Orange Street

It was gray and just cold enough this morning to sting my hands. I ran and walked the Oranage Street Loop in 33:48, with mile splits of 11:18, 11:20, and 11:10. It required more effort than similar runs last Friday and Saturday, so did not encourage me.

Tomorow morning I will cover 10 miles. My current thought doesn't care how fast I go, so long as comfort prevails.

My neck feels fine, almost like a middle-aged man's should.

I will leave in half an hour to drive to Mount Ida for its semifinal playoff game with Carlisle. Treats will include my first view of Mount Ida's football stadium, a stop by Oaklawn Park for an hour of money-squandering, and my first meal at the Mount Ida Cafe since the spring of 1977. Tim Cooper ate there last Friday and said it was "great." I hope the fried chicken tastes as good as it did 30 years ago.

Also, the hour drive from Hot Springs to Mount Ida (past Camp Clearfork) is beautiful, particularly now.

Interval attempt

My legs felt spiritless as I jogged through a 10:39, warmup mile. I began to believe this would not be a good afternoon for intervals after a 53.1-second 200 demanded heavy breathing. I ran two more, in 54.3, and 53.0, was convinced and quit. I walked another mile with a man who said he played football for North Little Rock Ole Main in the mid-70s, then drove home.

I was disappointed.

Solo, sentimental Hash

I ran the Hash run tonight, but not with the Hash.

Work delayed me. I started late, found marks, followed them for 40 minutes, but never saw a Little Rock Hasher. I saw one of their cars in the Damn Good Pies parkling lot, where afterward I sat for 25 minutes listening to the Razorbacks play basketball with Missouri, but no Hashers.

Oh well.

I ran slowly, three times for 11 minutes, with one-minute walks between runs. That's my tentative plan for a 10-mile run Saturday. I felt fine, much better than this morning.

While running on Kavanaugh, through the Heights' shopping district, it occured I hadn't run that stretch at night since the summer of 1981 (I since have run it a couple of times on Sunday afternoons with the Hash). It was near the halfway point of a 10-mile loop I often ran with my roommate, John Gaston, from our apartment across the street from UALR. We once completed it in 58 minutes. That was a lot of beer and fried chicken ago. The same, hilly loop would now take me two hours.

Ice

My neck feels better. Today I ran and walked the Levy Loop, in 23:48, without pain — only a bit of stiffness. Otherwise, I felt weak, perhaps because I haven't slept well in several nights. I planned to run the Orange Stree Loop, but stopped in the face of a brisk south wind after four or five minutes, and walked a good deal.

I iced my neck four times for 10 minutes yesterday, and once this morning. The inflammation has decreased. I am no longer miserable.

Now it is time for me to start training. I haven't run hard since last Wednesday, a week ago. Maybe I will give it a go with the Hash tonight.

Ouch 2

Philip Roth wrote in his first novel, Letting Go: "The body has no loyalty — bank it with pleasure and draw out disease."

I can go Roth one better: "...bank it with daily excercise, lots of fiber and salads and omega 3 fatty acids, and withdraw a pain in the neck."

I'm not sure if my neck feels better today, or if I'm getting used to walking around looking like I'm wearing an invisible halo brace.

Oh well. Maybe this will inspire me to bcome a race walker. Today I walked the 3-mile Orange Street Loop in 40:34. No kidding. I kept splits: 13:43, 13:23, and 13:29.

Pardon me while I pull an ice pack out of the freezer.

Ouch

My neck hurts. It hurt a little when I got out of bed Saturday morning. It's made it hard to sleep the last two nights. Today it hurts to eat, to drive, to fold clothes, and to pick up Jo, Pam, and Sam.

This is what I get for being 48 years old, and not having someone to make me go to the doctor.

I didn't run, instead walked the 4-mile Ridge Road Loop in 56:37. I'm in one piece, and confident I will soon feel fine.

Rainy Sunday

It poured. The wind blew hard from the north. I ran 3 miles and said, "Fuck it." My legs were a little dead. A 13-mile run would've been hard work, and I thought a cup full of coffee, a lap full of cats, and a football game on TV sounded better.

Later I ran 2 miles with the Hash House Harriers, while it poured some more.

Today's miles gave me 33 for the week.

47th Street II

It would be hard, I think, for me to go 13 miles at an 11:10 pace tomorrow.

It was an easy pace on the 47th Street Loop this morning. Still, I wanted an 11:26 first mile, but covered it in 11:09, followed by miles of 11:05, and 11:15, for a finish in 33:29 — a comfortable effort today. I don't think I would have been comfortable 10 miles later.

Deana Drossin-Kastor said before the 2004 Olympic Marathon that she used the first mile as a warmup, so tried to run it slower than her overall pace. That's a good idea, I believe. Provided it doesn't rain, I will start 13 miles tomorrow slower than today. An 11:30 start, even 12 minutes, will be fine.

This was my first run run with the temperature under 40 since February. Weather.com said it was 38. The sky was gray and white, with no wind, perfect for football or golf, and running with gloves and a knit hat.

Oh. If it rains, and it's this cold, forget it. I will sit here and drink coffee.

47th Street

Maybe I should start eating entire apple pies more often.

My plan this morning was to run/walk the 47th St. Loop at whatever pace felt easy, hoping it would be near 11:26-a-mile (a 4:59:46 marathon pace). The first mile seemed easy, so I was surprised to see I covered it in 10:26. I walked a little more the second mile, but only slowed to 10:46. The third mile took a little more effort, but that's all, a little. I got it in 10:50, so the loop in 32:02.

My hope was to average 11:26 a mile and finish feeling confident I could run 13 miles at the same pace Sunday morning.

I failed to meet the first goal, but met the second, and am now rethinking the wisdom of eating so little. My temperamental legs felt great. Sure, they might like to lug less than 164 pounds, but I think they appreciated the extra fuel I fed them yesterday, minus the four fried pork chops.

Of course, it might've helped that my Thanksgiving training was limited to walks of nine holes and 2 miles.

Thanksgiving

Today I ate a Mrs. Smith's apple pie, a quart of vanilla ice cream, seven slices of American cheese, two fried pork chops, and a banana, watched the Green Bay Packers beat the cow shit out of the Detroit Lions, played nine holes of golf (in 50 strokes at Fort Roots), and walked 2 miles in 35 minutes.

I might fry another pork chop before I go to bed.

Intervals

This proves I'm slow: This evening at the North Little Rock High track, I ran 2X4X200 meters, with a 60 second break between 200s, and a four-minute break between sets, in 60.3 (seconds), 57.2, 55.9, and 49.7, and 56.9, 57.6, 53.5, and 49.2.

Never mind that I ran hard this morning, ran 10 miles two nights ago, the temperature dropped from 70 this morning to 52 at 6 p.m., it was raining, or that the wind blew due east down the backstretch at 30 miles a fucking hour, I'm slow. And maybe insane for the moment.

Good God Almighty, I hope these help put a little zip in my legs, drugged by nearly two hours of 11-minute miles Monday.

Now I'm doing two-a-days for Pete's sake. Jiminy Cricket.

An effort

This was work.

Running the Levy Loop in 18:55 was hard. I ran splits of 9:50 and 9:05, pushing on Maple Street a half mile from the finish because I was afraid I wouldn't break 20 minutes, and then on Orange because I realized I could break 19 as I ran past a fire truck and an ambulance (when did fire trucks begin to accompany ambulances, and why? Do they fear the sick or dying person might catch fire, or set one as a last act?).

My legs remain dead enough from Monday's run to have made no step easy this morning, And it didn't help that it was almost balmy out, 70 degrees and heavy with a brisk wind blowing from the south.

I planned to run intervals tonight, but I don't know.

Good morning

Nothing was sore this morning, but everything was tired.

I walked the 3-mile Orange St. Loop in 43:14, with three, one-minute jogs, and felt better as I went. That's all I will do today, except eat.

Fried chicken

Well, okay. Yeah. Sure, I ran 10 miles non-stop, but goddamn. In 1:51:55, or at an average pace of 11:11.5 a mile. I didn't know I could run that slowly. Somewhere around 2.5 miles I became somewhat confident I would make it. At 3 miles I still felt good enough to appreciate the River Trail. It's as pretty as a good girlfriend, I believe. At 7 miles I started thinking about bacon, eggs, hash browns, and pancakes, and then fried chicken. By the last mile, I thought it was kind of funny that I couldn't feel my toes.

My blood glucose was at 110 when I left my house, 20 minutes before I started from the I-30 Arkasas River Bridge. I ate eight SweeTarts — two after 4 miles, and one after each subsequent mile. It was at 55, twenty minutes after I stopped. Next time I will eat one after each mile.

My splits were 10:21, 10:46, 10:53, 11:14, 11:29 (54:44). 11:40, 11:25, 11:16, 11:25, 11:25 (57:11).

It was slow, but I'm pleased and hungry.

Warm up

I walked the 2-mile Levy Loop in 29:13, with two, 1-minute jogs, as a barometer for my 10-mile effort this evening. My legs were a little off. I want to run 10 miles nonstop, with a goal date set two months ago of two weeks from today. Maybe tonight. I'm not confident, but maybe the pancakes I ate five minutes ago will kick in.

Hash Fest 2

I haven't run well on consecutive days since 1981, a streak maintained with the Hash House Harriers in Hot Springs this morning.

We went about 3 miles in 40 minutes. My legs were dead.

The people were nice, and the sky was dark gray with mist floating about, draped over the smell of breakfast, perfect on the trails and their fall colors shining around the Arlington Hotel. My concern for lifeless legs was limited.

This run gave me 30 miles for the week, and was my last before I run 10 miles tomorrow evening.

Hash Fest

I ran and walked about 3 miles with a group of Hash House Harriers in Hot Springs. When I ran, I ran fast and felt very good. We ran on beautiful, soft trails, littered with leaves. My legs felt lively, a feeling I hope endures through Monday evening, when I plan to run 10 miles.

Afterward, at a heated swimming pool near the Arlington Hotel, I became exhausted judging the Miss Hash Fest Pageant. The winner was Dangle, from Oklahoma City, absolutely beautiful in a Pete-pretty way. Because of her performance in the sports-bra, spandex-panty-looking-pants competition, Just Hannah was the runner-up.

The day's higlight was a vanilla ice-cream cone purchased at Kastle Kreme en route to Levy.

Slower

Last night I felt like I had wings on my shoes. Today I didn't. Maybe that's what I get for rating so highly my breaking the 37-minute barrier for 4 miles.

I ran and walked the 3-mile 47th St. Loop in 35:06. The weather was nice; sunny, dry, and cool, and I had a brief conversation with a mentally-challenged woman. She wore a purple sweat suit, and warned that I better watch the garbage truck: "It'll run right over you."

Breakthrough

It was borderline cold out. My hands stung a bit at first. Someone on my 4-mile course told me it was too cold for short pants, but the temperature was perfect for running in them. I suspected I would run well. Thirty minutes earlier, I ran from the lobby of the Country Club of Little Rock — where I had interviewed Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles — to my car and felt great. I thought, "You will have to resist running too fast when you start tonight." I did. My mile splits were 9:11, 9:05, 9:31, and 9:06, and added to a finish in 36:53, remarkably fast by my recent standard.

Later, after I recorded the performance in my spiral-notebook diary, it occured that my average mile was only 11 seconds faster than this little midget friend of mine ran for a fucking half-marathon last Sunday. It made me jealous, and prouder of her, and more eager to improve to the point she cannot possibly assist my pacing in a marathon I plan to run in March.

I felt great tonight, light and fast, a nice way to feel being heavy and slow.