Work

I thought my legs would be fresh after taking yesterday off, but they weren't.

The Levy Loop took me 18:11, with splits of 9:28 and 8:43. I planned to run it twice easily, but recognized after a block there was no way I could go 4 miles and remain comfortable, so instead pushed it and cut the distance in half.

I found out today that I can go to Seattle for the Whidbey Island Marathon, run April 13. I thought I could for certain until last night, when driving home from a basketball game it struck me that the Arkansas Derby is raced on April 12. My boss let me out of it this afternoon. I guess I will watch it on television, provided my host will allow such a thing.

Now I'm preparing for two marathons: the Little Rock, four weeks from Sunday, and the Whidbey Island, nine weeks from Sunday.

I'm hungrier than TWO motherf-----s

Jerry Lee, a Universiy of Wyoming quarter-miler in the late 1970s, used to say that as we walked from track practice to the cafeteria, and we laughed every time.
I'm hungrier than than three or four of them, after having run 13 miles, 186 yards, and walked 5 miles around Hindman Park Golf Course, where I scored a 98 (including a pentagonal bogey and 40 putts) to lower my handicap to 25.0.
Maybe I should take extra lard and chicken to Paul's, because I am hungry and having fantasies about fried chicken, fried okra, and mashed potatoes with cream gravy (see www.youfood.com).

Icy -cold headwind stops attempt at mile record

I planned en route. My hope was to hit the first mile in 13:30. The River Trail has markers every quarter mile, so it was easy to figure I had to go through each of the quarters in 3:22.5. It was hard to go so slowly. I had to walk the last 20 yards at a .001 mph pace to go through in 13:29. That's when I came up with the idea to see how long I could comfortably cut 10 seconds off each mile. So the goals became 13:20, 13:10, and so on. I went 13:16, 13:06, 12:54, 12:39 (11 seconds too fast, when I decided, as punishment for my lack of patience, I would have to run each mile faster than the previous. I then went 12:37, 12:27, 12:17, 12:02, 12:00 (for 10 miles in 2:06:46), 11:35, 11:31, and 10:37. I felt good that final mile. It wasn't the sub 3:50 I hoped for, but it was cold and I feared a string of 57-second quarters might injure something. I think I could have continued at that pace for at least another 2 miles, maybe 3. I did continue running for 62 seconds, which I estimated would be about what I could have expected to run for an extra 182.5 yards, thus giving me a half-marathon of 2:41:31. I walked it off, and it was 93 full strides, more like 186 yards. So, for the record, I broke the magical 2:41:30 half-marathon barrier.
My blood work was perfect. It measured 55 mg (of glucose)/dL two hours before my 5:55 a.m. start. I drank four ounces of grape juice, a can of Low-carb Monster Energy, two cups of Kona, and ate half a banana. It was at 82 when I left my house at 5:40 a.m. I ate 11 SweeTarts on the course. My thinking was clear all morning, a matter easy to gauge as I calculated quarter splits. My blood sugar was at 102 when I tested it about 30 minutes after I finished.
The parts of this most noteworthy to me are that I ran the final 10 miles in 2:00:39 (5:16 marathon pace), the final 5 in 57:45 (5:03 marathon), and still felt fine running a 10:37.
Four weeks and six days seems like a long time. Maybe I can get under 5:20. That feels realistic. Today.

This is lame, I know

I planned to take a walk this evening, but watched a golf tournament on tape, sat on my couch and calculated handicaps for friends Erin and Chris, and for me (44.6, 33.1, and 25.4, respectively), talked with Beck Cross for 90 minutes, watched the Oaklawn Report (and was crushed to watch three horses pass Beverly Burress' colt Sharkiowa, on the lead from the start, in the final 20 yards), ate two sandwiches, some yogurt and a banana, and realized I had forgotten to walk.

Now I plan to run 13 miles beginning at about 6 a.m. My goal is to start slowly, no faster than 13:30 for the first mile, and then try to whittle time away toward a 3:50 final mile, provided there is no head wind and that I don't get distracted and forget I had planned a 13-mile run.

Late practice

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — I don't write well enough to express how pretty this is to me.

It's 9:26 p.m. Central. I am on the press deck at Tucker Coliseum. The second of two games I watched here was over 90 minutes ago. I am one of two people in the gym. The other is a junior forward for Arkansas Tech's women's team. She's on the court, in sweat pants and a T-shirt, shooting baskets. She looks happy, and it's nice to watch her away from the drone, and listen to the rhythm of her dribbles and shots instead of kids beating on drums and blowing horns as loudly as they can. Her team has won 16 consecutive games, is ranked No. 24 in the country, and plays at undefeated and No. 1 Delta State next Thursday.

I walked the Levy Loop this afternoon, with a prediction of 30 minutes. I had my best performance yet, walking it in 30:15.

Here's something interesting I heard on my drive from North Little Rock. The over-under on the guy singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl is 1 minute, 46 seconds. No kidding. People can bet on that.

Ah, fuck it

It's 1:42 in the afternoon. I am in a house located 150 miles below the Mason-Dixon line, and icicles are hanging from its awnings. It's sleeting and 27 degrees. Jo is asleep in the world's softest chair. Pam is in the back bedroom, Samantha in the front, and both are on blankets snoring their cat asses off.

My legs are tired, so I think I will take the day off.

But it has nothing to do with the weather. I was in my front yard a few minutes ago practicing the Four Magic Moves to Winning Golf. Get out of my way, Tiger. And that goes for your dogs, too (not to mention your blonde-headed bimbo wife and all your fucking Buicks).

Hard

I hoped for an easy run, but didn't get it.

The Park Hill Loop is the toughest course I have mapped, the reason I rarely run it. Today, at 32 degrees with a steady wind blowing from the north, I ran it in 51:35, with mile splits of 10:05, 10:36, 10:15. 10:39, and 10:01.

The second and fourth miles are the hardest on any of my loops. I thought about going an extra 2 miles, but about half way through the fourth knew there was no way.

I never felt good, except for the first couple of blocks.

Darn.

Easy

I wish it would warm up.

It is 33 at 1:14 in the afternoon and that's not what I expected when I made North Little Rock home.

I ran and walked the 47th Street Loop in 32:49, with mile splits of 11:12, 11:05, and 10:32. I picked it up a little toward the end to break 33 minutes (so I could brag to myself that I averaged under an 11-minute pace). It was a snap, much easier than the first 3 miles of my 10-mile debacle two days ago.

I might try a very slow, non-stop 5-7-mile course in the morning. We'll see. My confidence has soared in the last 44 hours.

This was odd. I let Samantha and her step sisters out of my house at about noon. Less than an hour later, I saw Sam lounging on a driveway on Maple Street, halfway between my house and 47th Street. She watched me run by and reacted like a total stranger. I can't read cat minds, but she looked like she was thinking, "Hey, stupid. Why don't you put on some long pants?"

A nice surprise

The Levy Loop was easy this afternoon, a real surprise 24 hours after yesterday's 10-mile trudgefest.

I planned to walk a good deal of it, but felt nice running so went non-stop in 19:37, with splits of 10:06 and 9:31. My legs felt close to lively, and I am encouraged.

I suck

The only problem with the River Trail is wind. Today it blew from the east at 10-20 miles an hour, and made my return on the out-and-back 10-mile course a frigid struggle.

I ran it in 1:58:43, with splits of 11:46, 11:45, 11:40, 11:41, 11:50 (58:42 going out); and 12:08, 12:04, 11:39, 12:15, and 11:55 (1:00:01 coming back).

A sub-five hour marathon five weeks and six days from now is not possible for me. I also can't imagine maintaining my pace of today for 26.21875 miles, so I think a sub-5:20 is out, too. I need either a hamstring transplant, or to start dating Geneva Hampton and get her to change the race date to mid-April.

I'm tired and cold and hungrier than a junior-high football team, and still sad about the Green Bay Packers.

Cold continued

At least I'm not in Green Bay.

It's 0 there. A woman on television just said it would get up to 5 today, but be back to 0 for the kickoff of Green Bay's NFC championship game with New York.

It's 30 here. It was 24 when I got up. Sometime last night it occurred to me that I would not golf tomorrow, so I decided to put off my long run until then, in the afternoon, when it should be in the 40s. Today I walked and jogged the Levy Loop in 23:52, just about the pace I hope to maintain for at least 10 miles tomorrow. It was a snap.

The Little Rock Marathon starts six weeks from today. I can't break five hours. I now hope to break 5:20. That would be 30 minutes faster than last year, and beat my LRM pr of 5:23:27, set in 2005. A 12-minute pace would give me a 5:14:38. That might be possible. We'll see.

Holy moley, it's cold

I am an idiot.

It's 37 degrees with 17 mile-per-hour wind blowing from the north northwest, and I ran the Levy Loop without gloves. My hands are still numb. Again, I tried hard to run/walk it in 24 minutes, and didn't come close. My time was 22:47, with mile splits of 11:27 and 11:20.

I plan to run 10 miles in the morning (it will be too cold to go further). This time I will watch my watch and run each mile as closely to 12 minutes as possible.

Orange Street Loop

Today I stayed in my house and wrote two stories. I left once to buy bananas, cereal, a head of lettuce, and a sack of coffee. Later I hit a few 60-degree wedge shots from my front yard to the back, and walked and jogged the Orange Street Loop in 35:08.

I might walk tomorrow, and will otherwise drive to Searcy to watch Lakyn Garrison and Matt Hall play basketball for Harding. Sunday morning, to warm up for the Packers' game with the Giants, I plan to run 15 miles.

I didn't run

I didn't do shit today, except hit a few golf balls and feel my heart miss beats over a basketball player.

"Man!"

It was 41 degrees, calm, and damp when I walked out of the office tonight at about 10 o'clock. I felt energetic and jogged to my car and decided to run the Ridge Road Loop before bedtime.

My idea was to run without stopping, but to go slowly. I ran the hard, hill-strewn course in 34:21. My splits were 8:52, 9:12, 8:40, and 7:37. Granted, the last mile drops at least 200 feet, but I don't think I have run a mile that fast in three years. The thought of breaking 35 minutes motivated me. Later, as I turned onto Orange from 47th Street, I wondered about breaking 34.

I looked at my split after the first mile and it shocked me. I thought, "Maybe 9:30. 8:52? Shit." I tried to relax, but when I saw I had run the 9:12 second-mile split, decided to shovel in all my coal and start racing. It was fun, unlike anything I have experienced since my return to this idiocy.

It's odd that averaging 8:35.3 a mile excites me, at least in the context of my running life (which started in November, 1973), but it does. Man. And this after a nice 4-mile effort earlier today.

Double Levy Loop

After hitting 18 7-irons at the empty Fort Roots driving range, and 30 pitch shots, I ran and walked the Levy Loop twice.

I made it kind of an interval session, with easy run-walks for the first and third miles, and runs the second and fourth. My splits were 11:12, 8:48, 11:33, and 8:11, for an overall time of 39:44. My legs felt lively. I hurt a bit through the final mile, but had plenty left.

It is dark gray and cool today, with intermittent light rain, and a soft breeze blowing from the south.

I did not run or walk yesterday.

The good, the bad and the Pete

I walked the Levy Loop today. Right out of the car, in golf clothes (after I let a stampede of hungry cats break their and each other's necks for food), I took a 2-mile walk without timing it. Not counting dog walks, I think that's the first time I have covered any of my neighborhood loops without bothering about the time.

The New York Giants beat the Cowboys, which means the Packers will play for a Super Bowl appearance as seven-point favorites rather than five-point underdogs, so I got that wish.

I did not break 90. I walked Hindman Park Golf Course (in three hours, 36 minutes), and scored a 102, with a 54 on the front followed by a 48. I didn't hit a green in regulation or par a hole until No. 16, which I hit with back-to-back 3-woods. I had 2 pars, 5 bogies, 8 doubles, and 3 triples. It was weird. My highest score was a 7, so I was never terrible, just kind of crappy all day (on Holes 2-8, I scored 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 6). I played the final four holes in three-over and felt like Ben Hogan.

Ten miles

I am in one piece, and could've gone another few miles, but now know I can't run 10 miles and remain comfortable. About 7 miles into my 10-mile run this morning, I started repeating a line from the old guy on Kung Fu: "Mind ova matta, Grasshoppa." It didn't fucking work.

Actually, I felt fine, except for my hamstrings, which felt like the cords on Billy Jean King's tennis racket.

It surprised me to see I covered the River Trail course in 2:00:26. I would've guessed 2:10. My splits were 11:53, 11:25, 11:44, 12:24, 11:54, 12:56, 12:49, 11:42, 12:09, and 11:29.

I suck.

Oh well. At least the Packers won. Maybe the Giants will beat the Cowboys, and I will break 90 tomorrow. Both would mean more to me than a goddamn 10-mile run.

Ready

It's 8:54 a.m. CST, 38 degrees with no wind and bright sunlight. I have drunk two cups of coffee and a 16-ounce can of Lo-Carb Monster Energy. My blood sugar was at 110 when I measured it 15 minutes ago. I'm wearing the navy-blue, wool v-neck sweater I wore at the start of last year's Little Rock Marathon, at the basketball game last night, and just slept in. My plan is to run 10 miles on the River Trail as easily as possible. I won't look at my watch until I finish. I don't want time to influence my pace. It would be nice to finish under two hours, but my goal is to finish in one piece, feeling like I could do more. I'm not sure that's possible. We'll see.

An easy walk

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Seated on Tucker Coliseum's press deck, watching Arkansas Tech and Henderson State women warmup for a basketball game, I'm eating pineapple, strawberries, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, and two slabs of pork tenderloin that are in the parking lot of the ballpark of the best pig I have ever put in my head.

This morning I walked the 47th Street Loop in 42:50, a little faster than I intended. My legs were tight. Then I had a fantastic driving-range session, and drove here.

I'm hopeful no one gives me the score of Green Bay's NFC semifinal game with Seattle.*

*my hope was blown when the public-address announcer broadcast the score so loudly it penetrated the barrier of fingers stuck in ears.

Faster

I might be in better shape than I thought.

Don't worry, I'm not going to get worked up over a 2-mile run, but my turn of the Levy Loop tonight was surprising.

My plan was to walk and jog the first mile, and then run the second non-stop, maybe push it a bit. I figured I'd go something like 12 minutes and nine minutes. I covered the loop in 19:37, with splits of 11:22, and 8:15.

The time and both splits startled and delighted me. The first mile was a snap. It felt like I could've gone like that for hours. And the second was smooth, far from effortless, but not hard. Nothing hurt. No stiffness. Nothing was tight.

I don't know, but guess it was one of those once-a-month kind of nights. Much better than the 27-30-a-month nights I'm used to.

Another prediction

Again, I ran and walked the Ridge Road Loop with a prediction of 48 minutes.*

This time I feel better about it. I walked more, and ran as slowly as I could. Maybe I was a little under. Let's see. I ran it it in. ..that is better: 46:22, with mile splits of 11:33, 12:05, 11:39, and 11:04.

It is very windy tonight. My hands got cold. I felt okay. Not great, but fine. I think I have a pretty good chance of covering 10 miles this weekend in under two hours, assuming I bother to try.

*see Over-under, published Jan. 3, for an explanation of prediction runs.

Lost days

My training has fallen to pieces.

It was lovely out yesterday, and all I did was sit here and read, talk on the phone, and drive to Paul's for fried chicken. I spent the evening watching and writing about a girls basketball game.

Today I worked for 9 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. Still, I feel guilty for not running right now.

Oh well. Shit, I have seven weeks and three days to get ready for the Little Rock Marathon. Plenty of time.

I can't predict dick

I thought after walking 18 holes this morning and early afternoon at Rebsamen Golf Course (where I scored 95, the first time Nick Williams and Carl Whateverthefuckhislastnameis witnessed me breaking 100), I would cover the 47th Street Loop in close to 36 minutes.

But I ran and walked the 3 miles in 32:48, with splits of 10:45, 11:01, and 11:02. I guess since I was tired from the golf, I felt like I needed to work a little harder.

My golf round was okay. I had 4 pars, 7 bogies, 6 doubles, and a quad. I lost my mind on the par-five 15th and scored a 9.

Hash

It was 74 degrees for our Hash run this afternoon, which I believe made it the warmest January 6 on record.

We ran about 3 miles. I jogged easily through Park Hill from the parking lot near I-40 (where the good-looking Sarah made her first appearance in the summer of 2006, and brought a box of Raisin Bran).

I will either run 10 miles tomorrow, or play golf and try to run 3 miles in 36 minutes. We'll see. If I golf, I might attempt 10 miles on Tuesday morning.

New streak

This time I think I'm really motivated.

Today was my second consecutive without running. I instead played Hindman Park Golf Course with John Kelley. I scored a 95 (nines of 48 and 47) with 2 pars, 9 bogies, and 7 doubles. John scored a no-kidding 118 for the best round I have seen him play.

I spent the evening listening to basketball, watching football, and frying chicken wings.

New 3-wood ends streak

The Fed-Ex guy came by with my new Big Bertha 3-wood at 9:30 this morning. I drove up to Fort Roots at noon to hit a few balls on the range before my run, but as I was creaming them (a few went 220 yards, in 40-degree weather, into a headwind), men drove around to uncover the greens. I hit 3-wood shots until 2 p.m., then played 11 holes in seven-over, with five pars, five bogies, and one double.

I started to run the 47th Street Loop at about 5 p.m., but it was cold and I was tired. I covered two blocks before walking home.

This club is gorgeous. I'm confident that within a month I will have purchased the 5-, 7-, and 9- Big Bertha woods, though I have declared a limit of one club a month. Yeah, right. Fuck.

Over-under

Okay, I just got in from a run-walk of the Ridge Road Loop. I did not look at my watch. My goal was to run evenly throughout, with an overall pace of about 12 minutes a mile. Again, I hoped to feel at the end as if I could've continued at that pace for 10 miles, and remained comfortable throughout. I believe I succeeded in the comfort category. I'm unsure of my pace.

Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a lot of all-comers track meets started with a what was called a prediction mile. Entrants would write how fast they expected to run a mile, remove their watches, and then run as close to their prediction as possible. Most people used it as a warmup. My jog-all-day pace then was eight minutes a mile, so I always turned in 8:00. I was good at it. I once won at the North Little Rock High track with an 8:00. In the summer of 1981, at a track in Daytona Beach, I remember finishing second with an 8:01. Some kid who looked like Dennis the Menace ran exactly his prediction of 5:30. I don't think I ever missed by more than five or six seconds.

I'm not nearly as good at the prediction game as I was then. But let's see. I turned in a 48-minute prediction for the Ridge Road Loop today. And the time is (no kidding, I'm looking now for the first time). ...Shit. I suck. I ran it in 44:40. My mile splits were 11:14, 11:44, 11:05, and 10:37.

Of course, as old and slow as I am now, it's always nice to see I have run faster than I thought.

I don't think I can run 10 miles at 11:10 a mile. I would be delighted this weekend or Monday to break two hours.

Tomorrow I plan to run the 47th Street Loop in 36 minutes. That's the over-under. If I miss by more than a minute, there's a good chance I will lie about it here. Vegas experts would recommend you take the under, I'm sure.

It's cold

It was 31 with a stiff breeze when I ran and walked the Levy Loop this afternoon. My plan was to go the 2 miles at a pace that would leave me confident I could have maintained it for another 8.

I ran it in 21:56, with splits of 10:47 and 11:09, and felt fine at the finish, but don't believe I can run 10 miles at that pace this Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. I am in fact nearly certain I'm too unfit to break 1:50 for 10 miles.

Monday I played 18 holes at Burns Park, and later walked the Levy Loop.

Yesterday I watched the Razorbacks get demolished by Missouri in the Cotton Bowl, and then walked and ran the Ridge Road Loop in 46:15.

My left heel hurts a little, but not enough to impede me.