Category Archives: roller derby

So I broke my ankle.

You may remember I joined roller derby a while ago. And I love it. I’ve found a fun way to be active, push myself, make friends and play a sport. It’s been amazing! It was a great first date idea to go watch derby which turned into both of us signing up for Fresh Meat (me as a player, him as a ref) and then it grew from there (both our derby involvement and our relationship).

GibsonCup

It took me two tries through Fresh Meat, which is the boot camp to learn all the ins and outs of derby, to pass my minimum requirement testing but then I was set to play full contact. It’s so much fun, even with the bumps and bruises.

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That’s me in the sunglasses with the black and yellow striped panty on my helmet.

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That’s me with my purple helmet, complete with roller skating pony on the back, and my sparkly shirt with my derby name ‘Stitches’ on it.

Our league takes a break for December and then we were back at it in January. We started our Monday night practices, had a scrimmage a then the Tuesday night practice was also open to every one so I decided to go. Turns out I should have stayed home since ended up creating a random crazy thing and while turning and pivoting I twisted and went down, but my foot didn’t and next thing I know I was hearing noises from inside myself I know we shouldn’t hear. Then I was on the ground and not moving.

beforeandafter

There are my before and after xrays. The ER doctors reset my 2 fractures and sent me on my way saying they were pretty confident I wouldn’t need surgery. We left the hospital at 2:30 am and I was to go back for 8:30 am. Leaving so early after so little sleep, on pain meds, naseaus and using crtutches on my porch for the first time I slipped and banged my foot on the way out and undid all the lovely resetting the nice doctors had done. So a trip that was supposed to be for a nice new cast instead turned into more xrays and being put on a surgery list. I had to wait at home for 2 days before I was called for surgery.

Now I have a nice little plate in there, 3 screws (I was told 4 but looks like 3) and a giant Darth Vader like air cast boot that I can remove but I’m still unable to bear weight on my foot. It’s all crutches and borrowed wheelchair for me.

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This has been a really hard time. It’s been nice to have my kitty cuddle me, time with my kids, some pretty cool gifts (that’s DJ Glitter the My Little Pony my best friend and I built at Build A Bear) I’d trade it all for a good ankle. I can finally see and wash my leg now when I take it out of the air cast, that’s a picture of the *good* side (the other side is pretty gross).

There are more pics on my Instagram should you wish to follow me there.

Well now that I’ve filled everyone in on that little bit of evilness going on in my life I’ll move on to other fun things like all the creating, thinking, reading and other things I’m doing while stuck on my bum around my house!

A new addiction.

Mid July I was taken to watch roller derby for the first time. I was smitten.

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Then I did something sort of kinda crazy, I signed up for roller derby fresh meat camp and I invested in my first pair of roller skates.  Before then I’d been on roller skates a grand total of two times I think. So it’s been an interesting 2+ months.

roller derby me

There’s me on my skates for the first-ish time. Petrified out of my mind. So afraid to fall (which is crazy with all that gear on, you really can’t get ‘hurt’ just going down on your gear). Didn’t know how to stop, too scared to really *go*. Looking back now it’s pretty silly.

derby tara

In the 10 weeks I learned a whole lot! I can do a bunch of things I never thought I’d be able to master, especially at 39 and in a few weeks. I also have a lot of things to improve on and look forward to doing so!

I’ve even cleared my living room out to practice balance and foot work when I couldn’t get out.

derby living room me

There were some bumps along the way for sure. But the outfits are fun and it’s a good workout.

derby outfit bruise

If you live sorta of kinda close to me check out Durham Region Roller Derby it’s a thing and it’s really awesome to watch or participate in and it’s allll over so you can find it near you too.