17 things for 17 mles

Sunday I ran the farthest I've ever run--17 miles. Coincidentally the date was August 17.  In honor of that benchmark, I will write about 17 things.

1. Weight before run--122.4. Weight after run--119.7. Let's hear it for dehydration.

2. The gear--black Champion shorts from Target, turquoise Danskin tank top from Walmart, gray sports bra from Penneys, Nike no-show socks from I forget where, white, orange and pink Brooks Adrenaline running shoes from GoRun, worn-out black armband from Walmart, black iPhone 4 from my friend Rachelle (I broke mine), my husband's ancient Igloo cooler, and the maroon Dodge Caravan snack and hydration station.

3. Coolest things that happened--seeing my former co-worker, Kristi, run by twice on the path, experiencing perhaps my first wave of the mythical "runner's high" on mile 13, seeing the same biker go by from the other direction multiple times and watching his face grow more and more surprised that I was STILL running.

4. Running stats--17.01 miles at 3:05:49 for an average time of 10:55 minutes per mile (this is not exactly accurate because I paused Runkeeper the three times when I stopped at my van to snack). Fastest mile was mile 2 at 10:20:8. Slowest mile was mile 13 at 11:29 (too busy being "high," I guess).

5. Nutrition--Spaghetti the night before, peanut butter and honey on toast with a very small cup of coffee the morning of, some bites from a cup of strawberry applesauce after miles 4 and 8.

6. Hydration--One plastic water bottle and 32 ounces of Gatorade Frost, Rain Berry flavor. Decided I liked it a lot better than the Powerade I had last time.

7. Wildlife sighted--Geese, ducks, a bunny, egrets, dragonflies and a lizard

8. Most annoying things--Dog poop on the path and the group of walkers who made me run in the grass because they wouldn't bother to move over.

9. Weather--Sunny with a slight breeze. 72 degrees at the beginning and 88 at the end. Humid. Sweaty.

10. Health struggles--Nagging hint of my Plantar Fasciitis, partially missing toenail (gross), continuation of week-long anxiety-induced stomach cramps.

11. Location--Starting in the parking lot at Sedgwick County Park, I ran west on the path to Ridge Road, turned north and ran past the West Urban baseball complex and the AYSO soccer fields, turned east on 21st at the extension office and ran past the park to the fields by the zoo, headed south on Zoo Boulevard and then east on 13th (Windmill Road) back to the park parking lot. I made this four mile loop four times and then turned north at the south park entrance and ran a mile into the park.

12. Dumbest things I did--Forgetting to bring sunscreen (lucky I didn't burn), taking a sweaty selfie at 8 miles.

13. Most surprising moment--a girl ran past me who actually runs like I do (no one does), almost completely on her toes. I watched her run by and thought, "boy, she looks weird doing that."

14. Strongest body parts--calves and glutes

15. Weakest body parts--abs and lungs (thankfully the asthma is dormant though)

16. Things I thought about--my family and friends, school, lesson plan ideas, things I'm behind on, wishes and dreams, memories, my character flaws, intractable problems, how to breathe, how my feet hit the pavement, my form, my shadow, holding my head up, and the progress of the building of the 13th street bridge.

17. The playlist--I always let the "shuffle Gods" decide what music will play on my phone. I cannot remember every song that played while I ran, but here is a partial list:
All Arise--The Decemberists
Astral Weeks--Van Morrison
Angels and Devils--Dishwalla
Atlantic City--Bruce Springsteen
Blue--The Jayhawks
Chase this Light--Jimmy Eat World
Do You Realize?--The Flaming Lips
Don't Ask Me Why--Billy Joel
Donna Lee--Phish
Effortlessly--Sister Hazel
Flying Horses--Dispatch
Freewill--Rush
Gold to Me--Ben Harper
Golden Pond--Nickel Creek
Grand Theft Autumn--Fall Out Boy
Head Rolls Off--Frightened Rabbit
High Flying Bird--Elton John
If I Could Give All my Love to You--Counting Crows
In Love with a Girl--Gavin DeGraw
In the Aeroplane over the Sea--Neutral Milk Hotel
Journey of the Featherless--Cloud Cult
June Hymn--The Decemberists
Lay Down Sally--Eric Clapton
Love Me Two Times--The Doors
Mad Season--Matchbox 20
Modern Love--David Bowie
Mysterious Ways--U2
O, Valencia!--The Decemberists
Oblivion--Bastille
On Top of the World--Imagine Dragons
Once There Was a Hushpuppy--Beasts of the Southern Wild Soundtrack
One Line Wonder--The Avett Brothers
Pretty Girl from Cedar Lane--The Avett Brothers
Questions 67 and 68--Chicago
Rock and Roll--Eric Hutchinson
Seven Nation Army--The White Stripes
Shelter from the Storm--Bob Dylan
Smoke--Ben Folds Five
So Impossible--Dashboard Confessional
Something So Strong--Crowded House
Spaceman-The Killers
Swept Away--The Avett Brothers
Teen Idle--Marina and the Diamonds
Thick as a Brick--Jethro Tull
Unbelievers--Vampire Weekend
Wah-Wah--George Harrison
The Way We Move--Langhorne Slim
We Used to Wait--Arcade Fire
Your Biggest Mistake--Ellie Goulding

Disagree with my weird/cheesy taste in music? Tell me what you like to work out to in the comments!

That's my list. The run went well, but I cannot fathom going nine miles more.

Extra: The Ted Ensley Gardens at Lake Shawnee in Topeka

On the morning after my lake run in Topeka, I convinced Dan to come back out with me so I could get some pictures for the blog. (No, I don't run and shoot at the same time, but maybe I should invest in a GoPro!) We parked on the west side of the lake in a parking lot right next to the Ted Ensley Gardens. I had noticed the nice landscaping as I ran by the day before, but I didn't venture into the actual garden area, so Dan and I decided to check it out. We were in for a very pleasant surprise. We liked it so much, we brought Dan's Mom and our children back later that day.

These gardens cover almost 20 acres and they are absolutely lovely. They are free to visit, although they do accept donations. If you are in Topeka, you should go take a look--totally worth your while.

This pagoda would be a relaxing spot to enjoy the lake.

There's also a nice lakeside deck.

Topeka's answer to Stonehenge?

When the girls saw this colorful garden, they joked about having stepped into Oz.

Another nice place to sit.

When Dan and I passed over one little waterfull, we saw all of these really large shell shapes. Because they were so large and blended in with the color of the concrete, we thought they were some kind of decoration sort of sculpted in the concrete. When we brought our girls later, Rachel investigated and discovered they were some of the largest snails we've ever seen.

The Ted Ensley Gardens are located at 3650 SE West Edge Road and are open from 6 a.m.-11 p.m.

Loving the lake: running at Topeka's Lake Shawnee

Best run by a dam site...

The typical outsider believes Kansas to be a flat, treeless wasteland filled with desolation and backward people. As with most assumptions, this is patently untrue. But in my hometown of Wichita, the flat part does apply. It is level. Not just Village Inn pancake flat, but super thin crepe flat. When it rains, the water just fills the streets because no gravitational force compels it to move onward. When it snows, our poor children must choose between sledding on the side of an overpass or sailing down a man made hill in the park. While this may not be the most aesthetically pleasing situation, it's fantastic for runners. Every race is fast. The ground conforms to your steps and doesn't capriciously fall away or try to suddenly smack you in the face. Sad to say, flat and boring suit me fine.

However, this weekend, we made a trip to Topeka to see Dan's family. Northeast Kansans tend to view their part of the state as the only part that matters, and while I don't subscribe to their elitist view in a general sense, where scenery is concerned, our poor Ark Valley cannot really compete. Anyway, I looked forward to once again running around scenic Lake Shawnee for my scheduled 13 miler. Rachel is unwilling to go with me if I go over six, so this was again a solitary run.

The last time I ran there, my Runkeeper GPS wasn't working. It was kind of cool actually, because it kept telling me I was going 40 miles per hour that day, but the upshot is, I never really learned how far it was around the lake. But I knew it was somewhere between six and eight miles, so I was probably going to have to do almost two loops to get in my half marathon. I got there at about 7:30 a.m. The weather was cool and cloudy, but super humid. I parked my trusty van at shelter house 3 which is located on the southwest tip of the lake. My starting place was strategic because I knew the toughest part of the route was the southeast and east side of the lake where I would encounter those foreign terrors known as hills.

Lake Shawnee is a really scenic and fun place to run, but I will say I set a new record on Runkeeper for elevation changes that day. Running counterclockwise around the lake, you must slog your way up four or five hills. The grade is not too radical going that direction, but they seem pretty long, especially on a humid day when the air is still. If you are really wanting to experience pain, I suppose you could run clockwise. For some reason, all the grades seem much steeper that direction.

This is the steepest hill in the park which you go down if you are running counterclockwise. I tried to maintain  a normal gait on the way down, but I ended up doing some ridiculous lurching skip.

It's hard to take photos that accurately display the grade of things, but trust me, this one is doozy.

Here's the same hill from the bottom.

Dan at the bottom of the hill for scale.

Well, you get the idea. Anyway, there's a rather sad story about this hill that I learned from my friend Kelli a few hours after my run. Apparently a few years ago, a woman lost control of her bike on this hill with a fatal result. That is why there are now signs that tell riders they must walk their bikes here.

More fun hills.

So as you run along the east side of the lake, you tend to see more of the same. Also, you aren't really running by the lake at all; you're running alongside the golf course. As you continue, the golf course gives way to a camping area and the terrain levels out. You then run through a grassy area, down by a small cove, where I saw a fishing boat, past the swimming beach and up to a fairly impressive baseball field. Once you corner the field, the run becomes great. The north and west sides of the loop take you across the dam and then treat you to shady and scenic lake views. 

Lake view from the dam

Looking down from the dam. For a Wichita girl, this is some altitude.

 All in all, Lake Shawnee is a great place to run. The path is well-kept and it's never been super crowded when I've gone. Just do the hills early in your route. It turns out, according to Runkeeper, that the loop around the lake is 6.9 miles which worked out pretty well for my half-marathon morning. I have to say, I was not looking forward to the second pass, but once I made it back to the camping site, I felt like I had it made. And I learned that I can do hills if I have to. I'll end with a few more photos.

A WPA project, Lake Shawnee opened in 1939. It is located at 3027 SE Beach Terrace. It is open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.