Okay, that’s for all you fellow Springsteen fans (Springsteenophiles? Springsteeniacs? Springsteeners? Springsteenies?) out there. And for me, to remind myself to skate strong this week.

Four (yes, count ’em) four exercises during my lesson with Ari this week.

• left inside edge, change to outside edge (while keeping the free leg straight), cross stroke (don’t forget to bend! bend!), right swing roll, change from outside to inside edge (get another edge pull in), step onto a left outside edge again and repeat the sequence. This should be done on both sides; it’s way more challenging for me starting on the left. The emphasis is on not twisting myself out of shape on the first change of edge, but to use my knee/ankle/foot to get on a real outside edge. Oh, and to keep the edges running, and to use speed, and to do real edges pulls, and real edges, and real extensions. Oh, and to make sure I smile nicely and say please (under my breath, as in “Oh dear goddess of skating, please help me keep my body aligned for the next five minutes until we move on to something else”).
• back inside edge with free leg turned in, change edge (free leg turns out, don’t pitch forward, lean back into skating direction), cross in front, repeat on other side. This one I can do while looking grim, but I need to make sure I’m not flailing around with my free leg (at one point it was looking like I was doing the Charleston).
• Inside three turn, step forward into cross stroke, repeat on other side. (“Oh dear goddess of skating, please help me keep my lean into the circle on the left inside edge and my hips solidly underneath me”)
• outside mohawk, outside edge (3 step pattern). Bend the knee on the first outside edge so there’s room for the new back outside edge. Hips under. (“Oh goddess, are you there? Yoo hoo!”)

Seriously, the goddess of skating has been benevolent today.  Not only did I get all these exercises today to help me strengthen my edges and rewire my neural pathways, I got some quality time on the ice (the first half hour all by my lonesome!) even though the rest of the day was packed with meetings. And though I left my iPod at the rink while running off to one such meeting, it was thankfully still there when I stopped by in the evening. Thank you, goddess!

My friend Ruth’s dog turned one and she sent me a seriously cute picture that she gave me permission to share. Not really about skating, but pretty adorable nonetheless.