About twice a year we get a special opportunity. We get to skate at the Pettit. The Pettit is one of only a dozen or so indoor 400-meter ovals in the world, and is an official US Olympic training facility. An interesting tidbit is that the Pettit is the only sea-level indoor oval in the US for training, so it is a key facility for athletes who will compete in the 2014 Olympics as the oval in Russia will also be at sea level (Did you know you skate faster in higher elevations than sea level? Higher altitudes have less air density - something like a 3% reduction for every 1,000 feet - which makes for less aerodynamic drag and faster speeds in skiing and skating!). All very exciting for my guys. Very exciting. ;)
Yesterday was the day. It takes some time to get the feet and ankles into the groove, but by the end of the time both boys are on the go. I cannot ice skate with my herniated discs in my back, but my husband Brice loves it and always takes a vacation day to come and skate with his boys. I get to watch and take lots of photos!
G made it around the oval a few times (400 meters may not sound so big, but it is HUGE!) and A whizzed around many more. Super fun day (and only a few blisters)!
3 comments:
400 meters is huge!! That's what... close to 1300 feet? That's 1/4 mile!
I love the sitting on the sidelines and taking pictures part, myself! :)
I get to be super happy and not hurt! (And I don't mind cocoa and snack duty.)
One of the boys we see each group outing there came up to me and said 400 meters is 40000 centimeters, or 400000 millimeters. The metric system is so easy as it is just simply moving the decimal place over and adding some zeros. And then he walked away. :)
How lovely to watch you moving into winter, Denise. How lovely to see your boys whizzing around the biggest ice rink I've ever seen or heard of! How lovely to catch up on your posts and see snow falling on leaves, kids around a fire, holiday crafts buzzing along. How lovely to come by and find you sharing so much Goodness. So much Joy. It's heartwarming, soulwarming. Thank you. :)
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