Rollerblading in Rainstorms

Last night, Jeremy, Lindsay and I all made plans to go rollerblading with our Czech friend Lenka and her friend, Cameron. This was probably the craziest adventure I have had since coming to Prague. To begin with, we're riding the trams out to where we're supposed to meet her, and it took us about fifteen stops away from our metro stop (this is REALLY far). We started wondering if we were even in Prague anymore! Everything is starting to look like countryside, except for these random industrial buildings. We finally arrive, to this large sports complex where we rented our skates. Now, I used to rollerblade back in high school, but it's been quite some time. I assumed it was like riding a bike, so my muscles would magically remember...but I was sadly mistaken. While Jeremy zoomed along with our new friends (who are rollerblading pros), Lindsay and I slowly stumbled and wobbled our way up hills and zoomed without any control down into valleys. My first fall occurred within 100 feet of the building, and it only got worse from there. We keep skating, without any idea where we're going, through large fields of grass towards an ominously dark sky. The wind starts blowing and whipping the trees as we travel, and suddenly it begins to rain. Just in the nick of time, we skate into a little trailside food shelter, when the worst thunderstorm of all time begins. Hurricane winds and torrential rains....even under the shelter, we're completely drenched, and standing helpless and shivering in our skates in deep pools of water, crowded under a tiny roof with a billion other soaked skaters. All we could do was laugh.

Finally, the rain lets up a little bit, and we start to skate back, not knowing if the storm will worsen. Now, the rain is still pouring, so here we are, rollerblading through the Czech countryside as sheets of rain blind our eyes while completely soaking through our clothes. Gigantic peels of thunder are sounding overhead as bolts of lightening blaze through the sky., and we had to weave around the dozens of tree branches that had fallen all over the slick trail. We were thankful not to get electrocuted, considering the amount of trees we had to skate underneath. I think I fell a total of six times, and all of them were pretty brutal wipeouts, some on pavement and others on pools of water and dirt. I have two gashes down my arms today, and a huge one on my knee....probably some internal bruising, too. By the time we returned to the sports complex, I was covered in mud, completely drenched, and blood was running down my legs and my arms. The Czech lady at the desk ran for a first aid kit and tried to bandage me up, but my skin was so wet that nothing would stick to my wounds.

This whole thing probably sounds pretty miserable (and parts of it were), but honestly, all I could do was laugh most of the time. It's one of those situations that was so dangerous and crazy and horrible that all you can do is laugh or cry. Lenka kept apologizing, and we just laughed and told her it would make a great memory. I almost wish I had a picture of us after that night, because we all looked so ridiculously terrible. We had planned to go out and watch a big soccer match in the Old Town Square, but the three of us decided that we didn't want to be seen by other human beings after that! What a night....we've decided to create a new Czech sport called "Extreme Waterblading," which must involve lightening, mud, rain, and rollerblades.