Our team won both of our softball games on Sunday…but the personal highlight was my 1st homerun that I have ever hit in my ENTIRE LIFE. I was just trying to hit the ball opposidte field where I hit the last one, which I got a single on. But boy the ball went a hell of a lot farther than I even expected. Because the field we played on has no fences, I had to chug it around the bases. It was exhilarating to round the bases and get congratulated by my team mates after I crossed the plate. Overall, this has been a great 2 weeks as far as athletic accomplishments for me.

Hopefully, this luck will spread to other areas of my life.

Got an email from a friend of mine who runs The Belvedere Inn & Restaurant in Saugatuck, chastising me for being home on a friday instead of being out at the bars. ::sigh:: Can’t win for losing. If you are ever in Saugatuck, stay at their inn…really nice.

Got a cooler and some ice for the softball game tomorrow. Should be fun. These 98 degree Sundays (2 in a row now) are killing me. Although I did win both of my tennis matches last Sunday.

I played my 1st tennis match since my Games experience. It seems I have gained some confidence. I was down 4-2 in the 1st set and won the next eight games, including a couple of long deuces. Ended up winning 6-4,6-1.

I am seriously considering playing in Indianapolis in September…I also won a free entry to Montreal over Labor Day weekend. Not sure about that one.

Supposed to be HOT (98F - heat index of 110) this weekend. No tennis scheduled until next week, but I do play softball on Sunday. Off to Costco for some more Gatorade this weekend.

Chicago is one of the 3 US finalists to be a possible US bid to host the Olumpics in 2016!  CNN is running an informal poll on what city you would prefer of the 3 remaining finalists (Chicago, LA and SF) and, surprisingly Chicago is by far the most popular choice 55% of 35,000 respondents! I would love to see it here.

Pics uploaded from the closing ceremonies. You can see them as a slideshow here or you can just view the regular gallery. Nice article here on the closing ceremony.

No Cyndi Lauper pics - my camera batteries decided to die before she came on. Ugh.

Well the Games are now over with…and I am a bit disppointed with not winning a medal.

But I look back at how i THOUGHT I was going to do going in…expecting to be lucky to win A match, let alone 3, including 2 in doubles to get me to the quarterfinals. I really went beyond my expectations. the theme of the Games is “Participation, Inclusion and Personal Best™”. I really think I achieved that.

Thanks to all of you who have kept up with my progress and given me your support, either through nice emails or just in thoughts.

Lost the quarterfinals 7-6,2-6,1-6. More thoughts later.

Won the first set 7-6 (7-5 tiebreaker), down in the second set 5-2 when the rains came. To be continued tomorrow. ::sigh::

Lost in singles 6-0,6-1 so I am out.

But I won in doubles 6-0,6-2 so I move to the Quarterfinals (8 teams left) Next match is Wednesday.

In chronological order at this link - not available from my gallery page yet.