@plum and i went out on our longest skate yesterday all the way downtown and back and it was GREAT!! it was the second skate we went on this trip and my legs were already reeling from the previous skate but the skate towards downtown was so easy with the wind at our back that we didn't really think to turn around until we got to the water. or rather until the water got to us lmao. the waves were SO big they were crashing up onto the walking/bike path and we indulged our hubris and tried to run around a bend we couldn't see around to see if we could get to dry path again but it looked like the water covered a fair bit so we tried to head back and that's when the waves got us.
we ran as fast as we could but seeing it coming was like seeing the raid-wide AOE and going "ah there's no dodging this one" and taking 100 water damage to our shoes and soaking them both fully through. trying to skate back was so incredibly difficult when your shoes are full of water, you have half the traction on your board, the sunlight fading, and 25km/h wind blowing in your face. we had to stop several times to rest and walk a fair bit because trying to skate into that kinda wind coming right off the water is like 10x harder than walking through it. best bit about skating is that yeah kicking is a fair bit harder than walking but you're only doing it once every couple seconds and you can coast between kicks, but if you're kicking 2x as hard as usual to go the same speed that you're walking with no break between kicks cause the wind will just push you backwards then uve gotta call it
but eventually we got away from the water's edge and to the shelter of the trees and it was mostly smooth skating from there and im so proud of us!!! im not a very strong skater but i feel like ive made a huge amount of progress this week!!! my heart is so full i need to get my own longboard when i get back to mtl so i can stay in the habit. it really feels so good and freeing to be able to coast around and feel the wind and point out all the pretty things to see and to do it next to my sweet beloved girlfriend, i love it so much 
also our first skate we had another skater pass by us and give the BIGGEST smile and raised his fist to us as he passed by us, had a cyclist compliment our boards as he overtook us, and a sweet lady we walked by on the sidewalk also compliment our boards on our walk back from grabbing post-skate picking up takeout and drinks. just warms my heart, what a good thing and good people :)
