35th Street Loop

I walked for two minutes each quarter mile, or a total of 32 minutes, to complete the 35th Street Loop in 49:21, with splits of 12:39, 12:39, 12:05, and 11:58.

Maple Street Loop/Section 13

Last night I walked the Maple Street Loop in 30 minutes. This morning I won the Little Rock Hash House Harriers' Great Cross Country Race for the second consecutive year, simply by walking out for 15 minutes and jogging back for about 10 without getting lost at Section 13. I ate two cheeseburgers, two hot dogs, and eight Fig Newtons, and flirted with an eighth-grader from Russellville named Beth who won the women's division and has a 5K PR of 21 minutes. Her grandparents and mother were impressed by my interest (Gary walked over and said, "You know, Pete is a sportswriter for the Democrat-Gazette. He might do a story on your daughter, right Pete?"), so I had them arrested.

Gimblett Loop

This was easy and, consequently, a surprise and pleasure. I jogged the Gimblett Loop in 49:41, with splits of 10:12, 10:22, 9:48, 9:55, and 9:24.

Levy Loop

I jogged the Levy Loop in 20:17, with splits of 10:01 and 10:16, and am geared to cheer for Ichiro Suzuki this afternoon. He has hit .420 in Seattle's previous 12 day games. It's not too late to change. Evan Longoria? Fuck. Do what?

Oh. Jo thanks you for the birthday wish. "Is that the girl with the arm I liked so much?"

Orange Street Loop/Maple Street Loop

It feels a little like summer today; 85, a hazy, almost white sky. I walked the Orange Street Loop in 43:37, with a couple hundred yards of jogging during the final mile. I injured my neck early Monday morning and believe it will prevent much running for a day or so.

After a day of ibuprofen-and-ice, I walked for a total of four minutes and otherwise jogged the Maple Street Loop in 20:26, with splits of 10:14 and 10:12 and felt okay.

Levy Loop

I walked the Levy Loop in about thirty minutes this morning.

Hash

We started from a gravel parking lot on Arkansas 10, 11 miles west of I-430, and ran about three miles through rain and mud and knee-deep water on some otherwise lovely trails near Lake Maumelle.

Maple Street Loop

I jogged the Maple Street Loop in 18:58.

Last week, on Thursday, May 14, I failed to note I reached my 300th consecutive day of at least walking two miles. I ran or walked 1,320 miles from July 19, 2008 through then, or an average of exactly 4.4 miles a day. That's 30.8 miles a week.

Maple Street Loop/35th Street Loop

My knees feel fine.

Last night at about 10:30 Central I ran the Maple Street Loop, after losing $9:30 at Oaklawn Park on a trip with Tim Cooper, in 20:23, with splits of 10:11 and 10:12.

Today I ran and walked the 35th Street Loop in 43:26, with splits of 11:01, 10:55, 10:47, and 10:43. I walked one minute at the start and after each approximate quarter mile, or 16 times.

Levy Loop

This is the first time I recall hypoglycemia injuring my legs. Both knees feel bruised. The left, just below and to the outside of the kneecap, has a little functional damage. I found a gait this morning, somewhere between 10 and 10:30 a mile, that felt comfortable and supportable, and ran the final four minutes of each five to complete the Levy Loop in 22:00, with splits of 11:33 and 10:27. I ran for a total of 16:23. My knee hurt as I ran from the jump, but not after the first couple of minutes. It hurts when I walk. I am on an ibuprofen-and-ice regimen.

I was pleased to discover such limited backlash, particularly after a painful, 8 a.m. walk to the bathroom, and to have been exempt from any hint of fatigue. Perhaps this will catalyze a more indefatigable pace for my easy days.

Levy Loop

I walked and jogged the Levy Loop this morning in 26:25. An odd and rare early-evening hypoglycemic bout kept me off the road tonight, but not from making a mess of my kitchen, bruising my knees, and watching disappointing performances for three of the four Levi Ghetto Cats.

Levy Loop

I walked the Levy Loop, after five hours in the yard, in 28:43 (I jogged for maybe a minute).

Here's coincidence: At Hash yesterday, Mike Wickline told me about a trip he made to Seattle a couple of weeks ago. He said he went to a Mariners-Oakland Athletics game; "I said, 'Hey, there's that Kurt Suzuki guy Perkins was telling me about." Wickline said Suzuki got two hits. And then, son of bitch, you (Erin) picked him tonight and he hit again. I love that No. 8 hitter.

Hash

Ron Gimblet set the run from a small, little-known picnic area not far from the rugby field in Burns Park. I was out for 55 minutes; probably covered five miles. It was fun. I was penalized afterward for having finished third in the 50-54 men's category of the Paws on the Pavement 5K (I brought the plaque they gave me), and because Corky brought me photographs from a women's magazine of a bathroom she and Karen Biggs agreed looked like "Pete's bathroom." Fuck.

Paws on the Pavement 5K

Here's my excuse: I slept from 4-6:26 a.m., awoke clung to a hypoglycemic dream in which I fucked the girlfriend of a Ouachita Baptist baseball player in a high-dollar Arkadelphia hotel, inspired I believe by a three-hour read of Underworld (including a description that rung to me of Chris Vratil; "It was not easy keeping pace with Sims. He had the plodding force of an ex-boxer who still has reserves of deep endurance, oil reserves, fossil fuel—he had calories to burn, sweat to yield in abundance.").

I finished third among men aged 50-54, in 24:54, with splits of 7:59, 7:59, 8:06, and 50 seconds for the final roughly 10th of a mile. They gave me a nice plaque.

About halfway through the final mile I considered quitting, backing off to an easy jog, but before I bridled my effort, a man named Harold Hayes I passed near the two-mile mark said, "Pete, don't look now, but you're about to be passed by three good-looking girls."

"Tell them to come on by."

"Would it be all right if I just drafted on you for a while?" one said.

"Be my guest."

They charged by and opened a 10-yard gap. But they stuck there. It seemed odd. Something about that and a thought of discomfort endured on 1000-meter repeats combined to offer ballast and an awareness of a chance to break 25 minutes. Not that I cared, indeed was a little embarrassed, I accelerated and retook my position and pulled away to the finish.

I got a nice laugh over this; about two minutes into the second mile, as we crossed a 15-foot-wide bridge on the Murray Park River Trail, a grouchy 60-year-man disguised as a rainbow trout on a $6,000 bike rode into us and said, "Get out of my way."

"You could say, 'Please,' " someone said.

"Wow, a bike rider being a dickhead," I said. "You don't see that more than all the time."

Maple Street Loop

This was a pretty good test drive, I think. I ran the final of each five minutes and otherwise walked the Maple Street Loop in 23:12, so walked for a total of four minutes. That's an odd way to average 11:36 a mile, but I felt fresh and lively-legged and am encouraged enough to reset my over-under for tomorrow's Paws on Pavement 5K at 24:17. There is this to consider, however; Crutch told me he probably won't come, meaning there's a 99.99996 percent chance he will not. So I might not get up, meaning there's a 47.804 percent chance I will not. We'll see.

North Little Rock High

I took it easy, but these did not feel nearly as comfortable as I hoped. I ran 6X200 meters with 60 second intervals at the North Little Rock High track. My plan was to run the first in 54 and drop a second on each of the following. I ran them in 52.8, 52.9, 51.9, 50.2, 49.8, and 48.2. My over-under for Saturday's 5K is 24:26.

Levy Loop

My plan was to run a modified tempo run, one mile hard along the Levy Loop tonight, but my legs were lifeless this morning as I walked and jogged the Levy Loop in 26:38 and have remained so throughout. Oh well. Maybe next Tuesday I should eat a couple of Banquet fried chicken dinners, drink an aluminum can of Budweiser, watch a baseball game, and run at midnight, thus ensuring five miles in roughly 52 minutes. Point is, I skipped tonight and am about to watch the Reds. If they beat Arizona, they'll be tied for first in the NL Central and lead the NL wildcard standings, unbelievable accomplishments for the piece-of-shit Cincinnati Reds a quarter of the way through the season.

Gimblett Loop

This was easy. I ran the Gimblett Loop tonight in 47:38, with splits of 9:50, 10:11, 9:18, 9:16, and 9:04. My legs felt pretty sharp all day, including this morning when I walked and jogged the Levy Loop in 24:30.

North Little Rock High

I warmed up for about a mile with lots of stretching and what-not, ran 500 meters in 2:26, then walked and jogged another half mile and drove home, in time to start watching baseball at 7 p.m. Central. I was glad to see all of the Levi Ghetto Cats get hits tonight.

This morning I walked and jogged the Maple Street Loop in 27:09.

Hash

I ran with the Hash from an obscure park not far from Little Rock Hall High School and Tom and Corky's house, probably covered about three miles, most of it with Walt Webb and later Kayce Smith. We walked most of it through soft but cold rain.

Sunset Street

NASHVILLE —I took a can of white spray paint and drove five miles from my mother's house on Old Centerpoint Road and painted stripes at Miles 1 through 5 on Friday night. Then it rained all day Saturday, and turned relatively cold by dark. The temperature dropped to the mid-50s. I was unprepared to run through 55-degree rainfall, so waited until it stopped at nearly midnight and, full of beef and cheese and potatoes, walked about two miles in about 30 minutes from mother's front door.

Levy Loop

I walked the Levy Loop in 29:12.

Orange Street Loop

I did the three-mile Orange Street Loop, with a total of eight minutes of very slow, easy jogging, in 41:44.

Levy Loop tempo

Before my next tempo run I'm gonna eat pork chops and biscuits and gravy, three egg yolks, and drive for five hours. Tonight I ran the Levy Loop in 16:18, with splits of 8:07 and 8:11, and it was way harder than last week's 15:21. I think I'll take a couple of days off, maybe golf.

This disappointed me, but not enough to overcome the joy of my reemergence as King® of the Levi Ghetto Cats.

Gimblett Loop

I guess this is a good sign: My legs were dead and clunky and I tried hard to go slowly and still ran the Gimblett Loop in 48:16, with splits of 10:09, 9:55, 9:26, 9:45, and 9:01. I found a hole in the rain on the weather.com radar. It was dry when I began, misty for three miles or so, drizzly for a mile, and then it fucking poured the last mile.

I walked and jogged the Maple Street Loop this morning in a little under 27 minutes, plus I mowed my lawn, so this was a great calorie-burning day.

North Little Rock High

I should probably call Kirk Elias because these were too fucking hard. To paraphrase, he said, "When you get to be our age, you have to walk away from intervals with something left. Otherwise you won't come back." I ran 5X1000 meters with three-minute, 200-meter intervals, with a plan to go under five minutes on the first, and then take 10 seconds off each of the following, in 4:57.1, 4:48.5, 4:39.3, 4:30.5, and 4:28.6. If someone threatened me with a hydrogen bomb tied to my family, along with Pam, Jo, and Samantha, in the attic of the cat-filled bookstore in San Antonio, I might have been able to run the last one five seconds faster. Might have. It was practically a time trial. I'm pretty sure that's not what Kirk intended, but lost the plan's details when someone stole my last laptop on Halloween, 2006.

For the sake of comparison, the last time I completed this workout, with you (Erin) on Dec. 13, 2005, we did them in 4:58.6, 4:50.1, 4:38.9, 4:25.0, and 4:48.5.

Orange Street Loop

I jogged the final two minutes of each five to complete the Orange Street Loop in 36:38, with splits of 13:12, 11:42, and 11:44.

Park Hill Loop

Here's an earmark of a good run for me: I topped the hill on Orange Street, felt fresh and strong after nearly five miles and thought, "You know, I'm pretty sure I'm going to break 50 minutes. Maybe 49." I wondered. I checked my split after the first mile. It was 9:37 and that surprised me. I gave it an over-under of 10:15. It seemed relatively effortless. Thereafter I tried to slow the pace, aiming for 10 minutes a mile, but didn't again look at my watch until I finished the Park Hill Loop, through steady rain and temporary ponds and creeks (it has rained five inches in the last 24 hours) in 46:56, with splits of 9:37, 9:57, 9:15, 9:28, and 8:39. This was a very easy run, a float, truly, and I am pleased and encouraged.

Levy Loop

I was two for two tonight; felt like running, all springy, but resisted. I jogged for a total of five minutes and otherwise walked to complete the Levy Loop in 26:24.