Rollerblading - fun and scary

Two sports that terrify me are among the sports Canadians are good at - rollerblading and skiing. But I think it's good for everyone to do something they are scared of, so I went rollerblading the other day.

I put on my knee pads, wrist pads, elbow pads, arm pads, ass pads and whatever else I could find to pad myself with and off I went.

Bikers, joggers and walkers all passed me as my fear kept me from going faster than one mile per hour. Then at one point, I had a 10-minute shoulder-to-shoulder race with a fellow rollerblader.

I was proud of myself once I finally passed that 6-year-old Chinese boy. Towards the end, as my confidence grew, I also took on an elderly crippled homeless man with bags and a shopping cart and practically whizzed by him.

Luckily, I did not end up like the fellow in the picture. Like hot yoga, I'm sticking to small goals and am happy to say I fulfilled both. I did not end up under a TTC bus or in Lake Ontario.