Skating Fridays

Sectionals Recap – Part 3

Saturday was a really long day. My skating bestie and I had practice ice at 7:00am, which meant that we had to leave the hotel around 6:25 to get over there. Her first event began at 8:00am, and her second event was at 9:00. After she finished, we watched one or two more events and then went to grab lunch. After lunch, we went back to our hotel so that I could prepare for my championship event around 3:00pm. Once that was done, we ate dinner, went back to the rink, and proceeded to watch the elite skaters.

Between the intermediate ladies event groups, I went back to the locker room to change into my costume for the dramatic event. There were 5 of us entered, but one of the ladies withdrew so she could return home to her family. Our event was scheduled to begin around 10:00pm that evening. One lady was stuck in traffic, and the other hadn’t been at the rink all day (and withdrew from an earlier event). At that point, only 2 of us were confirmed to skate.

About 5 minutes before our event began, the two ladies in question appeared. There were a total of 4 of us for our dramatic entertainment, and I was scheduled to skate last.

Honestly, I didn’t care about placement for this event because the program was dedicated in honor of my mom (whom I lost last year). The music I skated to was Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel.” This was a piece of music I’ve used before, with different choreography and a different costume. I spoke to my mom prior to the event and told her this was for her.

The entire program was such a blur. I don’t remember much about it except that I wasn’t focused on the elements or the choreography. I let the music guide me. After I stepped off the ice, my skating bestie embraced me in a giant hug, and we both ugly cried. After a minute, I was back to my normal self. At this point, it was almost 10:30pm.

I ended tying for 2nd place, but after the tiebreak, I ended up in 3rd. Again, the placement didn’t matter to me, as I tried to skate from my heart and pay tribute to my mom.

All in all, it was a great skating weekend. I’m proud of how far I’ve come, and I’m excited about where I’ll be by the end of the year.

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