The nice thing about Joe and I both having Mondays off is that we can go out on Sundays without stressing about the weekend almost being over.
Sunday we went to a private roller skating party in Lombard organized by one of our Meetup groups. We didn’t recognize anyone there except for one girl we met during our board game meetup, but there wasn’t much time for socializing anyway. What was so fantastic was that there were under 80 people in attendance which made skating so much easier because there were less people to navigate around.
It’s funny how quickly you can get back into the groove even if you haven’t skated for years (which I haven’t; it’s been 5 since we visited a rink). I was shaky at first but by the end of the evening I was able to do the cross-over with my skates when turning without tripping myself. Joe had a little more difficulty turning since he opted to bring his roller blades. Neither one of us fell, however, which is more than I can say for a lot of the attendees. But I have to hand it to the people who clearly were struggling because at least they came out and tried.
A 2-hour private rental (on Sundays at least) is only $400; they charged $10 per person and donated the amount above the rental fee to a charity. I ended up having to rent skates for $4 since when I pulled out my roller blades earlier that afternoon to clean and try them on I discovered the plastic clasps were broken. They are over 20 years old at this point, but that stinks because I’d like to get back into blading when it gets warmer since it’s such good exercise and but doesn’t feel like it.
Speaking of exercise, there was a poster at the rink stating that an hour of roller skating burns 600 calories which is impressive, if it were true. But my weight loss app and a few other calculators online peg it closer to 350-400. Not that I’m complaining. I’d say we skated for about an hour and fifteen minutes total – we got there just after 4 when it started, took a few short breaks here and there, and left five minutes before 6 pm.
There was a disco theme to the gathering so some people were dressed up and they played mostly disco music, although I did get to hear Material Girl which was awesome (and P.Y.T. during the ladies only skate). I could not stop myself from singing along with Material Girl as I skated because I was getting some kind of endorphin high. I do NOT normally sing in public but I didn’t care; there’s something about skating that just feels so good as you glide along.
That being said, I did have to take small breaks since I was getting pain in my left leg, probably because I was exercising muscles I don’t use very often. I was smart, though, and wore a thicker pair of socks so I wouldn’t get any blisters, plus I used my shoe inserts in the skates to help with my arches. As a result I’m a lot less sore today than I might otherwise have been.
There was talk about possibly having the roller skating parties monthly which would be awesome. I don’t mind spending $25 a month for a good time and to burn a bunch of calories.
After the event we had a small dinner, popped some popcorn, and watched Daddy’s Home which was free thanks to a Redbox code. That movie did not look very promising based on the previews so we were both delightfully surprised by how entertaining it was. I think the ratings online don’t do it justice.