Life as a Second-Chance Ice Skater

Usually, the first day of spring means I run full-tilt at florals and flip-flops and dresses sans leggings while remaining convinced that I can wish immediate 75-degree days to happen by sheer force of winter-weary will. However. I didn't realize my favorite season was officially upon us until embarrassingly late in the day. But I have a good reason because there are more important matters at hand: I can finally stop obsessively refreshing the (newly redesigned) Lake Placid Skating site  because 2019 ADULT PROGRAM DATES ARE HEEEEERE!!!!!! I took a chance and already booked a hotel based on previous years' dates because there was nothing but Airbnbs by the time I registered for last year's inaugural dive into adult skating camps; while I absolutely loooooved the Saranc Lake Airbnb hubs and I shacked up in last year, we wanted to stay both in town and in a hotel this year. And, folks, for those of you with similar inklings, book that shit NOW because pickings were getting...

There is just something about recasting a thing in quantifiable values that brings it on home for me sometimes. Whether it’s the ease with which numbers confusedly impress my writer brain or how a hard-and-fast quantity crystallizes ethereal intangibles into actual data, I don’t know. But what I DO know is that I didn't realize just how many skating friends I've made until this year's Sectionals had me obsessively refreshing results pages like I was watching Election Night play out from a newsroom bullpen. I couldn’t believe my heart actually skipped a beat so many times when familiar names—the same names that pop up in text alerts and have been recast as social media handles—corresponded to a podium number or were accompanied by a personal best. But as much as I loved cheering on my skating family from afar, I gotta admit that I wanted to be there, too. I never really saw or even thought about my skating journey intersecting with the competition world, but the more I c...