? Let us know in the comments section below.

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