What do you do when it begins to get cold outside but you need to move? You head to the Metrodome! Ah yes, the marshmallow-lookin' place in the middle of the new-stadium-controversy has some hidden tricks and I'm about to share it with you!
I'm fairly confident, based on the small number of people on the night I went, Roller-Dome is not a well known activity but one the Twin Cities needs to know about. Winter is coming soon which, if you are like me, winter means going stir-crazy indoors dreaming about warm summer days when frolicking in the sun-rays is the norm. I'm not a roller-gal. The only set of wheels that feel comfortable to me are the four wheels of a car.
When the opportunity came up to go rollerblading at the dome, I jumped at it. No. Actually, I didn't. My first reaction was to make a I just drank spoiled milk face and exclaim "No way, I haven't roller-bladed since I was a tween!" It was only after I declared I couldn't do it that I decided I needed to do it. There is no way to prove you are too old then by saying you are too old -- so I needed to prove to myself I still had it in me, that I didn't in fact become too old to be active.
Parking is free and admissions was $6.50 (less if you are a student, senior or pre-teen). Luckily for me, Roller-Dome rents all the gear I needed: blades, elbow/knee pads and helmets. (Note: I made the decision to rent pads or helmets. My choice.) It took me about 3.2 minutes to remember how to secure my feet into the blades.
And then? It was time to face the music... or blades. Standing up was harder than I remember. My feet rolled back and forth, my balance tested. I held onto the wall longer than I should but only because it gave me security that my feet weren't providing.
When I felt comfortable enough, I let go of the wall and just stood there. Taking it all in, breathing in and out slowly so as not to lose my balance and topple over. Another two or three minutes passed and then, it dawned on me. I hadn't fallen yet. I stood up straight and puffed out my chest. I was on roller-blades. Realizing I had accomplished only the beginning, I knew what was next was movement.
I went rollerblading with my sister, Melinda, and my niece, Kenzie who is 10. Both of them seemed way more confident then I, even though Kenzie was the only one out of the three of us who had been rollerblading in the recent years. My shoulders back, my head held high, I thrust my head slightly back which threw my weight to the front...I scooted forward about six inches. My eyes lit up and my mouth opened wide exposing my teeth in a smile as wide as my face -- I did it, I moved on roller-blades without falling! I tried it again and then, again. I was 3 feet away from where I had been holding on the wall and I was childishly elated with my accomplishment.
One of the workers watching me from a distance chimed in and told me I'd actually have to move my feet and not just throw my weight around attempting to move. And he was right. I'd have to make some sort of a fluid move. So I waved my arms and my legs when in opposite directions. My right leg pushed back and my left leg forward in a scissor like motion. I felt discombobulated yet I was moving. Upright. With some sort of wobbly balance.
