"You're pretty good . . . for an adult"

After a year of skating, I decided that I needed to take a stroking class.  "Stroking" is skater lingo for "cardio".  Except in a cardio class, you don't usually have 10 pound ankle weights, aka ice skates, strapped to your feet.

Stroking classes are designed to help you skate faster and build endurance.  I was anxious to take one because I thought it would help my form, but mostly, I thought it would help me lose weight. 

The coaches decided to divide the class by age and/or skill level:  the elite skaters and teenagers were in one group.  The preschoolers and elementary school girls were in the other.  They placed me with the preschoolers.

Even with the preschoolers, I felt like I was struggling.  I was always the last person to finish a drill.  One day, Charis skated up to me and said, "Miss Holly, you need to skate fast."

"Charis, I'm skating . . . pant . . . as fast . . . wheeze . . . as I can." I tried to explain to her about target heart rates, and about how I was about to have a heart attack. 

"But, it doesn't do any good if you don't skate fast.  You need to skate faster." 

The coaches, normally incredibly sweet young women, turned into dominatrices . . . "Don't you stop . . . Holly, you can breathe while you do crossovers!"  No, no I can't because if I don't stop now, I'll die and I won't be breathing or doing crossovers.  But at least the pain will be gone.

One day, I was huffing and puffing my way down the first side of the rink when I noticed that Dyllan had just passed me on her second lap. In Phoenix, Dyllan was my day-to-day inspiration to skate.  At age 10, she was doing things on the ice that I had always dreamed of.  At age 12, she won the juvenile national championship. It was a privilege to share the ice with her.  It was a joy to watch her skate.

The next time I saw Dyllan in a practice session, I teased her about lapping me during class.  She flashed an embarrassed grin.  "You're pretty good . . . "  Wow, Dyllan was saying I was good!  " . . . for an adult." 

""For an adult'. . . what does that mean?"

"Well, we've had adults in the class before and they skate for about 15 minutes and quit.  But even though you took breaks, you finished the class."

Dyllan had just made me the proudest adult skater ever.