We arrived at Lake Noonan around 9:30PM and promptly grabbed canoes and headed out. The bugs weren’t biting bugs, but if you had any type of light on you, you were getting swarmed! We slowly paddled the canoe down the canal following floating lights showing us the way out. When we hit the lake, it was beautiful…the temperature was perfect and random small fish were jumping in the water…one even landed in the canoe. The moon was completely full and shimmered across the surface of the lake, rippling with the water.

We stayed out on the lake for about 2 hours and my favorite parts were when it was quiet and you could just hear nature.

After we returned to where had started out journey I was impressed by the number of people who were there in canoes and kayaks. I’d say 20-30 people total. I can understand why people do this for relaxation and to enjoy the beauty.

Saturday morning we all work up and headed to the beach in Fort Meyers. I had to stop and pick up a new bathing suit and apart from forgetting to put suntan lotion on my legs and burning the crap out of them, I had a good couple of hours on the beach. Everyone spent the evening eating and watching the Final Four games on Saturday night.

On Sunday, Lindsay, her Mom, two brothers and I headed to the outlet malls. I have to admit, I’m still highly amused to be running around with two 6’8″ guys. I know we all look extremely tall together but the focus is on them. Kevin is built similar to me and Adam is pretty damn big at about 275. The guys were looking for golf shoes as they were hitting the links early the next morning. After some shopping, we hit an Asian restaurant together and then back to the beach. I was exhausted and my legs were burnt from the day before so I ended up taking a 2 hour nap and went outside again late in the afternoon where the crew had built a drip/sand castle.

For dinner the group of us all went out to a local pizza place and did a fair job of demolishing 6 large pizzas…I know I put down 5 big slices. Had a great time and soon enough it was back to the house for bed.

Monday came and we all headed home early in the afternoon. I have to admit I really enjoyed this trip as I got to spend individual time with both of Lindsay’s brothers and learn a bit more about them. I think they’ve just assumed something is wrong with me to spend this long with their sister and assume they might as well be nice to me as I’m apparently handicapped to some extent for doing so! I’m looking forward to the next trip.

Although there was very little sleep for a few days…it ended up being worth it! Over 6000 people attended the walk and it was amazing to see how important this organization and event is to the community. As walkers returned to the central staging area…after an 8.5 mile walk, they were greeted with food from local restaurants and entertainment. The highlight of the day for me was watching Anna Moo. Who is Anna Moo? She is a fifty+ year old local woman who is an entertainer and all I can say is that she brings it. I really think she is my new favorite local celebrity.

Saturday evening, we ended the night with a dinner with the staff at Ballyhoo’s and then it was home for a good twelve hours of sleep!

We started practicing about four weeks out and I have to admit, the muscles used in kickball aren’t muscles I normally use…I’d be sore for days. Teams needed to have at least 7 players with 3 of them being female and could have up to 15 on a roster. We supposedly had our roster set but 48 hours before Tournament Day, we lost one of our female players and thankfully my sisters Karen stepped in. My team didn’t know it but Karen was about 100x better than the girl she replaced.

On Tournament Day, Karen showed up at 9AM and promptly went and ran 5 miles…silly triathletes. We had a first round bye and were able to watch the two teams play before us…of whom we would play the winner of. We were feeling pretty confident after watching them play. Our first opponent ended up being the Tutoring Zone team who were a great group of girls and guys…we really enjoyed playing them. We started off the game strong when I drove in our first run of the game with a big kick to the outfield. The TZ team was calling me sleeveless because I had cut the sleeves off my shirt and were just giving me a hard time. Unfortunately for the TZ team they didn’t read the rules and received out calls for a bunt and for using an improper lineup.

In the history of the tournament, there had never been a tie…well guess what? We ended up tied 1-1 with the TZ team. Games were 30 minutes long and after 75 minutes the ref forced us to play rock, scissors, paper to determine a winner…which sucked ass. I was totally against this and sure enough we lost. The tournament is double elimination but still…why leave a win to luck?

Speaking of luck, the second team we played had it…just all bad. In their first game they lost a player to a broken arm and in our game, about ten minutes in, one of their players fractured their tibula and blew out their ACL while kicking! Horrible, horrible circumstances and I hope their player recovers ok. They decided to forfeit the game.

Our third game was against Rebuild Gainesville and we got destroyed. I had warned our Team Captain that they had some big kickers and that fear along with my strategy fear were both realized. The smart teams were kicking down the third base line often getting players to first, second, and sometimes third before driving in runs. Our players just kicked the ball for the most part with only a couple of us actually getting on base. My other concern was in having female players in the outfield for fear of balls going over their head…and this is what happened leading to two scores. We eventually lost the game 3-0.

Despite being super competitive, I had a fantastic time…it was so fun! I stayed after our games to watch other teams play and to help the organizing committee clean up Diamond Sports Park which had kindly donated their playing fields for the day.

One of the more amusing things to me was how mad some of the teams got at times…the refs were volunteers and a little spotty at times but when it comes down to it, this is a charity event. The biggest consistent whiners in my opinion were on the 352 Media team. Maybe they had a legit argument…I don’t know…but once again it is a charity tournament so chill out.

The winner of the tournament was Frankel Media Group which came out of the Losers Bracket to win two games in a row over and undefeated Charles Perry Construction team to win the event. Frankel Media Group had some bad ass female athletes on their team…including two ex-UF soccer players and an ex-UCF basketball player. The women were really the keys to that team winning.

I can’t wait until next year when I plan on sponsoring my own team, using my strategies, and stacking it with athletes that I know.