Levy Trail

You know what, man, my legs are tired. I walked the Levy Trail in 1:21:34 this morning and for the first time was bothered by all the rocks. I want to go for a couple of hours on the Ouachita Trail this Saturday, so I think I'll take the rest of the day off, and try to walk no more than two miles tomorrow. We'll see.

Levy Trail/Levy Loop

I walked the Levy Trail this morning in 1:19:30. This afternoon I walked the Levy Loop in 28:23, and when I stopped at the end of the driveway, I noticed a large, mean-looking, mean-sounding brown dog in my front yard. He came jogging toward me, growling, and Samantha sprinted off the front porch to a spot between the dog and me, arched her back, and with her fur standing up like quills, hissed as loudly as cats hiss. The dog lunged toward her, but Samantha met him head on, and the dog retreated in an instant. All three of the cats dashed into the house when I opened the door. I guess I like Sam a little more now.

Levy Trail/38th Street Loop

I walked and jogged five miles on the Levy Trail this morning, from my house to Camp Robinson and back, in 1:09:53, going out in 35:50, and coming back in 34:03. This evening I walked the 38th Street Loop in 28:50. Oh, and happy birthday to all of my readers who were born on this date.

Ghetto Cat Loop

I walked the Ghetto Cat Loop this afternoon in 30:35.

Maple Street Loop/Hash

I walked the Maple Street Loop at about 6:30 this morning in 30:44, and late this afternoon and evening I walked and jogged about two miles with the Hash on Zach's and Lacey's run.

Ouachita Trail/Levy Loop Classic

I jogged and walked for 3:04:34 this morning on the Ouachita Trail, beginning at the east parking lot of Pinnacle Mountain. I went out for an hour and thirty minutes and turned around. I jogged for a total of about forty minutes, and am guessing I covered about thirteen miles, give or take. If that were the over-under, I'd take the over, but not by much. I felt good, in fact great until about 2:20. The last forty-five minutes were a bit of a struggle. I'm not sure why, but this evening I walked Levy Loop Classic. It took me 33:34.

Levy Trail/Levy Loop

I walked the Levy Trail from here to Camp Robinson and back this morning in 1:18:35. I went out (and up a total of about 172 feet*) in 40:26, and returned in 38:10. I saw one dog, one cat, a shit load of rabbits and squirrels, and three people (two were kids walking to their bus stop, or school, or to go steal something). The dog looked like Rin Tin Tin, and the cat like Alley, minus the symmetry. This afternoon, after two hours spent trimming the crepe myrtle and cheery trees, and polishing my front porch, I walked the Levy Loop in 28:01. Heck, man, I would've broken twenty-eight, but didn't look at my watch until I was half a block from the Chiropractic Clinic. It's hard to kick in fast while walking, at least without looking like a freak.

*according to my car's GPS

Levy Trail/Ghetto Cat Loop

I walked the Levy Trail this morning from my house to Camp Robinson and back in 1:20:09, going out in 41:07, and returning in 39:02. This afternoon I walked the Ghetto Cat Loop in 30:08. It was warmer than yesterday, but drier, and windy. In fact, it was 89°F, with a windchill factor of 82. A woman I worked with at the paper years and years ago, named Tracey, pulled up beside me at the southwestern edge of the loop, in the poorest, saddest section of Levy. She'd just picked up her children at a daycare by the Dixie Pig, and thought perhaps my car was broken, or had run out of gas. "I figured that had to be why you were walking through this neighborhood," she said.

Levy Trail/38th Street Loop

One thing I appreciate about Blogger.com is that it reminds me every morning that Heidi Eckman signed up for Comcast back in about April of last year. It reminded me again a minute ago, or roughly five minutes after I stepped in from a five-mile walk on the Levy Trail. It took me 1:20:40 to walk from my house to Camp Robinson and back—40:38 going out, 40:02 coming in. I met a seventy-year-old couple maybe a mile and a half from here who said they live on Maple Street (no more than a few hundred yards from my house) named Richard and Barbie Steed. I would've crushed the 1:20 barrier had I not spent the two or three minutes walking with then that it took to learn their nine-year-old grandson plays for a Little League team named the St. Louis Cardinals.

Late this afternoon I walked and jogged the 38th Street Loop in 25:14. This was my first time out this year that I wished for a headband, since it's muggier than two motherfuckers.

River Trail

I walked 5.3 miles on the River Trail and the Big Dam Bridge this afternoon in, fuck, I'm frying chicken and just realized I cleared the time from my watch. I think it took me about an hour and twenty minutes, maybe a little longer.

Levy Loop

I walked the Levy Loop this morning in 31:37.

Hash

We had a little over forty people for the Great Cross Country Race yesterday, our biggest turnout in ten years or so. What's nice is that about ten newcomers from the race came to our run today, which was set by Succulent White Meat from her downtown Little Rock apartment house. I walked and jogged about two miles, and had a hoot.

Pinnacle Mountain

I covered about three miles marking areas of the Great Cross Country Race course near Pinnacle Mountain this morning since I didn't know where it was scheduled to start when I set it yesterday. Fuck. All, however, turned out exceptionally well.

I PLAN TO STAB...
...the next person who says, "...at this point in time..."

Pinnacle Mountain

I spent 1:35:46 this afternoon setting tomorrow's Great Cross Country Race at Pinnacle Mountain. It was hot out, and I'm still miserable.

Sweetheart Loop

I walked the Sweetheart Loop this morning in 46:07.

OVERHEARD
"It's not a deal where we're going to be trying to create headlines, or anything along that capacity."
—Baylor football coach Art Briles on selecting his team's starting quarterback this summer, and anything along that capacity

Pinnacle Mountain/First Tee

I scouted my trail for Saturday's Great Cross Country Race at Pinnacle Mountain this morning. I was out for 1:14:40, and covered at least four miles. Then I drove to First Tee, which I played with a retired man named Joe Parker in 96. I had nines of 48 and 48, with 4 pars, 8 bogies, 3 doubles, 2 triples, and 1 quadruple. I didn't count putts, because I was too busy talking to Joe about Nashville. His dad grew up in the old Parker house, two blocks from the Crutchfield house, where my mother was raised. I spent several memorable evenings twenty-five years ago in the Parker house, with Joe's older first cousin Parker Westbrook and my mom. Joe remembered Joda's, my favorite restaurant as a child, and York Gary Chevrolet. Heck, he knows Nashville almost as well as I do. He knows about the cheeseburgers at Nashville Country Club.

Orange Street Loop

I walked the Orange Street Loop this afternoon in 47:31.

River Trail

I walked five miles on the River Trail this afternoon, beginning at the Big Dam Bridge, in 1:14:36.

OVERHEARD
"They overstayed their stay."
—caller to Drive Time Sports, referring to three football players cut from the Arkansas Razorbacks

Maple Street Loop

I walked the Maple Street Loop this morning in 29:25.

Orange Street Loop

I walked the Orange Street Loop this morning in 46:28, and the 38th Street Loop this evening in 32:27.

I PLAN TO STAB...
...the next person who says, "...hold this nation hostage."

Sweetheart Loop/First Tee

I walked the Sweetheart Loop this morning in 47:33, and played nines holes at First Tee this afternoon in 45, with 1 par, 7 bogies, and 1 double. I used twenty putts. I hit three greens in regulation, and three-putted two of them for bogies. I hit five greens in Erin regulation, and three-putted one of them for double. My only one-putt of the day saved bogie on the only green I didn't hit in at least Erin reg.

Orange Street Loop

I walked the Orange Street Loop this morning in 44:33.

First Tee/35th Street Loop

I played First Tee with Cody Billson this afternoon in 104, with nines of 52 and 52. I had 3 pars, 4 bogies, 6 doubles, 4 triples, and 1 quadruple. I used 36 putts, and later ate two grilled cheese sandwiches, and walked the 35th Street Loop in 1:01:15.

Schaer Street Loop

I walked the Schaer Street Loop this evening in 1:19:21.

Levy Loop

I walked the Levy Loop this morning in 31:52.

Sweetheart Loop/Hash

I walked the Sweetheart Loop this morning in 45:41, still a bit brokenhearted by Bodemeister's fate in Louisville yesterday. Heck. I got sympathy at Hash this afternoon, after I spent fifty-five minutes walking and jogging in southwest Little Rock.

Orange Street Loop

Man, we got some heavy air in Levy this morning. This should be a good day to stay inside and watch the Kentucky Derby with Pam, who turned 11 today. Still, I went out long enough to walk the Orange Street Loop in 46:37.

PETE THE MAGICIAN'S SILVER BULLET GET-RICH-QUICK AND MOVE TO SOUTHERN FRANCE® KENTUCKY DERBY SPECIAL—Bet this superfecta straight up, cold as two trays of extra cold ice: 7-Rousing Sermon; 4-Union Rags; 2-Optimizer; 1-Daddy Long Legs. A $2 ticket should return at least $20,000.

I PLAN TO STAB...
...the next person who says, "Be there."

OVERHEARD
"I don't feel there's no such thing as competition when it ain't no competitors."
—Dirty Blac, Little Rock hip-hop artist

Chandler Street Loop

I walked the Chandler Street Loop this morning in 46:50, and won a game for the first that I have occasionally played for the last year or so. I call it the Car Game. It's pretty simple; before I begin a walk or jog or mixture of the two, I predict how many cars will pass by me. Today I predicted twenty-two, and won when a North Little Rock garbage truck drove by as I was coming down Orange Street Hill.

38th Street Loop

I walked the 38th Street Loop this morning in 31:09, and when I finished, at about nine a.m., I saw Jim Taylor in his front yard wearing a gray dress suit. "Man, you're either going to a wedding or a funeral, and I hope it's a wedding." Mr. Taylor's eighty-eight-year-old uncle from Beebe died. I've frequently said the last ten years or so that there are two kinds of people on earth: those who will lend you their car, and those who won't. I'm glad to discover I fall into the former category. Mr. Taylor's truck had a flat. At first I told him I'd change the tire for him if he'd coach me through it, you know, so he wouldn't fuck up his suit, but within a couple of seconds the light bulb over my head went off, and two minutes later he was driving away in my Chevy. "Shit man, I don't even care if you wreck it. It's insured."

OVERHEARD
"The feeling here is unlike none other."
—Chip Wooley, trainer of Mine that Bird, on a replay of the 2009 Kentucky Derby aired this afternoon on NBC Sports Network

First Tee/Levy Loop Classic

I should know better by now than to golf two days in a row when it's hot and shitty out. I played First Tee from the middles with a seventeen-year-old home-schooled high school junior named Cody Billson in 101, with nines of 49 and 52. Cody, who is 6-4, 155, and looks as if he could be Amanda Pruitt's little brother, scored a 102. I had 5 pars, 5 bogies, 4 doubles, 2 triples, and 2 pentagonals. I used 34 putts. I had to walk the Levy Loop Classic as soon as I got home, while I still had some momentum. I did it in 32:15.

35th Street Loop/First Tee

I walked the 35th Street Loop this morning in 1:01:26, and this morning and early afternoon, despite an awful short game, scored 91 from the middles at First Tee, with nines of 45 and 46. I had 4 pars, 9 bogies, and 5 doubles, and used 35 putts. My rib injury from Friday has almost healed. I can still feel it, but that's about it. It didn't bother my swing today.