My roller derby potraits!

I've very much enjoy being a part of the Yokosuka Sushi Rollers roller derby team. I love being competitve and doing something positive with my time in Japan. I'm not sure if I'll go back to the US and continue to skate, I'd like to, but in the US I will need to find a full-time job and I'm not sure where roller derby would fit into that schedule. I practice every day of the week except Friday, this includes most Saturdays and Sundays.

About a week ago, our team took a trip to the Tokyo Roller Dome, which is run by Hiroshi-san, one of the original roller games skaters. I don't know if anyone remembers, but back in the 70's roller games were played by men in padded suits wearing motorcycle helmets. Anyway, we were told to perform our typical roller derby skating routines, which to me don't seem cool at all. They seem functional, not pretty and basic. However, the Japanese people at the skating rink found our moves fantastic. We did a simple pace line,which is a line of derby girls about an arms length apart. We then weaved in and out of the line in turn. The Japanese people thought this was fantastic and sure enough begin to attempt to emulate us. I was amazed. My simple and functional skating techniques were actually cooler than I thought!

Today, our team ran a 5k. We have several girls on the team training to run a marathon. My goal was to run the entire 5k without walking. Since I left San Diego, I haven't been running at all. Despite a long break from running, I was able to run the entire 5k and recover quickly. Recovering quickly means that you caught your breath within minutes of stopping the run. Your recover time is a sign of your overall health and endurance capabilities. I guess derby has been helping me with more than I thought!

Here's a picture of my derby team before the run!

And afterwards, when we saw a Power Ranger...