Save the absence of Michelle Kwan — who I would happily watch purely for artistry — this year was one of the best Olympics I can remember for women’s figure skating. The talent level was high and the top contenders delivering big in the moment. In contrast to the last Olympics, all of the medal winners not only stayed upright during their performances, but were impassioned and gutsy throughout.

However, I found it hard to stomach the immense nationalistic pressure that an event such as the Olympics breeds. Teens Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu were reminded repeatedly that U.S. women have medaled in every Olympics since 1968. And Mao Asada and Yu-Na Kim’s home countries were relentless in their pressure; clearly translating the message that not only would gold be a win for the home team, but it would be a huge victory against the opposing country — drawing the two skaters into longstanding cultural conflict. One of the announcers said that both skaters deeply felt that anything less than gold was not good enough in the eyes of Japan and Korea, respectively.

And clearly, it was not. Mao Asada’s face says it all in these photos. Like this one, where the caption could very well read, “I am so scared to go home. I would do anything for this to be a different color.”

Image credit: Vancouver 2010

Or this one. When Mao Asada is happy she’s got a megawatt smile that lights up her whole face; this is a forced flicker.

Image credit: Vancouver 2010

The concept that it was not enough for Asada to make history with two clean triple axels in one program (also historically, three overall across the short and long) and receive an Olympic medal just seems like an absurd amount of pressure for little shoulders. And as a parent, my heart truly aches for her, and I worry about the emotional fall out she will experience from the Olympics.

In contrast, it’s notable that among the top contenders, only Canada’s Joannie Rochette was spared. Though Canadians are a more mellow bunch in general (I can attest to this; I lived there for a few years), the death of Rochette’s mother just days before the short program ended up casting a completely different light on the experience. Everyone seemed to be in agreement that it didn’t matter what the result was; it was hugely brave and amazing just for her to be there.

If only every one of these skaters was embraced with that level of acceptance and admiration.

Images from Vancouver 2010 figure skating.

Day 9 of Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 Blog Challenge:“Challenge. Something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you?”

Hands down, being part of the Shredheads. Thanks to the Shredheads, I went from being skeptical that I could give myself 20 minutes a day of self-care to gargling my heart for 60 minutes at a time to posting bikini pictures online to getting past my belief that I was incapable of running to running my first race — a 4 miler — this past Thanksgiving.

While the journey sometimes has been labored and painful, mostly it has been awesome. For the first time in a long time there’s a time and space where I make myself a priority. I accomplished something I  always assumed I could not do. And it’s given me the confidence to try just about anything.

Like a 200-mile relay race with a crazy group of bloggers come spring.

And like those figure skating lessons I always wanted as a little kid. After feeling a bit of post-race let down last week, I decided I needed to shake things up and find a new challenge. Plus, if the winter continues on in similar fashion as today, I’ll need an indoor backup to my running sessions. Finally, after struggling with Laurel for the last 6 weeks over the swim lessons she begged for then ended up hating, I realized I needed to live up to my words of, “It doesn’t matter if you’re good at it or not. Just try it and have fun.”

I hit the ice this past Sunday with ginger shuffles, and after a brief moment of feeling self-conscious about largely being amidst a group of 5 year olds, I decided to just go for it, not giving a damn what the other grownups thought (there were only two of us grownups on the ice as students, all the rest were instructors or parent spectators of little students). I learned to glide properly, stop, skate backward, scull forward and backward, and then was sent to a different instructor to begin exploring how to spin, lunge, and do crossovers.

And did I mention that prior to that day the extent of my skating was scooter pushing around the boards; most recently being last winter when I essentially used Laurel as a guard rail? And that before that I probably hadn’t been skating in about 10-15 years? Yes, I’m in really good shape right now, but I also think that letting go of my concern about what other people thought opened the space for me to pick things up quickly.

When my first instructor said, “OK, so we just covered four lessons in one. I think I need to send you to the other group,” I thought, “It’s been that kind of year.”

If you look into the sports archive on this site you might notice that all of the posts are about figure skating, save one post about the adorable Shawn Johnson. And if you look into the self-care archive, you’ll notice that most of the content is about the Shredheads Challenge.

And now those two things are coming together. Oh my word.

As someone who always thought they couldn’t run, it was a huge milestone for me to finish my first race last week - a Thanksgiving 4-miler. And while I’m going to continue my running and yoga (a very, very crazy relay race is on tap for the spring) I have decided to try something new this month; a little impromptu Shredheads challenge.

I just signed up for adult figure skating lessons. Literally, just gave them my credit card information about 10 minutes ago.

And the age range is listed as 4.5 and up. What have I gotten myself into?

I have no aspirations to compete (keep me to this statement will you?) but I just want to try to learn. I can basically stay upright but I don’t feel particularly confident on the ice. And while I love watching figure skating, I’ve always ruled out learning formally as frivolous (it is a tad expensive, at $22 a class) and impossible (given my bunions). But I’m so over saying impossible to anything; I need to at least try. I should own the words when I tell Laurel that it’s fun and good to try new things.

So this Sunday I’ll hit the ice with the preschoolers. Wish me luck.