I Will Walk Ten Thousand Steps

I’ve had a pretty busy Friday and Saturday. From 6 am Friday to 7:30 am Saturday I averaged 1,000 steps per hour, for over 25,500 steps in 25-1/2 hours. By 10 am Friday I’d taken 10,000 steps and by 11 am over 11,000.  

These days on cloudless mornings its light outside by 6 am. Friday I teed off at 6:15. After 5 holes with a single golfer behind me, I doubled back behind him and played 4 and 5 again. I finished 11 holes by 7:37 am, so I decided to play 9 more. On this second nine I pretty much only played two balls instead of three or four. I was carrying my little pencil bag instead of my bigger golf bag and push cart, and I was starting to run out of balls. Finished the second nine at 9 am – with only two balls to spare.

On the way home I stopped by two thrift stores and RaceTrac. A squad car was stationed at “dead man’s curve” on the dangerous Bishop Lake Road. Got home and started laundry, and fixed soft tacos for lunch. Mowed the lawn and did more laundry. 

Had the TV on the Memorial Tournament. Looked like a young lady in Scottie Scheffler’s gallery was wearing a ball gown. I showered, took Winnie for a walk, and was out the door by 4 pm. 

I wanted to get downtown before traffic got too bad. Stopped by the Northside Drive Goodwill. Spotted a cool ugly Christmas sweater from Bucee’s but passed.

With traffic so bad I went on down to Matthew’s house to wait for him to come home from work. As I waited, cars were parking nearby for the concert at Mercedes Benz Stadium.

M and I walked the 8/10ths of a mile to the arena, and ascended to the top level. Grabbed cheeseburgers, fries, and bottomless Cokes for $25 – not outrageous for stadium fare. Got to our seats just as the opening act was starting. The Rolling Stones came on at 9 pm and played for two hours. Mercedes Benz was packed, mostly with old people (who had trouble climbing the steep steps in the upper deck.

Since everyone stayed until the end, it took like 15 minutes to egress downstairs and out of the stadium. A nice cool walk back to Matthew’s house. He said the gridlock of cars happened every weekend, due to events at the stadium. Got home just after midnight.

Saturday: up early again to golf. Teed off at 615 am, sneaking ahead of a slowpoke who had arrived before me. Busy morning: a third single was playing right behind him. I actually hit some decent shots, despite only hitting two balls instead of my usual 3 or four.

1. Flubbed my tee shot, then hit a good 6 iron out of the rough. Two cruddy chips, then a good one. My 20 foot lag putt lipped out. Triple.

2. Flubbed the tee shot, then hit a great long chip onto the green. Par putt lipped out. Bogey.  

3. Lost one left. Mulligan bounced down the hill into the right rough. Decent chip out of danger. Double. NOTE: Friday my 8 iron tee shot hit and bounced past the hole, missing the flag by a foot).

4. Decent 7 iron off the tee. Chipped three balls, all decent. Made a nice par putt.

5. Cruddy 6 iron off the tee, then a good chip onto the green. Missed the par putt. Bogey.

6. Cruddy wormburner off the tee that didn’t roll far , then blasted a great long hybrid. Then poked a wedge onto the green – then made the par putt. A great recovery after that short tee ball, on the longest hole on the course.

7. Decent hybrid off the tee, followed by an okay 6 iron. Pulled my wedge shot left, but the mulligan found the green. Two putt for “bogey”.  

8. Pulled my hybrid left off the tee, but hit a decent mulligan. With the ball below my feet I pulled my first wedge shot left, but my mulligan landed on the green near the hole – and sank the putt for a very rare “birdie”. Cue Tiger fist bump.  

9. On the long uphill par three I hit a decent hybrid off the tee, but due to the hill and my usual low shot trajectory the shot didn’t roll as far as I would’ve liked. First chip landed just short of the green, then stuck my mulligan pin high, just left of the hole – and I drained the 6 foot putt for “par”. I had played the last six holes at one over par, perhaps my best round ever. 

Was done at 730 am. Then home to catch up on work.

Over ten thousand steps again, and a 2 day total over 31000.