With the opening of Lawrence's new massive recreation center only weeks away, the building and its environs are available for public use already as part of, what has been described as, a soft opening. Today, as part of my run, I popped over to the center and did a quick tour of the facilities. The weight room is fantastic and airy. There was one guy using the room when I walked through.
"This is impressive," I mentioned.
He concurred.
The indoor track and the aerobic machines - 5 treadmills, 5 ellipticals, and a bunch of stationary and recumbent bikes - looked fantastic. There was a guy walking the track, but otherwise the space was deserted.
But I hadn't come to the site to workout indoors. I had run the 2.01 miles (exactly) from my door to the new facility in order to run some of its 6 miles of outdoor paths.
I thought the paths, being that there are six miles of them, would be easy to find. That proved not to be the case. I did a quick run around the circumference of the edifice which is longer than two football fields. No luck.
I knew, however, that I could see the paths from a point on the SLT trail that I also run regularly. So I headed out the west exit of the sporting complex (which also includes KU's Rock Chalk Park), and headed north toward the Lecompton interchange on the SLT trail. After a few hundred yards, I saw the new path coming down a hill to my right (east). I waded through tall grass and made my way across a little stream (being very careful to look for snakes), and made my way to the new paths.
And what can I say? They are still under a bit of construction, but the milled asphalt is and exceedingly comfortable surface on which to run. I (seriously) think I spotted pieces of the old KU stadium track ground up into portions of the new path system as well.
The path network around the park and rec complex is amazing. The surfaces are wide, hilly, and winding, making for a fun and challenging run.
One odd occurrence: as I ran up a hill and rounded a corner in the first mile of the paths I was hit with a very strong whiff of marijuana. I thought, why in the world would someone be smoking marijuana out here? I don't have anything against the plant or its use (and I really don't want this post to become a forum on the subject one way or the other). But it just seemed so strange. So I stopped to see who was smoking.
The answer - no one. There, in the middle of the city's newest (and truly wonderful) running pathway networks, was a good-size stand of marijuana in full bloom. I don't know what is considered to be good or bad examples of the plants, but there were buds all over these. So much so that the odor was a bit overwhelming when standing downwind. I think everyone who has grown up in Kansas has seen this plant in the wild. I just hadn't ever seen so much of it in one place.
Normally I write about animals I see in nature. Every now and then I'll write about eating mulberries or apples found growing wild along a trail. This stand of marijuana was just so odd because of its size and its proximity to the trail (about 2 feet away) made me wonder why it was left in place.
I resumed my run and finished the section of the trails I had chosen. All in all I got in a good 7.3 miles of road and trail running. The paths are the newest, and some of the best, additions to Lawrence's running offerings. I'm guessing the city will do something about the marijuana in the near future - it is hard to miss as you run the trails. But then again, this is Lawrence...
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