This monday we were greeted with a particularly intense off-skates warm up. Tooast, who plays for the Tender Hooligans, led us in an army-like regime which went a little bit like, “5 burpees… 10 press ups… 10 burpees… bear crawl… backwards bear crawl (which is super difficult)… 1,000 burpees!” . In other words it was burpees central, and we were all practically dead by the end.

After we had our skates back on we were split into our groups – Beginners, Intermediates and Advanced. Beginners is for the newest people and usually consists of learning to fall safely, simple stops and how to move without falling over. The Intermediate group is for people who are ready to move onto more difficult things, such as transitions (turning around), laterals (moving side to side on the track) and jumps (this one doesn’t need explaining). The advanced group takes things a bit further, and this week we focussed on blocking.

We’ve never spent a whole night blocking before and a few of us had never blocked at all, it was mint! Tooast showed us the places we’re allowed to hit (not in the face like Whip It), and demonstrated with a few of us which is always fun. A few of us lined up on either side of the track and were bombarded by people coming in to hit us, someone jabbed me right with their shoulder bone. I thought I had been shot!

We also played a game where we got into 2 teams and did a race which included lying down on the floor and getting back up, press ups and of course burpees! (Thanks Tooast).

At 9 o’clock we all started our laps. As the name of the blog suggests I did not, once again, get 27 laps. But i got my closest which was 26 3/4.

I had to run to get the bus on the way home, someone got in my way and I lateral jumped out of his way and carried on running, realising the skills we learn on Mondays aren’t just for roller derby.

My life currently revolves around trying to drink enough water, thinking about passing my minimum skills and dodging my bruised hips on door frames.

Next week’s blog title post: 27 laps.