Venues - Mathis Brothers Skatepark

Yesterday evening I took my first trip back out to the skatepark. In this case, I'm talking about the Mathis Brothers' Skatepark next to Mitch Park in Edmond. It was not as great as I remember. There's a major difference between skating on a round rail over grass and skating on a square ledge on cement. I know this because my bruised and bloodied knee told me. Alright, it wasn't nearly as bad as all that, but here's the basic rundown:

1. I was the only person on inline skates for most of the afternoon, until one other guy showed up. He asked me where I got those skates because he hadn't seen them around in FOREVER. Thanks man, I know they're old, no need to rub it in. Also, he was ridiculously good, which only made me feel worse in comparison.

2. I don't have the balls (or maybe the proper protective gear) to try 90% of the stuff there. I spent my time on two or three managable ledges, just trying to work on my grinds.

3. The park was crawling with 13 yr. old skateboarders. Out of the 30 kids there, maybe two of them could land any sort of trick, but they all looked at me like I was the one that sucked.

4. Falling on cement hurts approximately three times as much at 26 as it did at 16. I'm pretty sure I heard things crack. But I am still all in one piece. Every cloud...

5. At one point, I heard a 13 yr. old girl with braces ask her 13 yr. old friend if he "still smoked crack". Enough said.

All in all it really wasn't that bad. I felt like I was in the way most of the time, but I did hit some decent tricks after I got a little more comfortable. Gotta keep practicing if I'm ever going to compete at the X-Games.