No place like home: running around Sedgwick County park and zoo.

My mom sometimes says someone has a champagne appetite on a beer budget. In the case of Eat & Run, we have a beer appetite on a water budget. And we're not talking Perrier; we're talking tap water. So while Rachel and I had some good aspirations, we haven't exactly been able to do everything we'd like. But we hope to do more. Still, circumstances as they are, I found myself spending the last two Saturdays running my usual route here in northwest Wichita.

This run starts in the 13th street (Windmill Road) parking lot of Sedgwick County Park.

Beginning of the trail and handy calf-stretching posts.

The path heads east to Zoo Boulevard. Then you head north to 21st street. You head east along 21st and the path ducks into the park a bit and then takes you to the Sedgwick County extension office at 21st and Ridge. From there you head south past a meadow, some soccer fields, softball fields and baseball fields. At the corner of 13th and Ridge you head east again. The path winds up back in the park and eventually comes back to the parking lot. The whole loop is four miles. It's almost completely flat, but there are some really open areas where you will definitely feel the wind and the sun.

Anyway, while I was kind of bummed not to travel somewhere, the usual route really caught my attention last weekend. It takes you past several large fields, and I am accustomed to large swaths of dead brown grass from my winter of half marathon training here. But when I looked around, the place was teaming with wildflowers. Everything was so beautiful that when the run was through, I walked the route so I could get some photos for the blog. Once again, this is "phonetography" but I hope the photos will at least give you a general idea.

I guess the takeaway from this is that sometimes you just need to stop and pay attention to the amazing things that are around you every day. Granted, this is not a startling or profound observation, but for some reason, I must be reminded of this continually. To conclude, here's a link to a video of the still shots I took that day. They follow the run from beginning to end, assuming I didn't inadvertently mix a few up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJrOBF2Z02k