Roller Skating or Warrior Spirit Unleashed!

I have been roller skating/blading all of 3 times in my life, so you can imagine my "excitement" when the youth decided to go to the local rink on Wednesday night. It would have been no big deal not have attached those rolling macinations of death to my feet, I'm a leader, I could hang out supervising, watching the World Series thing that was apparently on at the time. No big deal, no expectations no pressure, right? HA! Are you kidding? Never was there more pressure! I have had more "firsts" trying to impress and/or encourage these guys then my fragile, IT-professional body can handle. So I strapped up and lighted upon the reinforced vinyl-covered-concrete-steel-reinforced surface that seemed to scream for my face to impact it. It was not as bad as I remembered, I am first and foremost an observer, so I observed. The shifting of weight as the back leg angled out to propel one forward, the fluid transition from toe to heel, and the graceful and effortless turn as we melded in with the flow of the group. It wasn't very long before I left the 5 year olds and was pretty much catching up with the teenagers. So I skated, fell a couple of times, but mostly skated. It was fun. I got up to pretty good speed, it felt good. Then it was time to go, time to return to the 7' gap that was the exit off the rink. It was an experiance I can only describe as re-entry. There are no breaks, there is a break, when applied, instantly stops the forward progression of ONE leg. Now I'm no physics major but even I could see what was coming. The doctors say I'll only have to wear the brace for 6 weeks. OK, that last part was a little embellished, but it does hurt.