Well, the 3 inch cut came from being made to try spiral climbing up the pole in the following manner:

I had to reach the top of the pole by count 10, then count 9, then count 8, then count 7, and so on. I had on my new Pleaser 5" platform heels and while trying to do what the instructor requested with less than 5 second breaks to catch your breath between each climb my heel caught the back of my calf and cut me. I didn’t realize it was a bad as it was until I just gave up because I couldn’t do it anymore. That’s when I saw the damage. I couldn’t practice after that because it hurt too bad. I probably should have gotten stitches, but I didn’t realize it was that bad. It healed, but I can feel a very slight rise on each side of the scar.

On top of getting the darn scar I almost threw up due to sheer exhaustion after trying to hang in there with the 20 somethings. Needless to say, I stopped going to that class!