Second Game on Skates: More Lessons

After last game I vowed to:

1. Hydrate all weekend before. Thanks to some unexpected car problems, I may have had a little too much vodka on Friday. Not a good start to hydration. Nonetheless, drinking more water during the game this time helped greatly.

2. Take approximately 157 granola bars. Eating a big breakfast and some healthy snacks beforehand worked well, and the gameday snacks I made certainly did their job.

3. Schedule a massage for the next day. Super-duper-mega score. I know I can't afford to do this every month, but it was glorious.

4. Sleep until noon the day of and after. AKA, take the next day off from work. Although I woke up early on game day, I did take the day after off so I could sleep as late as I wanted. I believe that was only 8:30, but the ability to relax helped my recovery greatly.

Somehow, though, I think I got sick in the middle of all of this. My doctor tested for mono and strep throat, but both came back negative. I'm hoping this is just a coincidence.


New lessons learned:

1. If I think I need to use the restroom, do it. The next break will seem like an eternity away.

2. If I'm certain I saw a penalty, call it loud and right away. When I hesitate, I back down completely. This time I think I effectively called four or five penalties. It's an improvement from the first game.

3. If something in my skate feels a little funny, take it off and rub my foot a little ASAP. I did this once and my foot thanked me. The period up until then was excruciating, though.

4. Being short two outside refs makes for wonderful stopping/starting practice. Of course I wouldn't recommend doing this on purpose.

5. Every coach in every league should thank their officials after games. It made my freakin' night.