Gymnastics at the age of 31

I took my first gymnastics class at the tender age of 31.

I've wanted to be a gymnast since the first time I saw gymnastics on TV. Shannon Miller, Dominic Dawes, Dominic Moceanue. I grew up wanting to be just like them. To flip. To fly through the air.

And since I saw gymnastics on TV, I've been asking my parents to take gymnastics. I begged then. I'm flexible. I can put my feet on my head, do a split! I'd be so good at that, I insisted. My father said there was no place near our house to take gymnastics. I told him my friend was ranked first in the state on floor and she took gymnastics in the next city. Then he said gymnastics was too expensive.

And it was. And I'm sure my parents didn't want to schlep me 45-minutes one way to take gymnastics, pay for leotards. And then have my siblings all want to try different sports.

So I took measures in my own hands. And tried to learn handsprings on my own. In my hard, rocky yard.

My best attempt was a round-off with a twist. I didn't know what I was doing. This was before the days of YouTube. Had I had Youtube I probably would have broken my neck, arm or both.

For years, I tried to flip. I landed in the springs of the trampoline we finally got. My sister could flip. I still couldn't. I watched in high school as the cheerleaders learned to flip. I still couldn't. And for a while, with college and silly distractions like a career and pets, I forgot.

When I turned 30 I caught the workout bug. I started going to the trampoline gym every day. I watched everyone else flip and remembered how much I wanted to flip. I should be able to do that, I thought. Only, I tried for months and months. I could rotate—and then land on my back. I put my hands down. I couldn't get my feet over my head. I watched new people get a flip in two visits. After much frustration, I decided to try a real gymnastics gym. One with mats and trampolines and pads and pads and pads.

My husband thought it was the worst idea ever. Gymnastics at the public rec center. Of course I went.

The class was $10. I figured I could try and see if I liked it. What's the worst that could happen? (A: A group of cliquish high school cheerleaders smacking bubblegum and all doing back tucks perfectly.)

But actually, the class that night was six women—all around my age, of varying abilities: A yoga instructor with amazing arms. She was working on her front tuck (and nailing it.) An aerialist who was working on her back tuck with two spotters. There was a science researcher working on her back walkover.

But before all of that, there was the warmup. Laps around the mat. (I could do this!) There were handstands (I only crashed to my back once) and forward rolls and backwards rolls (and a mat because I couldn't do them.) Then, there was another mat when I couldn't do a bad-hand cartwheel. (I can do an awesome one-handed cartwheel.)

Mostly, I kept up with the class. I didn't crash and burn. I did almost miss the mat on a front tuck attempt. I over rotated and went flying around the room a little. And yes, everyone saw it. I should have done a big gymnastics smile with my arms to the sky. But alas. I didn't. My worst critique was "that's how you break arms."  Apparently I tuck my arms under me fetal style when tucking when my arms should go to the side.

I tried a handstand fall and ended up doing a front layout (landing on my back on some pads). The point was landing on my hands, so of course I just rotated around and never touched. That pretty much summed up my night. I wasn't clearly the worst. I was in the thick of it. Mostly, I wasn't that weird uncoordinated new kid. Someone even called my flexible. (And then a few minutes later the instructor told me to work on my shoulder flexibility as my shoulders aren't over my hands in my bridge.) But maybe they'll think of me as the new girl—who could climb the rope and do a front layout on her first visit. (They don't need to know I was working on my tuck.)

All in all I survived. I don't even think I have any new bruises.

I would have liked to flip but it was fun to play on the equipment. I'll probably go back, but I'm already worried about my arms.