Went to the park for about 40 minutes before work. I wore my 598s instead of the 533s because I thought I would like the flexibility/feel. I did at the time, but writing this several hours later my plantar fasciitis kicked in fierce. Argh. Feeling good is such an endless battle these days. Anyway, the park had several puddles in it. It was still skateable, but the biggest puddle was by the little hip in the middle of the park I like. I did some cruising, nothing special. Then settled in on trying to b/s flip over the nipple hip. I didn’t go up and over like good people, just up and into the downhill. I got close several times before landing one clean that felt great. Unfortunately my phone had stopped recording. Or maybe it was fortunate, because I’m sure it didn’t look as good as it felt.

(setup 8.25 null fortune deck, venture 5.2 low awake trucks, 1/16″ risers, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a bushings, swiss bearings, 50mm spitfire classic formula 4 wheels, new balance numeric 598 black/white 12 stock insoles)

Had to work a bunch in the morning. While I was working I did my PT and Ming Method exercises. My legs felt good. I went to the research ledge. I waxed it up, then went up to do a warm up noseslide and two other skaters rolled around the corner and dropped their backpacks down to have a session. Ugh. Nothing against other dudes skating, but I just wanted to be by myself and relearn some tricks. It worked out though because I guess it had me skating a little faster or something. I got boardslide pop out, noseslide, noseslide to fakie real quick. I got a few crooks, but none were clean, I fell into noseslide at the end. Those dudes were pretty good. One dude was the fakie dude. He did halfcab noseslide and fakie 50. The other dude was the loud guy. He did back 50 and cheered really loud. It cracked me up. He was cool though, nice to talk to. When he got the switch front 50 the world knew about it. Ha. They ended up leaving after awhile. I stuck with it for awhile longer. Got a back 50. I had tried some flippers. Got a few good halfcab flips, varial flip, didn’t get much more and couldn’t get a treflip, but it was the longest I was able to do ollies/flippers in awhile and it felt great.

I got tired, but wan’t too sore so I went to Stonehenge. My legs were really sore when I started. It took a few tries to even ollie into a back 50. But I did. Front pivot felt cool. Then I tried kick back axle stall for an hour and never got one. Ugh. I only got close a few times. Still, it felt good to finally skate hard and last longer than an hour.

(setup 8.25 null fortune deck, venture 5.2 low awake trucks, 1/16″ risers, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a bushings, swiss bearings, 50mm spitfire classic formula 4 wheels, new balance numeric PJ 533 black/white 12 stock insoles)

Went to Arvada park around noon to meet up with the Amigos dudes from Seattle. Nolan rolled in around the same time too. Nolan and I started out at this little quarterpipe. Sasha and another dude (can’t remember name now argh) were skating the little flat bank nearby. It was fun. They were doing bigspins, shoves, etc, getting warmed up. I did a couple basic tricks and a couple Rampy tricks I haven’t done in awhile. I was hyped on the front pivot to fakie. The beanplant to tail was maybe the slowest one ever done. Nolan laughed at me then did tricks like back tail to switch front crook in lines. Man he is good. Front tail to switch crooks to fakie, back noseblunt, front noseblunt to pivot, revert, whatever. I skated the mellow blue round bank for awhile. I got a few no comply tricks in a row that felt good. No comply shove to fakie, no comply bigspin, no comply finger flip to fakie. Also kickflip to fakie, b/s flip which hurt. Couldn’t get treflip to fakie, but got close a couple times. Nolan did pop shove, kickflip and treflip over the flat gap. This scooter kid kept hanging out with us and challenged Nolan to a game of SCOOT vs SKATE. Nolan used it as an opportunity to do the flamingo to fakie. So sick. Amigos Justin and Ryan did tricks on the potato chip. My legs were pretty done by the end. I mostly just chatted. It was rad seeing Shad and the Lunchbreak dudes too. Nolan and I worked on looking like morons trying 360 eggplants off the ledge. We didn’t get close at all. This was the first time I skated in awhile. The pain wasn’t as bad as it has been, but it was still there.

(setup 8.25 null fortune deck, venture 5.2 low awake trucks, 1/16″ risers, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a bushings, swiss bearings, 50mm spitfire classic formula 4 wheels, new balance numeric PJ 533 black/white 12 stock insoles)

Couldn’t resist skating another day. Went into the garage with the intention of not popping. Did some manuals on the sheet of wood. Ended up doing a couple of ollies and a terrible kickflip. Then the contraption above ended it. I should put the manny pad there too and make it a 3 obstacle park. Ha. Oh yeah, I switched between the PJ 533 and 598 a couple of time seeing which one hurt less. The 533 won.

(setup 8.25 null fortune deck, venture 5.2 low awake trucks, 1/16″ risers, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a bushings, swiss bearings, 50mm spitfire classic formula 4 wheels, new balance numeric 598/533 stock insoles)

Got out of work early and went to the dog park. I thought I was motivated. But the pain was so much. I tried some warm up ollies, stretched for awhile. Got a text from Saul to skate in awhile. But I didn’t make it. I had about a 10 minute window where I felt slightly better than terrible. I got a few kickflips, fakie flips and halfcab flips. But then I succumbed to the fact that I should not be skating in this much pain.

I did a bunch of research and some good news. I don’t think it’s an arthritis flare up that I can’t control. I believe it is runners knee. The detail that nailed it for me is that it’s hard to walk downhill or down stairs. Which it is for me. So although it’s a bummer I will take some time off of skating at least there are exercises I can do to hopefully avoid it becoming so bad again. I’m also kind of mad that I’ve been to two Physical Therapists and neither of them suggested I have runners knee. I stay away from doctors.

(setup 8.25 null fortune deck, venture 5.2 low awake trucks, 1/16″ risers, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a bushings, swiss bearings, 50mm spitfire classic formula 4 wheels, new balance numeric 598 black/white 12 remind cush chico insoles)

What else would I want to do, but skate flat with a couple friends on my birthday on a beautiful day? I thought I was feeling good, but my first ollie attempt was meant with lots of pain and no pop whatsoever. Ugh. It didn’t get much better. I got there first. Dave arrived shortly after. Jake about 30 minutes later. I tried and really wanted to rattle off tricks, but it just didn’t happen. I got a few halfcab flips, a terrible fakie bigflip, a few fakie flips, some slow front shoves. I posed a lot of tricks. Dave was struggling with kickfrlips after having a stellar day popping them recently. Doh. He did get really close on 360 flips. Or was it switch 360 flips? I can’t remember. He later told me he wanted to quit skating too. Man, we’ve been struggling. Jake on the other hand, put down 3 flip right away, frontside flip, shoves, etc. We played a game of SKATE. Well, we technically played two games of SKATE, but the first one went so bad we restarted. Basically I got a letter on pop shove, did double or nothing, got two letters, 3, 4 and I was out just like that. I don’t remember the last time I’ve missed that many pop shoves in a row. The next game started with me getting SK on kickflip. Unbelievable. Jake went on to win with tricks like 360 flip, Dave did his first ever defensive frontside flip, and I think the last trick was pop shove body varial. I had tried to keep skating while Jake and Dave were finishing the game, but I was just too sore.

(setup 8.25 null fortune deck, venture 5.2 low awake trucks, 1/16″ risers, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a bushings, swiss bearings, 50mm spitfire classic formula 4 wheels, new balance numeric 598 black/white 12 remind cush chico insoles)

My plantar fasciitis has gotten much better. The first steps of every day hurt still, but it’s much better. I give some credit to wearing vulcs with the wide and flexible to area. But man my knees have hurt lately so I figured I’d try cupsoles again. I went with the NB# 598s I’ve had for awhile. I also found some old Remind insoles that seemed like a great option. I’m not sure why I didn’t like them at the time, but that’s one of the great things about buying too much stuff and keeping it all, eventually I will use it! Ha. The wind was intense. I went to the main Valmont garage. I skated pretty poorly, but it didn’t hurt so much. I tried a couple lines like back 180 a parking block, halfcab flip on flat, manual the sidewalk. Also hucked some kick back 50s, nollie flips.

The wind seemed to die down so I went to the research ledge. The breeze was still strong and coming up the hill so it messed with my speed, but was a good excuse to skate slow. I actually had fun even though I skated slow and without any confidence. I got noseslide, noseslide to fakie, boardslide flop out, crooks, a terrible back 50, switch front nose to forward and halfcab noseslide. I was hyped. Then the wind kicked in and I left.

(setup 8.25 null logo board, venture 5.2 low awake trucks, 1/16″ risers, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a bushings, swiss bearings, 50mm spitfire classic formula 4 wheels, new balance numeric 598 black/white 12 remind cush chico insoles)

Messed around in front of the house for a bit waiting for people to show up. It was pretty clear out of the gates that I was extra sore. I had gone for a mellow bike ride and everything earlier, but nope, still sore. Fuzz met at my house then we went and met Carleigh and Dave at the meetup curb. I got some slappy crooks out of the gate and kind of another slappy hurricane where I didn’t grind. Fuzz tried fakie ollie back 50s. Carleigh was trying manuals and warming up with ollies. Dave was on the manny tip too, out of nowhere he did a backside twirlybird. Wow. Then we rolled down a bit to look at this gnarly gap Josh did in Deimos. It’s insane. We ended up at the weird building with the two long curb high manny pads, 5 stair, and ledges with the pointy wallie triangles. Dave and Carleigh chose the manual route. Fuzz got a manual. Dave firecrackered the 5 stair (I should have filmed it). I dorked around with a line of street plant thing off the ledge holding onto a bench, then kickflip on flat then pose an ollie down the 5 stair. It felt fun to pose the 5 stair even though I had no real intention of landing it.

Then we hit this little ledge for awhile. I mean this GNARLY ledge. Ha ha. Fuzz killed it with the back 50 up, front 50 down, front tail to fakie down. I did a little front noseslide 270 jib, failed at front 50s and even noseslide up it. Carleigh was messing around with Dave’s boardslide 270 out that he did a couple of times perfectly. Along with front 50s up, ollie up from the bump and probably more I’m forgetting.

Then we went to the banked ledge. Well, I stopped by my favorite little frontside ledge for one grind before meeting back up. I tried like 50 slappy back 50s and came up short. Couldn’t even get into the grind. Normally I can at least do an axle stall pretty easily. Ugh. I ended up sitting down. Fuzz got some good slappy 50s. Dave did slappy everything. Crooks to fakie, switch crooks to fakie, front 5-0, back 5-0 and eventually his first ever back tail. #anotherfullerdemo Carleigh was getting into some sick (no pun intended) back feebles and almost riding away from some. Then she disappeared for a bit and it turns out her stomach was really upset. She was super sick so I bolted to get the car while Fuzz hung with her then we got her home. Yikes.

(setup 8.25 null logo board, venture 5.2 low awake trucks, 1/16″ risers, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a bushings, swiss bearings, 50mm spitfire classic formula 4 wheels, new balance numeric 344 white, spenco 3/4 thinsoles + thin adidas insoles)

Went to dog park right after work. It was super nice out. Sat there for a bit and checked out the gram while I waited for Dave. I was feeling super sore and tired. Dave showed and we started the hucking. I still didn’t land much for tricks. I got a heelflip and a hands down 360 flip (not the good hands down). I hucked a lot of tricks. Some of which were close and I should commit, but I didn’t. Dave was on his putter and hucked a lot of reg and switch 360 flips. But the real story was how he was popping his kickflips. They were flicked and popped high! Dave left and I just did a few kickflips and tried switch heels for awhile. I didn’t get close at all.

(setup 8.25 null logo board, venture 5.2 low awake trucks, 1/16″ risers, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a bushings, swiss bearings, 50mm spitfire classic formula 4 wheels, new balance numeric 344 white, superfeet + thin adidas insoles)

Fun in the sun yesterday with @fullertrron @color_my_friends_in @skateboard_chicken #frontsidesaul #anotherfullerdemo #notreallyakickflip

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Apr 7, 2017 at 5:26am PDT

Feeling pretty arthritic I met Dave at the Dog Park for a quick one before Saul’s. I was on my “5 iron” setup. Normally when I go back to lows I immediately feel like I shouldn’t, but this day everything about my board felt so incredibly right. I didn’t land much in the 15 minutes we skated, but I was actually trying and having fun. I had a few kickflips that I actually popped and felt good. Some terrible landings on fakie flip, halfcab flip, fakie bigfip. Hucked, but didn’t land 360 flip, nollie 360 flip, halfcab heel and a bunch more. Dave was skating fast. Kickflips, switch shoves, front shoves and ended with a fakie varial flip that I didn’t see. Doh.

Then we went to Saul’s. It was just Eric, Dave, Saul and I. Super rad small crew. Everyone seemed to skate well and have the fire to skate. Eric got the axle stall, heelflip, cali grind which was sick. He had a bunch of frontside grinds too, roll ins, back d and some funny slams. Saul was skating really fast and grinding through the bricks like it was nothing, frontside slashes, almost cali grind into the bowl, and a good slam trying a boardslide. I did way more grinds then I have there in awhile and somehow kind of landed a kickflip in less than 10 tries. It felt cool, I’d like to work on that one. The Fuller demo was in effect. Every run had something new. He had back boneless to tail just to spite our conversation, pogo, frontside grind the hip, manual the deck, long grinds, etc etc. But no kickflip! Ha ha. One of the funner days I’ve had in awhile. Smaller setups rule.

(setup 8.25 null logo board, venture 5.2 low awake trucks, 1/16″ risers, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a bushings, swiss bearings, 50mm spitfire classic formula 4 wheels, new balance numeric 344 white, superfeet + thin adidas insoles)