The one where she talks about roller derby…

Lesley kinda tipped my hat in the comments.  But for those of you who don’t read that far– I’m going to be a roller derby girl!!

There’s a new roller derby league starting up in C-U.  My friend Laura is on the team and she invited me to practice last weekend.  I couldn’t make it, but I attended a “meet and greet” a few nights ago and I went to my first practice today.

It is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much fun!!

We did some open skating, some drills and just got a feel for the sport.  This was an “open” practice, so anyone could come and they had 30+ girls there, which was record attendance.  They also have “closed” practices on Wednesday for girls who are committed to derby.

A few things . . .

• The league is just getting started, so there are no bouts planned just yet.
• You use quad (4-wheeled) skates, not roller blades
• No, I haven’t learned to block or “take out” people yet
• We skate on a flat course, not one of the ramps that you see on TV
• All the girls aren’t hard-core b!tches
• Yes, I fell…. once
• You don’t have to be a GREAT skater to do derby, but there is a proficiency exam for when we start bouts and stuff.
• I’m a *much* better skater than I thought I was.  I was a little shaky at first, but I was skating with the best of them at the end.

One concern…

I *LOVED* practice today and I’m super pumped to be a part of it. It’s something different, the girls are really cool, and it’s a pretty good workout.  My only concern is trying to fit in bi-weekly practices with my half-marathon training.  It absolutely counts for my cross-training days, but I’m afraid it will affect my long run schedule (currently I prefer to do long runs on Sat and rest on Sun, but now I’ll have to do derby on Sat. and the run on Sun.)

And, a request. . .

All derby girls need a derby name. They don’t have to be family-friendly.   Right now, the top-runner for my derby name is Bitch E. Rich, but I need a second choice… and any other suggestions you might have.  There’s an international registry of derby names and no two girls can have the same name.   So, get your thinking caps on.

WHAT SHOULD MY DERBY NAME BE?