Early morning skating in Venice

I got up at the crack of dawn this morning to go skate in Venice. I really wanted to avoid people as much as possible. In addition, I decided I wasn't going down Washington again, since I carried my board part of the way last time. There were fewer people this morning and I got to park much closer.

Today, my goal was to work on going faster and going longer on one kick. This was sort of a frustrating challenge because I had to keep stopping myself to see how I was doing, or what I was doing wrong. I worked on this for about an hour and a half today, and I think I saw some improvement. I'm working very hard on not putting my whole foot down, but instead just putting my toes. I know, even now, when I put my foot down I know I'm partly stopping myself when I do that.

There is a slight hill near the skating area, and I went down that today. At the end of it, was an enormous mud puddle. Halfway down, I started going way faster than I wanted to, and jumped off the board, then watched my whole board get covered in muddy water. My board was unhappy with me.

It's amazing to me how much effort goes into skating. I didn't really realize that it really is a very physical activity until I started doing it. I notice it especially in Venice, where the sidewalk I'm traveling is pretty flat.

No injuries today. :-) And only one onlooker comment- asking me if I can do tricks. :-) Uh,no.