Tried out my recreational inlines at Hamilton's waterfront roller rink, before taking them out for inline skating on trails!
A while back - shortly before the pandemic hit and I ended up floxed by Cipro - I bought a pair of inline skates off Kijiji.
I don’t remember what I paid, but it was a pretty sick deal - I remember thinking it was probably because the wheels were huge and fast - these were very fast skates, and probably intimidated the former owner.
Flash forward to after 2+ years of being crippled, re-learning how to walk, re-learning how to skate, trying to regain strength all throughout my feet.
... they intimidate the current owner, LOL.
Because the Long walks & hiking were causing a ton of inflammation and problems, I have been hoping to use roller skating for general cardio.
There are some waterfront paved trails near my house, I’ve been eyeing them for a while... but definitely wanted to try the inlines out on a “Safer” surface, first.
Healing from the Minor toe surgery I had last week has been going well.
I’m technically not supposed to be skating until after this coming Wednesday. That’s when I’ll see the podiatrist and (hopefully!) get cleared to skate.
I wasn’t feeling super compliant lately, and things have been going well, so I went to the rink yesterday morning.
This is what "recovered enough" looks like, LOL.
Roller Skating at the Waterfront
I love, love, LOVE Hamilton’s outdoor waterfront roller rink!
It’s surrounded by harbour, and generally has a great view any day... but yesterday there was a tall ship - full sails - which made me extra happy.
The view from this roller rink. DAMN.
Wider perspective...
I love it here!
Anyway, because it’s a flat, smooth, well-kept surface, I could try the skates out, without the risks of the trail - more people, hills, cracks, debris, etc.
It went pretty well.
The skates aren’t rockered. This is great for trail skating, but less great for manouverability. I haven’t skated on un-rockered skates in ..25 years? Maybe more?
So it was kind of clunky - I felt like I was stomping the whole way. I definitely adapted a bit along the way, though.
Some Adjustments Needed
The flat foot made my knees feel less than great, and I wasn’t super fond of where the skates dug into the back of my achilles / calf... so I’m thinking of putting a bit of a heel lift in there.
I want the stability and safety of this kind of skate for the trail - and I don’t want to wear down my good figure wheels - but I definitely think that a heel lift will go a long way to making them more comfortable.
Also... I’m honestly a bit spooked any time anything makes my achilles feel weird, after everything I’ve been through with the Fluoroquinolone toxicity.
Anyway, yeah. Things went well, I stopped before anything really bothered me, there has been no fallout as of 24+ hours later. I
It’s going to be wildly hot out this week though, so I’ll hold off til after Wednesday before skating again.
At least I know what to do to be ready!
Anyway, I should put on a batch of Sushi Bake, so ... that's all for now!
Brought my picskates along just in case... didn't end up using them.
My Floxed Timeline
For the first year and a half or so, I kept a regular diary of symptoms and improvements. Here are the links to those posts:
The First 24 Hours
The First Month
The Second Month
Month 3
Month 5 Check-in
Month 7
Month 8
Month 9
Month 10
Month 11
Month 12
Month 13
Month 14
Month 15
Month 16
Month 17
Months 18-20
...After the 20th month, things started to turn a corner. I stopped writing in my Cipro diary, and started blogging about my recovery - and I DO seem to be in actual recovery, now.
You can see more recent updates under my Cipro category, and under my Walking, Hiking, & Scenery category.
A lot of my "therapy" after the 20th month has been just walking and hiking, and I've been making HUGE progress! I also wrote a post on what helped me heal from fluoroquinolone toxicity.
Also, you can see how I'm doing in general by seeing the All Blog Posts category.
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