34th Street Loop

I walked the 34th Street Loop this morning in 42:02.

34th Street Loop/Levy Loop

In that there are no debates which involve less science than those in politics, and that the debate in popular culture involving the causes of climate change has become exclusively political, I take no stand when I hear liberals and conservatives arguing about the weather.* However, I really wish someone who wasn't invisible could do something about a temperature of 90°F, and RealFeel® of 95, at fucking nine 9 AM in Levy. That aside, I walked and jogged the 34th Street Loop this morning in 40:40, and the Levy Loop this evening in 30:31, when it was 100 (or is, rather, at 6:58 p.m.).

*for instance, how many factors are considered by someone who asks whether you are better off now than you were four years ago? Or by people who watch polar bears trapped on relatively small chunks of ice floating out to sea on channel two?

Maple Street Loop/38th Street Loop

I walked and jogged the Maple Street Loop this morning in 28:08, and early this evening, a couple of hours after the temperature in Levy reached 107°F, a record for June, I walked the 38th Street Loop in 31:20. At 7:09 p.m., it's 102.

Orange Street Loop

I walked and jogged the Orange Street Loop this morning in 40:35. I'm not sure why, but my legs are as dead as all those fucking trees west of the United States Air Force Academy.

Levy Trail

I walked the Levy Trail from my house to Camp Robinson and back this morning in 1:18:43. According to Google Earth, that's 5.2 miles. It got up to 105°F here yesterday, officially and according to a thermometer on my front porch. Maybe that somehow explains why I didn't see any mammals on the trail, no people, not even a squirrel.

Orange Street Loop

I walked and jogged the Orange Street Loop this evening in 38:26.

Maple Street Loop/Hash

I walked the Maple Street Loop this morning in 30:47, and this afternoon walked for thirty-nine minutes through one-hundred degrees on Basil Julian's Hash run set from Kanis Park.

Park Hill Loop

It was too hot this afternoon to walk the Park Hill Loop, but I walked it anyway in 1:17:27.

Rebsamen Park Golf Course/Levy Loop

Walt Webb and I played the short nine at Rebsamen Park this morning. It was my first time there since, I believe, the summer of 2007. It was Walt's first time golfing since Christmas Eve, 2005, when he played Hindman with Chris Vratil, John Kelley, and me. Heck, it was my first time to hold a golf club in at least six weeks, so I was delighted to score a 43, with 3 pars, 3 bogies, 1 double, and 2 triples. Walt also was pleased. He scored somewhere in the neighborhood of 52. Shortly after I got home, I walked the Levy Loop 31:22.

Ghetto Cat Loop

I walked the Ghetto Cat Loop this morning in 30:39.

Levy Loop

I walked the Levy Loop in 31:41. I'm tired.

River Trail

I walked and jogged fourteen miles on the River Trail this morning, from the Big Dam Bridge to the downtown I-30 bridge and back, in 3:14:50, with splits between 13:09 and 14:35. I was cooked after about eight miles. I stopped to talk with Ron and Elaine Gimblet, and Reverend Bob for three or four minutes at about four and a half miles. They had hiked up to Fort Roots.

OVERHEARD
"ROCKAMUNDO!"
—a man on a bicycle who passed me from behind, in a voice disguised to sound like that of a stereotypical native American. I have no idea who he was, but he was dressed like a bowl of neapolitan ice cream

"He was like, 'Let's just be friends,' and I was like, 'You idiot.' "
—blonde-headed biker, speaking to a blonde-headed biker

Orange Street Loop

I walked the Orange Street Loop this morning in 45:11.

34th Street Loop/Magnolia Street Loop

I walked and jogged the three-mile 34th Street Loop this morning in 39:31, and hope it was enough of an energy boost to keep me alert until the U.S. Open really gets started, nearly eight hours from now. I am for, in order: Beau Hossler, because he looks like the kind of seventeen-year-old nerd who would have to win the U.S. Open in order to get laid; Jason Dufner, because he's Dufner and he looks like Dufner (he's my favorite golfer by far, maybe of all time, not counting Na Yeon Choi); and Jim Furyk, because the best extant chicken fryer I know is for him. Other than those, I'm for anyone other than Woods,* who, at 3:53 p.m., is about to tee off, not five minutes after I stepped in from a tour of the Magnolia Street Loop, walked in 31:56.**

OVERHEARD
"Phil and Tiger are really turning back the clock. They're both playing the way they played when they were five years old."
—NBC's Johnny Miller, after reporting that Mickelson was fifteen-over for the tournament, and Woods five-over for the round after five holes

* mostly, however, I'm for a Monday playoff, even if Woods wins it. Men's U.S. Open playoffs are at least darn near my favorite things in sports

** he hit it in the wet rough

Chandler Street Loop/Levy Loop

My legs felt a little dead this morning. I mean, not as dead as Paul Newman's legs, or the United Nation's peace plan in Syria (fuck, come on, who are they trying to kid?), just not at all sharp. Plus my left heel hurt. Consequently, I walked the Chandler Street Loop at an easy pace, and was pleased to finish in comfort in 45:48. This afternoon I walked the Levy Loop in 31:11.

OVERHEARD
"Why aren't you at home watching the U.S. Open?"
—a neighbor named Merle, from the backyard shade of another neighbor's yard, to which I said, "The leaders tee off in an hour." I paused to look at my watch. "I'll be home by then."

Orange Street Loop/38th Street Loop

I walked the Orange Street Loop this morning in 45:58, and this afternoon walked the 38th Street Loop in 32:08. I stepped inside just before Woods sunk a four-foot putt to take the U.S. Open lead at two-under par.

Ridge Road Loop/Levy Trail

I walked the Ridge Road Loop this morning in 55:45, or officially "Fast" (a rating given in Levy to any walk under a pace of fourteen minutes a mile). Shit, man, it felt particularly cool out there. It's 65°F, and dry as high-dollar gin (and I write that not to taunt my friends who chose to move to the Gulf of Fucking Mexico fifteen minutes before summer. It's just, you know, we had the hottest summer on record here last year, and the idea of sleeping through the middle of June with the windows open and the fan blowing is too fantastic not to inspire commentary. Besides, I'm giddy over this afternoon, which I'll spend with the men's U.S. Open, and the Reds on my laptop).

The Reds beat the cow shit out of the Cleveland Indians, and an hour or two later, starting at bit before five, I walked the Levy Trail in a record-slow 1:22:55.

Levy Trail/Magnolia Street Loop

I walked about five miles on the Levy Trail this morning in 1:21:57, and late this afternoon walked the Magnolia Street Loop in 30:44.

OVERHEARD
"Hi guy."
—greeting this morning from the first jogger I have seen on the Levy Trail. He was a pot-bellied, ruddy, forty-five year old

Ouachita Trail/38th Street Loop

I walked and jogged for 2:59:44 on the Ouachita Trail this morning, out and back from the spillway near Natural Steps. I went out for an hour and a half, and passed the scenic overlook in about 1:27. I jogged for a total of 42:36, which included ten minutes each hour and down most of the hills. I'd guess I went close to thirteen miles. The weather was nice. It rained for the first hour, but dry air followed. I don't think it was ever much warmer than the low 70s, and it remains pleasant this evening. It's 82°F, and dry. Kind of like Nova Scotia. I walked the 38th Street Loop in 32:06.

Massie Street Hill Loop/Magnolia Street Loop

I walked and jogged the Massie Street Hill Loop this morning in 26:10. This loop, I believe, would make an excellent base for interval work. The smaller loop within, bordered by West, Massie, and 47th Streets, is nearly half a mile around according to my Camry, or exactly 874 yards according to Google Earth (880 yards is half a mile). I did that loop three times today, so obviously my treks to and from it total a half mile. What I'm unsure of is whether running and walking it multiple times will aid my pursuit of trail-race improvement (or, of course, whether that pursuit will endure long enough to justify the writing of the greater part of this paragraph). We'll see.

This evening I walked and jogged the Magnolia Street Loop in 27:07.

Rhapsody Road Loop

FLORRISANT, MO.—I walked the Rhapsody Road Loop in 31:49 this morning. I also walked for five minutes in Tuckerman, Ark., on my drive home.

Foggy Mountain Drive Loop/Fairmount Park

I walked and jogged the Foggy Mountain Drive Loop this morning in 47:00. I'm not sure, but I think I first ran this loop in 2004. I have guessed that it was roughly three miles around, and today learned that it's three miles and a quarter according to my Chevy.

Following a trip to the used bookstore on Grand, I drove twenty minutes to Fairmount Park in Collinsville, Illinois, where I lost a total of $3.80. I made an $8.20 profit on a two-dollar bet on a filly in the 11th race at Churchill Downs, a bet based on nothing more than an argument I overheard shortly after I entered the airplane-hanger-like facility. I spent the next forty-five minutes studying the Belmont Stakes form, only to lose bets totaling $12. I had a $2 win ticket on Atigun, who started at 20-1 and looked like the winner when the field turned for home. He finished third, and payed ten dollars and change to show. He would've paid a little over forty had he won. Oh well. Fuck it. At least I was able to confirm that Fairmount is a fifteen-minute drive from downtown.

OVERHEARD
"[Lance] Berkman can knock it out of here with one swing of the bat."
—Jim Perkins, late in the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians last night

"I'm masturbating."
—six-year-old boy at It's a Better Burger in St. Charles, Mo, as he played with what appeared to be hollow, metal disc of some sort. His mother said, "What did you say?"..."I'm masturbating," he said."...She leaned toward him, whispered, and sat back to join her husband in sheepish smiles, nods of heads, and hands to faces

Central Parkway

FLORISSANT, Mo.—I walked and jogged for 48:37 this morning, mostly on Central Parkway and Shackleford Road.

Ouachita Trail

I walked and jogged on the Ouachita Trail this morning for 1:58:47. I went out for an hour from the parking area near Natural Steps, a place where I hadn't been since the spring of 2006. This was an easy effort. I probably went about nines.

Levy Loop

I walked the Levy Loop this morning in 30:13, and don't think I will go much further this evening. I'm going to visit Jim and Karen in St. Louis tomorrow, and will be there through Sunday morning, so my plan it to jog and walk the Ouachita Trail tomorrow morning before I leave.

Park Hill Loop

I jogged and walked the Park Hill Loop this morning in 59:27, with splits of 12:16, 12:11, 11:48, 12:03, and 11:09. I'm whipped, and soaking wet.

Levy Trail/Massie Street Hill Loop

I walked the Levy Trail to Camp Robinson and back this morning in 1:21:57. A little later I measured two two-mile loops, both of which go up to Park Hill. This evening I walked and jogged the Massie Street Hill Loop in 27:01. It goes up the very steep, quarter-mile Massie Street Hill three times. The other route is called the Magnolia Street Loop, and it goes up the seemingly endless 34th Street Hill, the hardest part of the old Park Hill Loop. I would like to start doing some trail races, but learned Saturday that I will have to improve my ability to go up hills.

Maple Street Loop/Hash

My quadriceps are sore from all that hill-walking-up yesterday. The Kitty Run course goes up for the first six miles, then straight down to below the start over about two miles, and then mostly up for the remaining five. I was reminded how unprepared I was for that effort as I walked the Maple Street Loop this morning in 31:11. I was even sorer this afternoon as I walked for 1:35:50 with the Hash from the Hubanks' house in Maumelle. We went a little over six miles.

I think it's interesting that, according to the crap we can research with this new blogger.com format, Pam's Boy has been viewed exactly four-hundred times in the last month in Russia, two-hundred and seventy-eight times in the United States, and twelve times in Columbia. There were thirty-eight views of my blog yesterday? Do what? That can't be right, can it?

Kitten Run

I took the 13.7-mile Kitten Run option offered at this morning's Catsmacker. It took me 3:10:36. I felt like shit most of the way, not nearly as sharp as last Saturday. I don't think I ran more than about thirty minutes. However, the weather was perfect. It was never warmer than the upper 60s.

Ghetto Cat Loop

I walked the Ghetto Cat Loop this morning in 30:03, and am unsure whether I will be able to resist walking this afternoon or evening. The high today is supposed to be 76°F. This might be the last day without air conditioning until September.