Saturday, July 30, 2016
River Trail
The Geezers and I walked from the Clinton Library to the skateboard park and back on the River Trail this morning. We went about 6.5 miles in 2:08:16. Jayme came along, and we had some big laughs. We developed a scenario in which one of us were trapped inside the U.S.S. Razorback submarine. After a day or so, authorities explained that they would not be able to rescue us until long after we had starved to death. They said, "Listen, uh, you're probably going to be in there for a long time. If we can manage to send in a box of baking soda, is there any way we could get you to open it up for us?"
Friday, July 29, 2016
38th Street Loop
I walked the 38th Street Loop this morning in 31:51.
PETE'S FIRECRACKER FAST 5K ADVANCE, from nearly a month ago
PETE PERKINS
The founder of Little Rock’s Fourth of July Firecracker road race was instrumental in the first running boom. He was along for the next one, too. “I think we’ve had two booms,” Gary Smith said. “And the second one might have been bigger than the first.”
Boom No. 1 was built on a foundation set by American track stars of the 1960s, including Billy Mills, Jim Ryan, and Marty Liquori. With the stones in place, marathon elites Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers constructed the framework through the 1970s—Shorter with his 1972 Olympic Marathon victory in Munich, Germany, and Rodgers with multiple victories in the Boston and New York City Marathons. Smith and dozens of others across the country put up finishing touches with running shoe stores and road races like the Firecracker.
Smith directed the first Firecracker race, set along seven miles of neighborhood streets through Cammack Village and Little Rock’s Heights, and raced on July 4, 1977.
The 40th Firecracker, known since 1989 as the Firecracker Fast 5K, starts Monday at 7:30 a.m., within shouting distance of the first, on Kavanaugh Blvd.
Shorter has raced on the contemporary course three times. He said Smith, with his running store and Firecracker race, was among those instrumental in the sport’s expansion beyond the base framed by gold medalist and champions. “Races like the Firecracker 5K are personality driven,” he said. “They are driven by certain kinds of personality. You have to have that, people who love to run and have great organizational skills. In his own low-key way, you had that in Gary. He gets things done.”
Results of the second running boom were evident among those who finished the 2015 Firecracker Fast 5K.
A total of 67 runners finished the first Firecracker, 39 years ago in Little Rock. Neither Smith nor the first women’s winner, Lou Peyton, were sure how many women finished the race. Smith guessed there were four or five. Peyton said there might have been as many as six. Among the 1,253 Firecracker finishers last year, 632 were women and 621 men.
Other Arkansas races reflect the gender change in similar ways. For instance, 762 people finished the first Little Marathon, raced in 2003. Of those, 501 were men and 261 women. Last year, 1,213 women finished. There were 1,098 men finishers. In 1999, women made up 34.4 percent of 355 finishers at the Spa 10K in Hot Springs. At last year’s Spa 10K, there were 429 finishers, of whom women were 57.1 percent.
Many believe the birth of this new boom appears to have come with a new federal law in 1972, coincidently the same year of Frank Shorter’s emergence as an American running star. Shorter and current Firecracker race director Sean Coughlan mentioned the influence of Title IX, which was introduced as a law that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity.
No one knows when, if ever, it will reach full fruition, but data in the sport of road running demonstrates no end in sight.
According to research conducted for USA Running, a non-profit group organized on behalf of the American running industry, about 4.8 million people ran in U.S. road races in 1990. Of those, about 25 percent were women. Last year about 17.1 million raced. Women made up approximately 57 percent of that total.
“There are more runners than ever right now, and that’s mostly because of women,” Rodgers said. “Women have changed the sport big-time, and I think more than anything, it’s because here the doors have opened. It’s not like a lot of popular sports, like football or baseball, where women don’t have as many opportunities. In running the door is open.”
“It has been no surprise to me to see women embracing the sport,” Shorter said. He recalled his days as a student at Yale, when he used running as a form of stress release at the end of long days of study. Shorter said those sorts of benefits apply to everyone, regardless of gender. “For many women, it serves the same purpose,” he said. “And then there’s the socialization aspect of running. There are just so many people you can go run with, so to me, the large increase in women running was no surprise, and I think it’s great. If you want gender equality, look to runners.”
Peyton said the change in Arkansas is obvious. When she first began to run, in 1968, she said she knew practically every woman runner in Little Rock by name. “There’s no doubt women have caught up and passed men in numbers,” she said. “I notice it while I’m just out running on the River Trail.”
Peyton, Rodgers, and Shorter each spoke of another change in the makeup of runners. “Back when I first started, almost everyone out there was male, and everyone was very thin, very fit,” Peyton said. “Now you see men and women who are definitely heavy, but they are out there. I think everyone has figured out that you don’t have to be thin to be healthy.”\
“You see some people who are very, very heavy out there running,” Rodgers said. “You didn’t see that 20 or 30 or 40 years ago, and we need that. We need everyone to know they have a place in our sport, and I think people are starting to figure that out. We still want the fast guys to show up, but also the joggers and walkers who aren’t out there to set records. They’re out there to get fit, and that’s what it should be all about.”
Shorter said America’s running champions from the 1970s may have helped demystify the very act of running. “We might have helped people to see that with running there was really nothing to be intimidated by,” he said. “Initially I think it attracted very goal oriented runners, and mostly male. And then, shortly thereafter, when races began to open the door to women and encourage them to get involved, you saw more women out there, but most of them were also very competitive. But then as we moved into the 1980s, it began to expand out, and a lot of people came to the sport who knew they were never going to be very fast. They realized they just liked doing it.”
PETE'S FIRECRACKER FAST 5K ADVANCE, from nearly a month ago
PETE PERKINS
The founder of Little Rock’s Fourth of July Firecracker road race was instrumental in the first running boom. He was along for the next one, too. “I think we’ve had two booms,” Gary Smith said. “And the second one might have been bigger than the first.”
Boom No. 1 was built on a foundation set by American track stars of the 1960s, including Billy Mills, Jim Ryan, and Marty Liquori. With the stones in place, marathon elites Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers constructed the framework through the 1970s—Shorter with his 1972 Olympic Marathon victory in Munich, Germany, and Rodgers with multiple victories in the Boston and New York City Marathons. Smith and dozens of others across the country put up finishing touches with running shoe stores and road races like the Firecracker.
Smith directed the first Firecracker race, set along seven miles of neighborhood streets through Cammack Village and Little Rock’s Heights, and raced on July 4, 1977.
The 40th Firecracker, known since 1989 as the Firecracker Fast 5K, starts Monday at 7:30 a.m., within shouting distance of the first, on Kavanaugh Blvd.
Shorter has raced on the contemporary course three times. He said Smith, with his running store and Firecracker race, was among those instrumental in the sport’s expansion beyond the base framed by gold medalist and champions. “Races like the Firecracker 5K are personality driven,” he said. “They are driven by certain kinds of personality. You have to have that, people who love to run and have great organizational skills. In his own low-key way, you had that in Gary. He gets things done.”
Results of the second running boom were evident among those who finished the 2015 Firecracker Fast 5K.
A total of 67 runners finished the first Firecracker, 39 years ago in Little Rock. Neither Smith nor the first women’s winner, Lou Peyton, were sure how many women finished the race. Smith guessed there were four or five. Peyton said there might have been as many as six. Among the 1,253 Firecracker finishers last year, 632 were women and 621 men.
Other Arkansas races reflect the gender change in similar ways. For instance, 762 people finished the first Little Marathon, raced in 2003. Of those, 501 were men and 261 women. Last year, 1,213 women finished. There were 1,098 men finishers. In 1999, women made up 34.4 percent of 355 finishers at the Spa 10K in Hot Springs. At last year’s Spa 10K, there were 429 finishers, of whom women were 57.1 percent.
Many believe the birth of this new boom appears to have come with a new federal law in 1972, coincidently the same year of Frank Shorter’s emergence as an American running star. Shorter and current Firecracker race director Sean Coughlan mentioned the influence of Title IX, which was introduced as a law that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity.
No one knows when, if ever, it will reach full fruition, but data in the sport of road running demonstrates no end in sight.
According to research conducted for USA Running, a non-profit group organized on behalf of the American running industry, about 4.8 million people ran in U.S. road races in 1990. Of those, about 25 percent were women. Last year about 17.1 million raced. Women made up approximately 57 percent of that total.
“There are more runners than ever right now, and that’s mostly because of women,” Rodgers said. “Women have changed the sport big-time, and I think more than anything, it’s because here the doors have opened. It’s not like a lot of popular sports, like football or baseball, where women don’t have as many opportunities. In running the door is open.”
“It has been no surprise to me to see women embracing the sport,” Shorter said. He recalled his days as a student at Yale, when he used running as a form of stress release at the end of long days of study. Shorter said those sorts of benefits apply to everyone, regardless of gender. “For many women, it serves the same purpose,” he said. “And then there’s the socialization aspect of running. There are just so many people you can go run with, so to me, the large increase in women running was no surprise, and I think it’s great. If you want gender equality, look to runners.”
Peyton said the change in Arkansas is obvious. When she first began to run, in 1968, she said she knew practically every woman runner in Little Rock by name. “There’s no doubt women have caught up and passed men in numbers,” she said. “I notice it while I’m just out running on the River Trail.”
Peyton, Rodgers, and Shorter each spoke of another change in the makeup of runners. “Back when I first started, almost everyone out there was male, and everyone was very thin, very fit,” Peyton said. “Now you see men and women who are definitely heavy, but they are out there. I think everyone has figured out that you don’t have to be thin to be healthy.”\
“You see some people who are very, very heavy out there running,” Rodgers said. “You didn’t see that 20 or 30 or 40 years ago, and we need that. We need everyone to know they have a place in our sport, and I think people are starting to figure that out. We still want the fast guys to show up, but also the joggers and walkers who aren’t out there to set records. They’re out there to get fit, and that’s what it should be all about.”
Shorter said America’s running champions from the 1970s may have helped demystify the very act of running. “We might have helped people to see that with running there was really nothing to be intimidated by,” he said. “Initially I think it attracted very goal oriented runners, and mostly male. And then, shortly thereafter, when races began to open the door to women and encourage them to get involved, you saw more women out there, but most of them were also very competitive. But then as we moved into the 1980s, it began to expand out, and a lot of people came to the sport who knew they were never going to be very fast. They realized they just liked doing it.”
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Two Rivers Park
We Geezers walked through Two Rivers Park this morning for 1:26:23. Elaine's telephone told us that we covered 4.3 miles.
Monday, July 25, 2016
Levy Trail North
I alternated four-and-a-half minute walks with thirty-second jogs (meaning I jogged for a total of three minutes) to complete Levy Trail North early this afternoon in 31:05. It seemed very easy; I was comfortable throughout. I've only noticed soreness today when I walk up or down stairs.
Saturday, July 23, 2016
FullMoon 50K
WILLIAMS JUNCTION—The National Weather Service predicts the temperature near the start of the FullMoon 50K will be 93°F at 7 p.m., with a heat index of 104. Perfect.
Susy told me that quitters are still permitted to turn around at the halfway aid station, aka the 25K turnaround. That's what I plan to do.
As it turned, I spent about ten minutes debating whether to continue to the 50K turnaround. I made a wise choice and finished the lengthy 25K in 5:05:53 (it's more like 17 miles than 15.5). Slow as that is, I was pleased. My feet are kind of beat up.
Oh. A cold front, not expected until Sunday morning, ran through at about 6 p.m. We got a little thunder and about ten minutes of hard rain. Whereas Friday night it seemed as if the air were made of egg drop soup, for the races it was much drier, nearly pleasant.
Wait a minute. Check this out. I guess I did the 50K. Finished 15th overall.
.http://www.runarkansas.com/results/Midnightres2016.htm
Susy told me that quitters are still permitted to turn around at the halfway aid station, aka the 25K turnaround. That's what I plan to do.
As it turned, I spent about ten minutes debating whether to continue to the 50K turnaround. I made a wise choice and finished the lengthy 25K in 5:05:53 (it's more like 17 miles than 15.5). Slow as that is, I was pleased. My feet are kind of beat up.
Oh. A cold front, not expected until Sunday morning, ran through at about 6 p.m. We got a little thunder and about ten minutes of hard rain. Whereas Friday night it seemed as if the air were made of egg drop soup, for the races it was much drier, nearly pleasant.
Wait a minute. Check this out. I guess I did the 50K. Finished 15th overall.
.http://www.runarkansas.com/results/Midnightres2016.htm
Friday, July 22, 2016
Levy Trail
I walked about eighty percent of Levy Trail South this evening in 26:13.
I PLAN TO STAB...
...the next person who says anything to anyone concerning a need for adequate water. It's fucking insulting and absolutely unnecessary. I hope I don't have to stab Susy tomorrow night moments before the FullMoon 50K.
I PLAN TO STAB...
...the next person who says anything to anyone concerning a need for adequate water. It's fucking insulting and absolutely unnecessary. I hope I don't have to stab Susy tomorrow night moments before the FullMoon 50K.
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Fort Roots Loop-Burns Park Loop
I did the Fort Roots Loop with the Geezers this morning, walked over to the Burns Park Loop, got about a mile and a half into it and said, "Fuck it." I think I covered about 8.3 miles in 2:28:07. There is no way I can finish the Midnight 50K under nine hours. Maybe Susy will let me move down the 25K. Or maybe I'll just let them ask me to quit at the turnaround. That's a thought.
Monday, July 18, 2016
Levy Trail Loop/Levy Trail South
I walked the Levy Trail at lunchtime today in 33:54.
This evening I walked Levy Trail South in 32:38.
DID ANYONE KNOW?
...that Walmart has a house brand called Ozark Trail. They sell all sorts of outdoor stuff, including a 50 lumen, very simple, light, and fairly comfortable headlamp for $7
This evening I walked Levy Trail South in 32:38.
DID ANYONE KNOW?
...that Walmart has a house brand called Ozark Trail. They sell all sorts of outdoor stuff, including a 50 lumen, very simple, light, and fairly comfortable headlamp for $7
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Hash
I ran with the Little Rock Hash from a warehouse parking lot in Jacksonville to the house of a woman who set a run with absolutely no shade on the hottest afternoon in the history of the universe. It sucked dicks. I was out for 51:36.
I PLAN TO STAB...
the next golf announcer who says "...giving a clinic."
OVERHEARD
"You know you're better and smarter than me, because that's the way you sound right now."
—clearly angry woman on a cellphone in a Kroger self-check-out line
"I know you're twenty-three. That's my point. Get another twenty years under your belt, and then we can talk about this."
—same woman in the Kroger parking lot, speaking loudly enough to turn heads across the lot
I PLAN TO STAB...
the next golf announcer who says "...giving a clinic."
OVERHEARD
"You know you're better and smarter than me, because that's the way you sound right now."
—clearly angry woman on a cellphone in a Kroger self-check-out line
"I know you're twenty-three. That's my point. Get another twenty years under your belt, and then we can talk about this."
—same woman in the Kroger parking lot, speaking loudly enough to turn heads across the lot
Saturday, July 16, 2016
Levy Trail 5.4-miles
I alternated four-minute walks with one-minute jogs to travel 5.4 miles from here to Camp Robinson and back on the Levy Trail this afternoon in 1:21:11. That's slightly under a 15:02-mile pace, or a 7:45:53 50K pace. It took me 41:26 to go out and 39:45 to return. My legs felt better when I finished, but I was very uncomfortably hot. It was 92°F when I stepped outside and is now 91, with a heat index of 100.
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Levy Trail North
It's not every day that tornado sirens go off and convince me to cut a run short. I planned to take the Levy Trail to Camp Robinson and back but instead turned around to complete Levy Trail North this afternoon in 28:20, or a 7:19:10 50K pace.
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Cooks Landing
We Geezers walked 6.46 miles on the River Trail and around the Burns Park soccer fields from Cooks Landing this morning in 1:50:54.
Monday, July 11, 2016
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Lakewood Lake No. 2
I walked through neighborhoods around Lakewood Lake No. 2 with the Geezers this morning for 1:31:17. Elaine Gimblet's watch said we went 5.24 miles.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Levy Trail 5K/Burns Park
I walked the Levy Trail 5K this morning in 46:54 and three miles in 45:32. My splits were 15:33, 14:54, and 15:06.
Starting at about 7:15 p.m., I walked and jogged about two miles out and back on the the Burns Park Loop in 34:10.
By the way, I heard two people say "Merica" in the Dickey-Stephens Park press box last night.
OVERHEARD
"I am a man, and a man don't let people do they shit that way."
—angry fellow speaking on his cellphone near the Pizza Hut
Starting at about 7:15 p.m., I walked and jogged about two miles out and back on the the Burns Park Loop in 34:10.
By the way, I heard two people say "Merica" in the Dickey-Stephens Park press box last night.
OVERHEARD
"I am a man, and a man don't let people do they shit that way."
—angry fellow speaking on his cellphone near the Pizza Hut
Monday, July 4, 2016
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Levy Trail South
I walked Levy Trail South this morning in 34:34.
I PLAN TO STAB...
...the next person who says, "Merica."
I PLAN TO STAB...
...the next person who says, "Merica."
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Levy Trail/Levy Trail Loop
I alternated four-minute walks with one-minute jogs to go from my house to Camp Robinson and back on the Levy Trail this morning in 1:19:18. That's a 14:41.1-mile pace, or a 7:35:14 50K pace. I'm fucking telling you, it might make the Corpus Christi News if I break nine hours for the FullMoon 50K.
Late this afternoon I walked the Levy Trail Loop in 34:05.
OVERHEARD
"I'm doing OK, but I think it's about time for me to slow down. It's too dang hot."
—wiry old man in his backyard on the Levy Trail
Late this afternoon I walked the Levy Trail Loop in 34:05.
OVERHEARD
"I'm doing OK, but I think it's about time for me to slow down. It's too dang hot."
—wiry old man in his backyard on the Levy Trail
Friday, July 1, 2016
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