New Knee Pads

Okay, so for my birthday my mom gave me a check to buy new wheels. Well, I must have misunderstood the pricing on line from Bruised Boutique and they were less than I expected. Then Dee (Dee Stortion, owner and proprietor of Bruised Boutique) offered me a deal on the wheels I wanted, they were HALF off because they were discolored. Seriously, I don't care if the color is off, as long as they work... So, I had extra money to use and I wanted to get new knee pads.

When I first bought my gear, I hadn't even been on skates yet. With my previous knee injury (causing me to have screws in my knees) and 2 knee operations, I just wanted the biggest, bulkiest knee pads to keep me from causing any sort of injury to my knee. After many weeks of doing roller derby, I think my legs have toned up, my big knee pads actually got TOO big. The Large 187's ran out of Velcro and wouldn't stay where they were supposed to be. This isn't helpful when doing knee slides or anything... The pro about the big knee pad is that I could comfortably wear my knee brace without issue (that I know of).

So, with the extra birthday money, I was able to get a less bulky pair of knee pads... I got Pro Tec Knee pads. They fit more snugly and aren't shifting on my knees. The first time I wore them, Roller Kingdom had just buffed the floor and I wasn't sliding anywhere, they are now "broken in" and working great. The second practice I wore them, along with wearing my knee brace, I was trying to do a drill in a pace line and while skating my whole left leg felt like it was dead asleep. So, my last practice I skated with my new knee pads and didn't wear my brace. While I was kind scared to death, I felt safe with the snug knee pads and I actually felt like my leg had more flexibility...

Here's to my new knee pads - they freed my knee! I 'll keep you posted about the new wheels, won't know how they are until after our first practice at JFK 4/8!