Park Hill Loop

This was the first day of spring. It should've been the first of March, so that makes sense. It's 75°F at 6:09 p.m. I just got in from walking the Park Hill Loop in 1:18:19. I smelled grilled meat throughout Levy and Park Hill. There were children everywhere, including ten Mexican-American girls dancing on a driveway on 34th Street. Glasses of iced tea and beads of water are right around the fucking corner.

First Tee/Chandler Street Loop

I scored 50 from the middle tees at First Tee this morning and afternoon. I had 2 pars, 4 bogies, 1 double, 1 triple, and 1 pentagonal, and used 15 putts. I was five-over after six holes. I was killing my irons, hitting decent drives and three-woods, and putting like a pro. Then I tripled No. 7, and scored a 10 on No. 8. At about seven o'clock this evening I walked the Chandler Street Loop in 47:44.

34th Street Loop

Man, it feels toasty out, much warmer than 59°F, which weather.com says it is. There's no wind and no clouds. I walked the 34th Street Loop this morning in 45:20.

Maple Street Loop

I walked the Maple Street Loop this morning in 30:12.

Park Hill Loop

I walked and jogged the Park Hill Loop tonight in 1:09:50.

I PLAN TO STAB...
...the next person who says, "Grow the economy."

Ghetto Cat Loop

I walked the Ghetto Cat Loop this morning in 30:41.

Levy Loop/Oaklawn Park/38th Street Loop

Without question, the thing I like most about climate change is a record high in February. At 10:37 a.m., it's already 71°F in Levy. I just got in from walking the Levy Loop in 27:50. Fuck the ice caps. This looks like a perfect day for a trip to Oaklawn Park, and it was, though I lost $26.60 to fall behind $129.10 after ten trips. It got to 82 today, which tied the record set in 1982. When I walked the 38th Street Loop, at about 6:30 p.m., it was 71, and the evening felt like summer. I smelled food frying all over Levy.

Ghetto Cat Loop

I walked the Ghetto Cat Loop this morning in 32:06.

Sweetheart Loop/47th Street Loop

I walked the Sweetheart Loop this morning in 44:40, and this evening jogged the 47th Street Loop in 31:17, with splits of 10:26, 10:35, and 10:16.

38th Street Loop/Oaklawn Park

I walked the 38th Street Loop this morning in 29:49, and then rode to Oaklawn Park with Walt Deep Snapper Webb and Tiny Tim Biggs, where I won $17.20. After nine trips, I'm down $102.50.

Hindman Park Golf Course/Hash

Kayce Hall and I scrambled eighteen holes at Hindman this morning and afternoon and scored an 84, or twelve-over, which I thought was borderline fantastic, not terribly unlike the six-over 78 I scored with the Vratils at La Loma in San Antonio way back in 2007. It wasn't as good as that, which might have been the best eighteen holes ever played by such shitty golfers, but, still, it was a nice performance. Hindman was beautiful this morning. Thirty minutes after we finished, I was out for forty-five minutes with the Hash to cover about three miles.

River Trail/Oaklawn Park

I walked for 2:02:38 to cover about eight miles on the River Trail this morning, from the North Little Rock side of the Big Dam Bridge to the middle of Two Rivers Park and back. Then, out of the blue, Kayce Hall called to ask if I wanted to go to Oaklawn Park. We got there in time for the fourth race. I hit an exacta that netted $47, but still lost exactly $2 for the day. I'm down $119.70 after nine trips. Walt Webb and I are scheduled to go Monday for the Southwest Stakes.

I PLAN TO STAB...
...the next person who says, "The other side of the isle."

OVERHEARD
"Shit, you're doing great. I mean, you'd spend way more than that going out drinking nine times. Shit, you couldn't go see nine movies for less than a hundred and nineteen bucks."
—Basil Julian

Schaer Street Loop/38th Street Loop

I alternated one-minute jogs with four-minute walks to complete two laps of the Schaer Street Loop this morning in 2:11:01, with splits of 13:42, 13:19, 13:26, 13:39, 12:52, 12:58, 12:00, 12:46, 13:02, and 13:17. This afternoon I walked the 38th Street Loop in 31:50.

Sweetheart Loop/Oaklawn Park/Chandler Street Loop

I walked the Sweetheart Loop this morning in 46:38, and then drove to Oaklawn Park with Tom Zaloudek. I lost $24.60, to fall behind $117.70 after eight trips. I walked the Chandler Street Loop in 46:03 right after I got home. I just stepped in at 8:25 p.m. This was a nice day.

Schaer Street Loop/Orange Street Loop

My legs were sore this morning from the three-mile run Monday night. I walked the Schaer Street Loop in 1:19:00. It poured from about the two-mile mark forward. While out there, for some odd reason, I conjured my idea of heaven, assuming we could set it up anyway we want, like a plate at the Waffle House. Here's what I'd order, after I'd stepped in from an easy, sub-forty-minute jog of the Park Hill Loop, and a seventy-eight from the back at First Tee: Nothing on TV except major golf tournaments and NFL and MLB playoff games, Triple Crown races and Charlie Rose (with no guests from the theatre, or from music, other than the guys I liked when I was a kid, like James Taylor, Willie Nelson, or Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young in any order); unlimited supplies of Milwaukee's Best and Grizzly fine-cut snuff (which hasn't been in my head for two years and a month); steaks, fried chicken, fried eggs, French fries, hash-brown potatoes, butter, a jar of Helman's Mayonnaise, and a shaker of salt; and a petepretty woman to occasionally say, "I'm happier than god."

This evening I jogged and walked the Orange Street Loop in 35:30, with splits of 11:42, 12:46, and 11:02. My hamstrings are still sore, but overall my legs felt springy. I ran for a total of 17:30.

Park Hill Loop/34th Street Loop

I walked the Park Hill Loop this morning in 1:17:45, and the 34th Street Loop this evening in 45:34.

34th Street Loop/Orange Street Loop

I walked the 34th Street Loop through fluffy snowfall this morning in 45:25. This evening I had the best run I've had in, I don't know, a year and a half or more. Heck, it was my first non-stop run since November. I ran the Orange Street Loop through heavy, 35° mist in 28:54, with splits of 9:58, 9:49, and 9:08. It's hard to explain. Maybe it was the chef salad I ate for lunch at Sheba's Family Restaurant in Hope.

OVERHEARD
"Could you call the school?"
—Five- or six-year-old girl as I walked by a school-bus stop. Unfortunately for her and her fellow students, I could see the bus coming, four blocks behind them. It was clear that they all hoped for the day off

Maple Street Loop/Hash

It's 25°F again this morning, but there's no wind. I walked the Maple Street Loop in 30:16. This afternoon I walked and jogged about two miles with the Hash way out in west Little Rock.

OVERHEARD
"You guys wanna play through? We're really not playing very fast."
—Charlie Wi to Dustin Johnson and Kevin Na on the No. 5 tee box at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

Schaer Street Loop/Orange Street Loop

The five-mile Schaer Street Loop is much like the 34th Street Loop, only with a two-mile extension. For the first time this winter, I got cold on a run. At 8:34 a.m., it's 24°F, with a RealFeel® of 13. The wind is whipping. It's kind of an Ice Bowl day—bright and sunny and colder than two motherfuckers. I walked and jogged the loop in 1:08:36, with splits of 14:02, 13:37, 13:57, 13:09, and 13:52.

At 5:40 p.m., it's 33. This is our first truly cold day of the year, so it's killing us. The wind is howling. I just got in from the walking the Orange Street Loop in 45:23, and my face feels frozen.

I PLAN TO STAB...
...the next person who says they or someone else is "comfortable in [their] own skin."

Chandler Street Loop/Sweetheart Loop

I walked the Chandler Street Loop through a driving, 39°F drizzle this morning in 47:28, and the Sweetheart Loop this evening in 46:28.

Park Hill Loop/Oaklawn Park/47th Street Loop

I jogged for a total of twenty minutes and otherwise walked the Park Hill Loop this morning in 1:04:50, with splits of 12:54, 13:28, 13:18, 12:36, and 12:34. A bit later I drove to Oaklawn Park with Tom Zaloudek and Steve Roberts (aka Big Bloody Ketchup), where I lost $1.60, to bring my losses for the season to $93.10 after six trips. Five minutes after I arrived home, I stepped out to walk and jog the 47th Street Loop in 37:38.

Orange Street Loop/Levy Loop Classic

I walked the Orange Street Loop this morning in 43:59, and Levy Loop Classic this evening in 30:49.

Park Hill Loop/34th Street Loop

I jogged for a total of fourteen minutes and otherwise walked the Park Hill Loop this morning in 1:06:23, with splits of 13:42, 13:20, 13:06, 13:24, and 12:52, and was introduced to two dogs in the final quarter of a mile, first to Duchess, a lean, classically-shaped German Shepherd at the top of Orange Street Hill (a dog I've admired for years), and a cute, shiny, copper-colored puppy named Ruby, who recently moved in with the Hispanic family next door to the Taylor's. Late this afternoon I walked the 34th Street Loop in 43:58.

34th Street Loop/Ghetto Cat Loop

I walked the 34th Street Loop this morning in 44:04, and the Ghetto Cat Loop this evening in 29:36.

Hash

Basil Julian, a fairly pretty girl named Leah, a relatively new Hasher named Jeff, and I walked Tom Zaloudek's Super Bowl Hash Run for 48:34 to cover about three miles. Tiny Tim and Hazardous Waste were with us for a while. We all had fun, I think. It was fun at the Zaloudek's house afterward. Now I'm at home, watching the final few minutes of a classic Super Bowl game.

The original Levy Loop/Hot Springs Hash

I walked the Levy Loop at lunchtime today in 28:51. I started from the old Tall Bob Walsh estate, from which I started the Levy Loop between 1987 and 2002. I drove there and parked where I used to park. I did those things as part of my sentimental treatment of this date, which marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the day I moved to Levy, February 4, 1987.

There now is a Hash group in Hot Springs. They set one run a month, and have for the last year. They call it the That Time of the Month Hash. I made my first run with them this afternoon, riding down with Ron and Elaine, and back with Josh and his girlfriend Josie and Lacey. I was out for one hour and eighteen minutes to cover at least five miles. We ran from a park a few miles out of town which was littered with nice trails.

I PLAN TO STAB...
...the next person who refers to troops or soldiers as "boots on the ground."

38th Street Loop

I walked the 38th Street Loop through a cool drizzle this morning in 33:32.

Levy Loop

I didn't know it could be a muggy 54°F, but it can. I walked the Levy Loop in 28:38 and I'm sweating in my sweater. They say the high will be 67, good for Z-Man and me and our trip today to Oaklawn Park. However, they didn't say anything about my losing $38.10, not cashing a single motherfucking ticket, or falling behind for the season, after five trips, a total of $91.50.

Gimblett Loop

I walked the Gimblett Loop tonight in 1:12:44.