Sharing the ice

First weekday morning freestyle since school started. Jessica Hu was skating. I had no idea who she was. Still don't. But I can recognize a triple jump, and she was doing them. Well. At first I was impressed. Until I discovered her inability to share the ice. We're TWO skaters on the ice. Just two. I'm WAY off to the side, using the line by the hockey goal, giving her the rest of the ice. Then I'm using the corner hockey circle. (No, she wasn't working on lutzes. Besides, there are 3 other corners she could use if she were.) But she just HAS to skate near me. And fast. I'm working on back 3's, and her constant closeness was getting on my nerves. So I moved. I guess she had the same idea, because she moved, and was still skating too closely to me, repeatedly.

Honestly, I don't understand this attitude from elite skaters. And frankly, I like my rink because there really aren't any elite skaters. The kids may be rude and not quite understand right of way, but the adults are always polite. There's two of us on the ice. And I'm giving her the vast majority of the ice. Can she try not to skate two feet from me? Once, as I was coming around a back 3, she came up behind me in my blind spot and cut me off. I nearly peed, I was so startled.

I took a quick glance at the sign up sheet on my way out to find out her name. Later, a quick google search. 11th at Junior Nationals in 2012. I guess she's now skating at the senior level but possibly didn't qualify for 2013. And her home rink is Raleigh. She's just in town visiting (I hope). No way our rink has a triple jumper. Any elite skaters in the area prefer the posh rink 20 minutes away. I'm surprised she didn't bother skating over there. I wish she would have.

I'm probably still ornery from yesterday's ice dance class. Not the class. I decided to stay and skate the public session after to practice moves from the Dutch Waltz. I needed to tighten my laces, and while I'm doing so, a little girl about 7 or 8 comes up to me and asks incredulously and with disdain, "are you sweating?!" Brat. She's not some toddler who doesn't know any better. Anyway, I felt too self-conscious to skate after that.