North Little Rock High

This morning I ran 4X100 meters at the North Little Rock High track in 19.2, 18.9, 18.6, and 17.9, and, counting the warmup mile and the intervals, completed two miles in 22:49. Until I decide whether these will hurt or benefit me, I believe I will try to do them twice a week, maybe on Mondays and Thursdays, or perhaps Tuesdays and Fridays. We'll see. If I continue to improve at my current rate, I will break Bolt's record in four weeks. Fuck Bolt.

Tonight after watching, with Tim Cooper, Monticello build a 42-12 lead over Mills University Studies through three quarters, I randomly jogged and walked the Maple Street Loop in 23:09, with splits of 12:03 and 11:06.

Yesterday I walked the Levy Loop in the morning and ran the Maple Street Loop in the evening in 17:54, with splits of 9:01 and 8:53.

Not that this will insure my plan, rather hoping it will help, tomorrow evening I plan to complete 10 miles, even if I have to grit my teeth half the way or walk.

North Little Rock High

I jogged and walked a mile at the North Little Rock High track this morning, then did 4X100 meters, with 300 jogs and walks for intervals, in 21.9, 20.8, 19.6, and 18.7. I am pleased to report that Usain Bolt, the 100-meter world-record holder from Jamaica, can no longer claim to be twice as fast as I. I covered the two miles in 22:32.

Tonight I ran about two miles with the Hash on a pub crawl between Spectators, the Honey Hut, and the Forge.

Orange Street Loop

I walked and jogged about a quarter mile for a warmup, stretched a bit, and then ran the Orange Street Loop, alternating five minutes hard with three minutes easy, in 25:35, with splits of 8:44, 8:30, and 8:21. My legs were a little dead from the start, so this was hard work.

Sunday I ran, jogged, and walked about five miles on Ron and Elaine Gimblet's Hash run in Burns Park, after watching the NFL, and Na Yeon Choi blow a seven-stroke lead but birdie No. 18 at Torrey Pines to win her first LPGA title. What should I send a woman, who just won $250,000, for her 22nd birthday? I walked the Levy Loop yesterday afternoon after playing the short course and the long course at First Tee in a scramble with Jeff and Jill Krupsaw and Jeff Slatton. We finished last by two strokes in the morning flight of 18 teams. I didn't see the final results but would bet we finished 36th. And the thing is, we really didn't play that badly. From the back tees, except Jill, who played the reds, we were two-under on the the short course and one-over on the long. I walked for 32 minutes on a meandering Levy course this morning.

Park Hill Loop

After watching the LPGA's Samsung® World Championship from Torrey Pines today, I have decided to dedicate everything I do from here on out to Na Yeon Choi. However, that choice did not provide impetus to overcome lifeless legs tonight, when I ran and jogged and walked the Park Hill Loop in 54:33, with splits of 11:23, 11:04, 10:48, 11:12, and 10:05.

35th Street Loop

I walked for a minute to start each approximate quarter mile, or four minutes a mile, to complete the 35th Street Loop in 43:49, with splits of 11:29, 10:57, 10:55, and 10:28.

I no longer plan to run another 5K anytime soon.

Yesterday I walked the Maple Street Loop in the morning and the Levy Loop in the evening.

33rd Street Loop

I measured the 33rd Street Loop moments before its inaugural running tonight. It's five miles, and uses streets common to the Park Hill, Levy, and 35th Street Loops. It avoids the climb into Park Hill, but includes Levy's longest and steepest hills (which, granted, are less than severe). I ran it through an unusually strong wind and soft rain using a technique I used a handful of times last fall and winter, alternating hard five-minute runs with easy three-minute. I finished in 46:01, with splits of 8:35, 8:44, 8:54, 9:46, and 10:02. My hard runs decreased from about an eight-minute pace to probably 9:30 over the final couple of miles, and the easy intervals from about nine to probably about 11 or 12. I was whipped. However, I was not so whipped that I could not have broken 10 minutes for the final mile or 46 minutes for the loop had I bothered to look at my watch the last block or so.

My fuel for this run was a pound of oysters I fried last night at about 10 p.m. Central, and an eight-inch pepperoni pizza and a supreme salad eaten at noon today at American Pie in Maumelle, far from ideal.

Sunday I ran about four miles through Hillcrest and Alsopp Park on Tom Zaloudek's Hash run. I walked the Levy Loop on Monday, yesterday, and this morning.

Park Hill Loop

I ran the Park Hill Loop in 52:07, with splits of 9:51, 10:35, 10:15, 11:05, and 10:21, through hard but comfortably cool rain tonight.

I walked the Maple Street Loop yesterday morning and ran the Levy Loop in 20:50 last evening.

North Little Rock High

I ran these an average of exactly two seconds faster than my previous best for 5X1000, but they hurt a bit more. My legs felt fine; still, I was huffing. I took intervals between 2:54-2:59, and got them in 4:56.1, 4:53.1, 4:50.3, 4:55.0, and 4:40.5.

Park Hill Loop

This is why I failed as a scientist: I ran the Park Hill Loop tonight with minimal effort, constantly nagging myself to slow down—"Come on, back off, save it for those thousands tomorrow"—kept checking my splits only to shake my head until I completed the course in 48:46, with miles of 9:23, 10:20, 9:47, 9:52, and a relaxed, easy 9:25, and have not so much as an inkling how it was possible.

No, wait. That's not true. Truth resides closer to the opposite; after roughly 10,000 experiments, conducted in my six-foot, 135-192 pound laboratory since 1974, my inklings are in fact innumerable. A scientist would have eliminated most, and I none.

Levy Loop

My legs felt livelier and quicker. I am not sure carbohydrate loading contributed to this effect, but I felt better running the Levy Loop than in my struggle last night and the pancakes I fried were delicious. I completed the loop, with eight minutes of walking, in 21:46. I walked the same loop this morning.

Gimblett Loop

My legs were dead tonight. I tried to find a pace slow enough to maintain comfort, but failed and trotted the Gimblett Loop in 53:32, with splits of 10:15, 11:08, 10:33, 10:57, and 10:40.

I did a little speed work on the Levy Loop yesterday morning, then jogged and walked about three miles on Basil Julian's Hash run at the Bell Slough game preserve, between Morgan and Mayflower on the Old Conway Highway, in the late afternoon. I walked and jogged the Levy Loop this morning.

Gimblett Loop

I ran the Gimblett Loop in 50:29, with splits of 9:56, 10:33, 10:14, 10:10, and 9:35. Noteworthy is that I saw for the first time while running this loop a Gimblet. Elaine was on her driveway, just past the two-mile mark, saying goodbye to guests.

My legs have recovered from Tuesday's 200s.

I walked the Maple Street Loop yesterday morning.

OVERHEARD

"This game could come down to which team can execute and make more plays."
— halftime analyst on ABC's Saturday night broadcast of Alabama vs. Virginia Tech. The other guy smiled, but did not say, "No shit," or "We're paying you for that? Why not just say, 'This game could come down to which team scores the most points.' Fucking idiot.' "

North Little Rock High

Maybe I should rethink this 200 monkey business. My legs felt beat to pieces through one 1000-meter attempt, completed in 5:01.8 at the North Little Rock High track (lighted by the last few minutes of North Little Rock's 38-0 victory over Little Rock Hall in a junior varsity football game at the adjacent stadium). My calves were sore; I knew that, but the first few strides disclosed a deep soreness in my hips. It might be a little late in the 5K season to disrupt my equilibrium with workouts like Tuesday's. I will consider doing fewer 200s, or running them slower, or limiting myself to the brief, morning sprints on the Levy Loop. I have felt exclusively great after each of those sessions. We'll see.

I walked the Levy Loop this and yesterday morning, and aborted an attempt of the Orange Street Loop after a block and a half last night.

North Little Rock High

I'm not sure what the temperature was when I began these intervals at the North Little Rock High track an hour or so ago, but it's 62 now, at 10:03 p.m Central. This was the first time I have worn a shirt at the track since last summer, I guess.

I felt fast tonight; ran all of the 8X200 meters in sprint fashion, on the balls of my feet. I took 90-second, 200 jog intervals, and got them in 46.5, 47.6, 46.5, 48.8, 47.2, 47.9, 48.8, and 43.1. I completed the two miles in 18:23.

This morning I did a bit of sprint work on the Levy Loop and finished in 23:40.

Friday morning I walked about two miles on the Foggy Bottom Drive Loop in St. Louis. I walked two miles, from Richard's front porch to the end of the black top on T Highway, with dogs Barnabas and Abigail, near the Current River in Carter County, Missouri, on Saturday night, and ran and walked three miles in Burns Park on Tim Biggs' Hash run Sunday afternoon. Yesterday morning I walked the Levy Loop.