Skatefight

The saga of breaking in my new pair of Riedell 695s (aka Black Widows) continues. After skating in them for several practices with no success in even making them a little bit more comfortable, I was ready to throw in the towel. I tried the wet sock trick, rubbed them daily in neatsfoot oil and worked on bending them with my hands, all to no avail. After developing several sores (one bloody) on my feet, I was quite distraught thinking I had bought the wrong size boot and expected to lose a bit of money putting them up for resale on eBay.

But in a last-ditch effort to make them work I called Ivanna S. Spankin of Sin City Skates and had a long conversation. Ivanna herself skates in the 695s and is actually quite fond of them, though she cautioned me that it took her some three months to break them in "the old fashioned way" (i.e. skating in them practice after practice). She encouraged me to find a cobbler who would stretch them over a period of several days.

So Tuesday afternoon I paid a local shoe repairman $4.50 to stretch them. I just got them back today.

And what a world of difference!

I don't actually have to fight to put my foot in the boots. My toes have enough room to lay flat instead of being scrunched up. The 695s just may work out after all, but the big test will be Sunday's three-hour practice.

In other news, the Old Capitol City Roller Girls are quite excited that the Minnesota Roller Girls will be traveling to Iowa City next month to coach a practice! MNRG is made up a very venerable and reputable group of women and they should bring a wealth of information and strategy to OCCRG. I can hardly wait myself.



Finally, here is the x-ray of Cranium CrusHER's ankle from Wednesday night. She ended up with a broken fibula which will require surgery. In the process of breaking her ankle she also tore a ligament on the other side of her foot, rendering it unstable and necessitating the plating of the fibula.