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Name: Fujio Takeda
Age: 54
Marital Status: Married
Have been skating for how long: 14 months
Equipment Brand and Type: Powerslide R4 3x100mm/1x90mm, Explore Triumph wheels, Bones Super Red bearings
Life Philosophy: Make the best effort to adjust to the given environment.
Favorite Time of Day to Skate: Early in the morning (sometimes before going to work).
Favorite Skating Event: Monthly HCIC Pace Yourself Skate Races
Biggest skating adventure: When I finished a full Veloway lap with no rest for the first time. It took me 3 months after I started skating. It showed me that I was on a right course of recovery from my weak health state and weak leg muscles.
What do you get from Skating: In my twenties, I had a ruptured disk (back) surgery. My doctor said that my right leg's quadriceps degenerated as the disk pinched nerves (to my right leg) for years. After this, I spent decades of a sedentary, busy and stressful lifestyle. I had been trying many types of low impact exercises the last couple of years. So far, skating is best fit for my needs. It is uplifting to notice tangible improvements in my health and strength every couple of months.
Would Like to Do This Year in Skating: Be able to skate a half marathon in less than one hour. Master basic skills in slaloming for better maneuverability, such as a combination of forward and backward crosses, and one leg slaloming.
Coolest Accomplishment: Completed a half marathon after 6 months of skating. It was quite challenging for a beginner skater, especially with my non-athletic background and age. It took me two days to recover!
Other Sports/Hobbies you Enjoy: Occasional running and gym activities. Also, I had a reef aquarium. I designed a system and kept and grew various kinds of corals and sea creatures for over 10 years. See pictures here.
Mentors: Tom Wood, Neil MacPherson, Nicole Fisher
Favorite Skating Gadget/Tool: Brookstone Ultrasonic Cleaner - It does excellent bearing cleaning jobs, so there's no need for removing the ball retainer. It's also useful for cleaning my glasses.
Helpful Advice to Beginners: (This is for people who need low impact exercise and considering skating): I had the impression that skating is for young people, but this is not true. Skating uses many muscles. This wide spread muscle usage seems to have been saving me from localized overstress in my weak muscles and joints. No other exercise provided me a way to burn a good amount of calories without trouble. It may take some time to stabilize your ankles and get to a point to be able to skate in various kinds of forms, but once you get used to it, skating is excellent exercise!
Favorite Quotes: "Enormous amount of water keeps flowing in the Yellow River because she accepts any tiny streams." - From a Qin Dynasty Chinese History book.
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