2025 Lake trip - picture heavy

 I did say a few posts ago that we went to the Lake the first week of August.  

I actually started at my family's farm.  It's a long story, with unflattering tales of two of my sisters, but the sister I am closest with and lives the closest to me and I decided that most likely this will be our last visit to the farm due to family dynamics and changes of residents at the house I grew up in.  So we went before my trip to the Lake, and also broke into the bunkhouse.  A bunkhouse, for those who haven't grown up on a farm, is a small "house" where the farmhands stayed during harvest.  Harvest was always busy with several people being hired for a month or so, so farmers had to have somewhere for them to stay.  The families (my mom and before that my grandma) would cook breakfast and dinner, and provide a "sack lunch" for anyone that stayed on the farm. The bunkhouse at my parents' house was not used in my memory, they stayed at the bunkhouse by my grandma's house, which was only 2 miles away.  My parents' bunkhouse mostly was used for storage and we had not been able to get into it since my dad died.

We could not find a key to it, my sister looked everywhere and none was to be found.  Finally, with this being our last opportunity, we decided to break into one of the "boarded up windows."  I was super happy we got in, we found the old chest that my dad had in boy scouts that my parents used for camping, and I took it.  I don't know if I'll use it, but I'm very happy to have it.

Turns out that the door wasn't locked, just rusted shut.  With a ton of WD40 and a screwdriver used as a crowbar, we were able to get it open from the inside.

This is not the chest I talked about, the one I wanted
is the green one under the traveling trunk

My other two sisters and Maddox joined us 
once we got the door open.

Just an old TV we found

I am super sad the barn is falling in, it is worse 
than when we were here in March

Even the opposite side is starting to fall over.
It won't last another winter, I don't think

Chris, Damian and Asher did not join me at the farm, they met me and Maddox at the Lake on Sunday.  It was a really quiet week on the Lake, no neighbors.  Well, a few came and went on one side, but the other side didn't have anyone until Saturday night the day before we were leaving, so it was really nice.  They are mostly friendly on that side, but there is zero privacy and they share our beach and are really rude with their dog (letting him roam without a leash).  We were able to let Peanut (my dog) run free and he did really, really good with staying on our beach.  My sister came on Thursday and brought her hound dog, who also did really well off leash.  We kept a very close eye on them and leashed them when the rude dog owner neighbors arrived.  

We had two days of high wind, and one of rain, which sucked, but I wasn't at work, so I suppose it was still a win I suppose.  I did go on a couple runs early in the week.  When I was there in June I did short hill runs and definitely noticed them getting easier as the weekend went by, unfortunately, this time with the "storm" I only did 2 hill runs.  When my sister came on Thursday we went walking on the hills, but it wasn't the same as running.  I also did a couple short paddleboard rides before my sister came, but it was still a little windy, and paddleboarding in the wind is really hard, so I didn't go far.  

When my sister came, we did a couple longer paddleboard trips, and it was much less windy.  I noticed last year, and again this year, that my feet start hurting if I go to long on the boards.  I blame the lack of running any significant distance.  The first many years of having the paddleboards I was running a lot, so I could spend a really long time on the paddleboard.  My feet are just not accustomed to being on them as much as they once were. 

One of the best parts of this particular trip was that Damian joined us with Asher for the entire week.  I don't think he's joined us for the entire week since he graduated high school and started working.  I loved having Asher there, all he wanted to do was play in the sand and the water.  

Also, Maddox has gotten so big.  He is definitely NOT the little kid I once had.  He looks like a teenager now, and that makes me sad.  

2015

2025

Oh what a difference 10 years makes!

Here are the highlights from our trip in pictures.  😊

Do you think running is as popular as it was 10-15 years ago?

I know blogging is not popular at all anymore, most of the bloggers that I followed 12 years ago are no longer doing it.  The only 2 that are regularly blogging now (at least that I see) are Mary Fran at Belief in Myself and Stained Glass Butterfly and I didn't follow Stained Glass Butterfly 12 years ago. Even the blog that got me into blogging, Katie at Runs for Cookies, has cut way, way back on her blogging, she's still there, but once upon a time she was blogging daily and she's down to a few times a year now.

Last week I had a couple of slow days at work so I went looking for any motivational running blogs.  I found one, Darlene at My First 5k and More..., through searching through Mary Fran's blog readers (I don't think Darlene follows Mary Fran, but she was a blog that one of Mary Fran's readers follows) does that make sense??  She's been running and blogging since 2007 or so and is older.  I have really struggled the last couple years with getting out and running and liked that she was older when she started running, so I scrolled and searched my way to the beginning of her blog (she does not have a handy calendar that you can click on to find a specific date).  Through her I found another old blog Laura at 50by25, who apparently did 50 marathons (I think one in each state??) before she was 25.  She also started blogging around 2007 and was living in New York at the time.  

I noticed that most of the links to other bloggers in their old posts lead to "Page Not Found" error messages.  I know blogging has mostly gone away, I know that TikTok, instagram, and whatever other social media platforms have taken over, but I do find the blogs much more interesting to read than watching a 30 second or less video.  Must be another sign of old age.  😆

So I went down the rabbit hole with both of them.  It is interesting to read blogs from 15 or more years ago.  I was not running in 2007, I started in 2013, but when I did start, the blogs I was reading were really inspirational for me.  Whenever I found a new one, I'd go back to the beginning and start from there, it's a lot like binge watching a show on Netflix or one of the other streaming platforms, which is my preferred way of watching shows as well. I do follow a couple runners on Instagram, immrsspacecadet, who I found through an article in Runner's World, and Shut Up and Run, who used to blog, but quit a few years ago.

Anyway, I noticed as I was reading Darlene and Laura's old posts that I was feeling that old desire to run again.  I also noticed that I had more desire to blog than I've had in awhile.

So back to my title question, is running still popular?  Maybe the question should be, has running ever been popular?  Maybe I just submersed myself in the running world 12 years ago and thought everyone was running (well, no one I knew personally, but everyone else).

Maybe I'm not following the right people on my social media (my preferred is Instagram for "influencers," I like to keep Facebook for family and friends, although I do follow a lot of wine pages there).  I can almost guarantee that if I hadn't been sucked in the blogging world in 2013, I probably would not have continued to run.  Oh, I've always liked it, but maybe I'm just one of those people that needs something inspirational to keep me going, especially when I'm in a funk like I have been for the last couple years.

Anyway, after not running hardly at all the last 3 weeks, I did 2 runs this weekend.  They weren't long, 2 miles and 3 miles, but it's the most I've done in 4 weeks.  I am also feeling it today.  My back is sore and I just noticed when I sat down that my legs are also a little on the sore side.  It's sad that 5 miles over 2 days has me sore (definitely not marathon or even half marathon sore, just a little sore), I used to easily run 5 miles at a time and not feel anything afterwards.  Anyway, I should not think about what "I used to do" because I am not there anymore and focus on what I can do now.  

2 miles on Saturday

3 miles on Sunday

A very low key July

 I don't know how I let July slip by without any posts.  I don't even know what happened to July.  One minute it's the 4th of July, and the next it's the second week of August.  

We went camping the second or third week of July.  We just went to a KOA not far from home, but it's nice.  They have a pool, which Maddox and Asher loved.  It was a pretty busy weekend for the campground, but 

Other than that, it was a pretty chill month.  Our pool is up, and Asher loves it.  I do wish Maddox would get in it more, but he's hit that age where the more imaginative active play is not as fun for him.  He's really into his video games now, which annoys me, but I do know most kids his age are playing them a lot.  

I did not run as much as in June, and have not been running enough to train for the half marathon I was going to do.  I have been back to feeling very complacent and not motivated.  It's annoying because the sunny weather is a great time to run.

And sadly, those are my updates for July.  We did go to the Lake last week, so I'll do a post on that soon.