Here are some of my favorite moments, moments that touched my heart or made me laugh, during the XXX Summer Olympiad.

The moment of silence during the opening ceremonies for those who served and died in the world wars.

Watching the seven-headed creature wearing a big shirt with seven neck holes cheering for Brasil at the Brasil/Italy men’s volleyball game. Such creativity! I love it.

I’ve decided I need a 20 foot ombre ribbon to follow me around making pretty circles and swirls all day long. And I need a bowler hat with a light bulb on the top of it.

Oscar Pistorius. I don’t need to say any more about that one.

Mo Farrah and his mile wide smile. (Check out this photo of Mo and Bolt imitating each other.)

Manteo Mitchell running the first leg of the men’s 4x400m relay qualifying heat on a broken leg. I watched the broadcast of that and the commentators were saying he ran it too slow and didn’t give the US enough of a start that they’d need and how the following three really pulled it out for him. The next morning I watched that same commentator say how off they were because they had no idea he was running on a broken leg and how amazed they were he was able to run as fast as he did knowing what they now knew.

Grenada winning it’s first medal and the sportsmanship shown by Kirani James in the semifinals.

Tsepo Ramonene of Lesotho finishing the men’s marathon. It reminded me of the story of John Stephen Akhwari from Tanzania at the 1968 Olympic marathon in Mexico City, who said, upon finishing last, “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start a race, they sent me to finish it.” Sometimes it takes a lot of courage to start, but sometimes it takes even more to finish.

I loved that I had the time and means to watch as much of the Olympics as I did. I saw at least some of everything. I loved learning so much about all the different extremes the human body can be pushed to. The basketball was the only thing that bored me.

Brett’s participation is always worth a laugh. Here’s his “I’m a gymnast that just won silver medal and I am not impressed” look.

British commentators on the men’s marathon. Truthfully, I need British people commentating on my marathons. Or any other part of my life really.

Brothers competing in the men’s triathlon together.

Giving your all and collapsing at the end. The volunteers who caught the athletes when they finished utterly spent. Hugs and tears. Victory laps. The  determination to keep going even when winning wasn’t possible. The personal bests, season bests, and national records that were set even if they didn’t win.

Thank you London, for the memories and the inspiration. It reminded me that we can all reach higher, stronger, and faster in our lives.

Here’s to Sochi 2014 and definitely Rio 2016!

Open Swim – The open swim is crazy. Seriously, two hours swimming in open water. They put food and drink in cups on the end of sticks they poke out for them. Definitely a sport I would never do. That’s insane endurance.

Taekwondo – Yelling at each other while kicking each other. You can kick the face but nothing below the belt. Gutteral yawps are the same in every language too it turns out.

Platform diving – Three stories up and 1.5 seconds to the water at 35 mph. No thank you. It’s amazing how much stuff they can pack into those 1.5 seconds though.

BMX Cross – I must admit, I really like watching this. I like watching snowboard cross too. It’s just crazy stuff. I’ll stick to riding around the neighborhood and not trying to jump dirt hills at 40 mph. The crashes do not look good at all. Definitely always wear your helmet. I told Brett I wouldn’t let him take up BMX and he wanted to know if they had BMX Demolition. Sometimes the crashes look like that. He can’t take up BMX Demolition either.

Brett thinks that for the next Olympics the coaches need to teach the athletes how to act when they are on the podium and make sure they all know the words to the anthem. And definitely smile when yo are on the podium, no matter what place you got.

I ran track in 7th and 8th grade. So the “athletic” part of the Olympics is the part I understand and am familiar with. Although I think all the events involve athletes so I think it’s weird that they call the track and field stuff the athletic part.

My 7th grade coach had us all run all the different events, including hurdles. And I am NOT a hurdler. We had to go over them in some form though so my technique was to run up to each one, push it down, and step over it. I ran the 800m and we’d race against the 4×200 relay team. When I go around the neighborhood now I’m racing the local lizard relay team.

So, anyway, I understand this whole track thing. And I think I need a pair of bright yellow shoes. It’s what all the fastest runners are wearing this season.

Also, I think it’s great that they are using remote control mini coopers, which do not appear to be that much smaller than actual mini coopers. Are they mini-mini coopers? Anyway, they are using them to retrieve the thrown things, like hammers, shot puts, discus, and javelins, in the field. Because having someone run it back to the beginning would be too much work. I’ve got to figure out how to get a job driving remote control cars at the Olympics.

I got an email from NBC offering me a “piece of Olympic history.” I think they need a lesson on what that means. Because what they are offering is a DVD of Phelps’ swimming events. Which is not a piece of history. It’s like saying my 7th grade history book was a piece of New Mexican history.

A piece of the Berlin wall is a piece of history. Phelps’ swimming shorts are a piece of Olympic history. Unless Phelps had these DVDs stuffed down said shorts while he was swimming in the Olympics, they are not a piece of Olympic history. Vials of pool water Phelps swam in are pieces of Olympic history. There are limited quantities of pieces of history. There are only so many dentures George Washington used. If you can make more of it then it isn’t a piece of history. If it wasn’t actually at the historic event then it wasn’t a piece, a part, of the historic event.

Speaking of that pool, I caught the Russian pairs synchronized swimming team’s artistic performance. My goodness that was hauntingly beautiful! The athletic ability it takes to do that, while holding your breath, is incredible. And it was so artistic too. That’s a sport I will never try, but I did enjoy watching it. Also, just what kind of make-up do those swimmers use? Because it does not smear at all given how wet they get.

I knew they had rowing and kayak slalom in the Olympics, but I don’t think I’ve seen canoe sprinting before today. I think I find the canoe single not as exciting as the rest. But I’ll give it a chance. The kayak sprint isn’t so bad though. Kayaking apparently takes more leg strength than you’d first expect.

Watching the Canadian women’s soccer player in the second over time have her knee bent backwards like that in slow motion made me cringe. Oh my goodness I hurt for her. That did not look good at all. But she managed to walk off the field, get some water, and keep going. All those players are going to feel this game tomorrow.

It’s amazing to me how many things have come down to over time or sudden death or a shoot out or a jump off or a hundredth of a second. Way to be exciting Olympics!

Thursday I watched the USA’s women’s 8 team take gold in rowing. There are actually 9 women in an 8 man boat. Mary Whipple sits in the coxswain position in the boat. She’s 5’4″ and 106 pounds. The stroke position in the boat, the rower right in front of her, is Caryn Davies who is 6’4″ and 181 pounds and has done competitive ballroom dancing. All of the rowers are about Caryn’s size, a foot taller than Mary. Mary barely comes up to their shoulders.

Friday the track and field started. Reese Hoffa threw shot put for USA. He is 5’11” and 324 pounds and took bronze. In his spare time he juggles and solves Rubik’s cubes in under a minute. He weighs more than three times what Mary weighs.

Mary, Caryn, and Reese are all Olympic athletes. I love that they come in all sizes.

I love the variety of the events too. There’s something out there for everyone. You’ve just got to find the sport that fits you.

The commentators Thursday said that you can’t just go in the backyard and play kayak. They were commenting that several of the athletes came from kayaking families and had that advantage. I’m going to take that as a challenge. One day I’ll let you know how I’ve figured out how to go into our desert backyard and play kayak. It’s going to be Olympic!

A true Olympic moment: This morning I watched Oscar Pistorius run the 400m qualifying heat, and qualify. Which doesn’t seem all that special until you know that he’s a double amputee. He lost both legs just below the knee. A man with no legs is running in the Olympics. And there are those who think he has an unfair advantage. If he can do that, I can at least run around the neighborhood. Make your dreams happen.

At least my run around the neighborhood is more scenic than the women’s 10K yesterday. I ran on tracks in junior high, but never for 6.2 miles. Twenty-five times around a track is too much hamster wheel for me. I prefer road races. Although you must admit that a 5 minute mile over 6.2 miles is a very impressive time.

I’ve really enjoyed watching the Olympics. I’ve watched more horses, more fencing, kayaking, rowing, handball, water polo, swimming, gymnastics, table tennis, field hockey, weight lifting, judo, volleyball, diving, soccer, cycling, shooting, archery. I haven’t watched basketball because the NBA guys bore me.

I can’t help myself watching diving. I have to say “no splash!” like from Peter Pan when I watch them go in.

I’ve decided that I like handball. It’s fast paced and involves a lot of team work. It’s not a sport I plan on picking up, but it’s sure fun to watch.

I saw a little bug on the soccer ball when they did a close-up of it once. That bug was getting ready for a big ride. I wonder if the bugs have Olympics where they see who can hold onto the ball the longest.

In some ways it’s the older competitors that are more inspiring for me. Like the Japanese equestrian rider who is 70 years old and isn’t sure about Rio in four years because his horse might be too old. With so many of them half my age or so hitting the peak of their athletic career, it’s nice to see those that are older than me with more to look forward to.

One thing I have noticed, everyone chelebrates in the same language. No matter where you are from, excitement is celebrated with raised hands and a slight variation on “Yea!” Emotions are the same no matter where you go. You can even do it immediately after a dive off the equivalent of a three story building. And by immediately, I mean having just entered the water and still underneath the surface.

And for anyone who cares (which might just be Brett, who wanted it on the books somewhere), Brett is the best husband for me in the world. (He heard about the best breast stroke swimmer in all of Danish history and thought that was a strange title and wanted one of his own.)

Brett came home from his walk yesterday morning to find me watching fencing. He asked if I knew the rules. I knew that every so often one would poke the other and some times lights would come on. But other than that, I had no idea what the rules were. And that was perfectly fine. We watched the women’s gold medal match together and cheered. We did learn though that “sudden death” does NOT mean “take off all your armor and use real swords” when the match is tied, as Brett suggested they should do. I guess it’s better than “long drawn out death.”

I also didn’t understand the rules of the horse trotting stuff I’d been watching while he was gone. But the announcers said the horses were excited.

The soccer, basketball, archery, volleyball, badminton and ping pong I could follow. Well, I followed the badminton and ping pong as best I could considering how fast they go. That shuttlecock is going about 200 mph when it leaves the racket.

I know that with the swimming you need to get to the wall first.

And I started to pick up on handball as the game progressed, although there’s still a lot I don’t understand about that one. I’ve just discovered the Olympic website has the basics of each event listed. I’ll have to read up on several of these.

The website also lists which athletes have a birthday each day of competition. I wonder if they have the Olympic athlete equivalent of birthday cake for all of them each day. I used to imagine myself competing in the Olympics, and winning, it’s my imagination, on my birthday.

Phelps lost the medal by less than .5 of a second. It’s amazing to think that the difference between some things in life is something as small as that. He also might want to get a new photo for his profile.

Maybe male gymnasts should shave their underarms like the male swimmers do. Some seem to. Their arms are over their head enough.

I watched a LOT of Olympics yesterday. I did stop to do some yard work after an intense storm softened the ground and do some shopping. And I made progress on another of my revisions while I watched.