rakkity’s racquetball updates from Maryland:

I ended up playing 3 people yesterday, an undergrad before KT came,
then KT, and after dinner, Dominic.

Made several visits to Dr Ibumotrin Advil last night.
By the time of the games with Patrick tomorrow, maybe I’ll have
numbed up a bit. P. may not realize it, but his chances of
winning have improved markedly.

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The undergrad was hanging out around the courts looking for a pickup game, and I was warming up while waiting for Katie. He asked if I wanted to play, and I said, “Sure, but I’m waiting for my daughter, so it’ll have to be a short game.” So we started off playing, and after 5 minutes or so, he was beating me 5-3. His serves were fast, but not difficult, and he didn’t seem to know about Z-shots. Just as I was catching on to his weaknesses. Katie appeared, and the guy graciously bowed out. So we’ll never know whether I could have beaten him or not (unless he shows up at some later date.)

I played Katie left-handed for 3 1/2 games, beating her in the first 2 games (something like 15-10, 15-11), then in the last 5 minutes, we played a quick game, which she won 5-4.

Dominic was supposed to meet me at 8 pm, and I got to the gym about 7:30 to warm up. I was tooling along on the elliptical trainer for a while, glancing up to the clock every now and then to see if D. had arrived. 7:45 and no Dominic, 7:50 and still no Dominic. 7:55, and 8:00, no Dominic, so I made a call to his home. His wife answered the phone, and very apologetically said, “He’s on his way. I’m sorry he’s late, it was my fault.”

A few minutes later, Dominic came. I asked him if he had had dinner (having pre-game dinners had been his downfall previously), and he said no. He humbled me in our first game. He got me with about 10 straight booming serves to my weak backhand, and then I managed to return one, and and almost caught up to him, but he finally beat me 14-10. The second game was similar, but by the 3rd game his energy was waning, and I beat him. He went out for an emergency infusion of empty calories, and after scarfing down a Snickers bar, he beat me soundly again. I wanted to continue, but he refused, saying, “The Snickers bar sugar is wearing off. I’m too tired to play any more.”

It’s now time to reserve a court for the games with Patrick at 5. If I survive after 6, I’ll let you know.

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Patrick and I played 3 games, and this time I was glad he was late (as usual) in getting to the gym from his job. It gave me some time to warm up. And as he had no warm up at all, I trounced him in the first game. But the second game got up to 2-2 and stuck there, as we each volleyed and volleyed and volleyed. The server would eventually lose his serve, then we’d have another dozen volleys, and that server would lose his serve. We went on for about 10 minutes stuck at 2-2 before I scored a point. Patrick must have gotten warmed up by then, so it was a hard fought game, which I only won by the skin of my teeth, 15-12. The third game was even tougher, and Patrick had an early lead, 3-0, so I had to bear down hard. Patrick got some amazing saves, grabbing several wall scrapers, and scooping up some back-wall droppers, and he managed to recover some tough kill shots that I was sure he’d miss. With his 6′ height and very long arms, it’s hard to send a shot past him when he stands in the middle of the court. We were up to 12-12 when I got lucky and moved ahead to 14-13. My last return shot hit the front wall only an inch above the floor. Patrick dove for it manfully, but couldn’t quite reach it, and I eeked out another win.

But if we ever play 4 games, Patrick will win for sure, because he’s not dripping with sweat like I am after 3!