Levy Trail/35th Street Loop

I walked on the Levy Trail for 40:04 this morning to cover about two and a half miles. It's gray, cool, and damp here.
This evening I completed the 35th Street Loop in 56:45 by alternating one-minute jogs with walks of four minutes for the first mile, two minutes for the second, three for the third, and one for the fourth. My splits were 14:57, 14:05, 14:38, and 13:05.

Paragraph(s) of the day from A Different Closet

Green listened to the message shortly before midnight. He knew what Hardman wanted to say. The word was out.

U.S. representatives Gary Studds and Hardman had spent most of the previous two weeks spearheading a move to provide federal funding for research on the use of azidothymidine, or AZT, in the treatment of AIDs. AZT was first synthesized as a possible treatment for cancer, but it proved insufficient for that task, and research involving it was shelved in the mid-1960s until scientists at the National Cancer Institute, Duke University, and at a London-based pharmaceutical company began independently to consider effects it might have on the HIV virus. Results of their tests proved encouraging, and the researchers began to collaborate. They were hopeful, but they needed money. The day Hardman left his message for Ingram, the U.S. government had made available grants totaling ten billion dollars for research involving the treatment of AIDs, with the bulk of it targeted at AZT advocates and researchers.

Green reached Keith at Karen Shoemaker’s house. “Take notes, so that you’ll know what you’re talking about when you reach Hardman,” he said.

Keith then called Hardman and listened to him brag and apologize until one in the morning. “Ingram, between you and me, I’m giving you credit,” Hardman said. “You opened my eyes to this. Now, as you know, homosexuality ain’t exactly been the kind of calling card you’d want to tote into Missouri’s first district, but it seems like you found out how to get away with it. You’ve found a way to turn old enemies into allies. Shit, you got President Reagan talking about AIDs research, so hats off to you.

“But understand this, Ingram. I know that tomorrow everybody’s gonna go on and on about how I’m just doing this to try to win a few votes, to try to steal some of your thunder, but I want you to know that if I get any of those kinds of benefits, that ain't nothing but gravy. I’m doing this because I think it’s the right thing to do, and that’s god’s own truth right there, and I want you to know it.”

Keith could not imagine anything else. “I know, Ron. Thank you.”