General Chris updates

 Because I have been reading old posts lately, I have realized I really like having a journal that I can go back to to look at my life.  I've remembered so many things reading my old posts.  Anyway, I realized today that I haven't updated on my general life for awhile.  

Sometime in the beginning of the year, Chris mentioned that he had lost a bunch of weight.  I didn't really notice because I see him every day.  I think when you see someone everyday, you don't always notice changes that happen over time, and weight can be one of those things.  

August 2024

February 2025

He said that he hadn't drank in 2 or 3 months and had lost a bunch of weight.  I thought that was amazing

And then, not long after that (I don't remember the exact time frame) he started talking about how much his hip hurt.  He didn't know what was going on, so he went to the dr.  He told me that his dr. told him he had arthritis in his hip.  He said one night he woke up needing to go to the bathroom and he couldn't walk, he had to crawl to the bathroom.  I thought he was exaggerating because I've had arthritis in one hip for 8 years or so, and it's not horrible.  For me, it tends to be an ache in my leg, in fact, when I found out it was arthritis, I had gone in because I had a constant ache in my thigh that wouldn't go away.  I got it x-rayed and found out I have arthritis in my hip . . .

*okay, remember, how I said 4 paragraphs up, that I like having this journal so I can go back and look at what happens in my life???  Well, I went back to find if I posted about my arthritis diagnosis, and I read this post where it does talk about my arthritis diagnosis, but I also had been diagnosed with "pars defect."  I explained it in that post, but that explains A LOT about my recent low back pain that won't go away.*

Okay, back to Chris.

I had a hard time believing that his hip pain was as bad as he said it was because of arthritis.  And then I got a call from his dr's office in March.  The nurse was frustrated because they had been calling him for months and he wouldn't answer or call back and he had labs that had been ordered in January that he had not done . . . in March.  Anyway, I started getting after him for not contacting his dr or doing his labs.  After all this, I got into his hospital digital records and found that he had been diagnosed with osteonecrosis in his hip.  Basically his hip joint (the ball) is deteriorating.  At the level of decay he has, the only solution is a hip replacement.  Both hips have decay, however, at the moment only the right hip is serious.

In order to get hip surgery he had to do a bunch of steps, which includes getting an echocardiogram because of his heart problems that were discovered when he had a stroke in 2017.  He needs to quit all nicotine.  And he needs to get his A1C down . . . this was news to us.  Apparently when he FINALLY did his labs, it was discovered that his A1C level was a 12%. Normal is under 5.7%, they want him at  under 7.

So, remember he lost a bunch of weight in January and February?  Well, it wasn't him stopping alcohol, it was actually diabetes.  He wasn't even diagnosed with "pre-diabetes" or early stages, or anything, it's straight up diabetes and they put him on a shot right away.  

My brother-in-law has had diabetes for well over 10 years (I don't remember how long, maybe over 15 years) and has not been put on a shot because he has worked to control it.  (He doesn't and is very against going on the shots, and has a dr that has allowed him to continue to try to manage it with pills and diet, even though that hasn't worked well.)  Honestly, I have wondered if they put Chris on the shot (he takes Mounjaro) right away because of his hip.  Chris has actually been doing very, very well with his diet.  Apparently his insurance won't approve a nutritionist (they also only approved the Mounjaro to be refilled every 6 months, but only gives him 3 weeks worth of shots, they fought that and he is thankfully able to get it refilled every month), so he has done  A LOT  of online research trying to figure out his diet.  He succeeded and got his A1C done to 6.5 (or something), so his hip surgeon called to schedule the surgery about a month ago.

Do you know what that man did?? He told the dr that he needed a few more months to get enough PTO . . . I got after him for that.  I told him he didn't need to schedule it for right now, but get the surgery on the books, so when he is ready, he doesn't have to wait.  He still hasn't called.  🙄

Anyway, he is currently walking around with a cane and he says it doesn't hurt as bad as it did.  I wonder if he's just gotten used to the pain, well, and also, his dr has him on prescription strength ibuprofen.  

Why do we have to have a title?

 My 2 followers (Love you! 💕) both asked about my run 2 weekends ago, so I decided I'd post.  I have thought about posting several times last week but I've posted a lot lately, so have refrained.  I have felt like posting more because I am reading my old blogs and it gets me thinking about it again.  

Anyway, I ended up running on my treadmill.  It was horrible.  I bought these earphones a while ago and mostly like them. (They are hard to hear when it's loud, like a busy street, or a loud treadmill.)  

Because my treadmill has developed a thumping noise in it (happened after we moved) it can be really loud, so I stopped my run for a bit to get my other ones that go in my ear and are mostly noise canceling.  Well, then I couldn't connect those to my Kindle to watch the show I had on, so I used my phone, however, because it took me so long to figure out my headphones the treadmill thought I was done running and turned off after a mile.  I just couldn't get into the run, I just didn't want to be there.  I kept stopping and fiddling with things, or just resting, or turning on the fan.   

On my treadmill if I hit stop it stops the belt but not the workout and then if you hit start you start back up at the same pace and all the stats are for one run, well, I accidentally hit stop twice, which stops the workout and you basically have to start over.  I did that not once, but twice (because I kept stopping because I didn't want to run on the treadmill).  Luckily I was able to capture the treadmill time because at one point I realized my Garmin was no longer calibrated to the treadmill.  I have to run a full mile, according to the Garmin, to calibrate, so the third mile I decided to calibrate the run.  I had to restart my Garmin to recalibrate, so I did that.  But then I had to run about a tenth of a mile more than 1 mile so that I could calibrate it. 

Anyway, at one point I looked outside, I had the garage doors open, and saw it wasn't raining, and then it was only drizzling and I figured I should have just gone for a run outside.  However, a few min later it was pouring.   My total mileage was 3.22 . . . but it took me (no joke) an hour to "run" those 3 miles.  When I told Chris that, he said that I could walk 3 miles in an hour, and I laughed and said "pretty much." And, he's right.  My sister and I walked 3.63 miles in August in exactly an hour.

Last Sunday I ran 4 miles and then barely ran all week.  I only logged 10 miles.  It feels disheartening, but also, I'm easily able to talk myself out of runs, I didn't run at all Sunday, which is supposed to be my long run day.

I'm not sure how much I've talked about my weight in the last couple years, but I've gained all the weight I lost 10 years ago back. It's been frustrating because I knew I was gaining weight and I would work on losing it. I would lose one or two (sometimes 5) lbs, and then be back up with another pound added on.  I would get disheartened and say f*ck it and then gain a little more, only to crack down again and try to lose it and be unsuccessful.  To say I've been frustrated and annoyed is an understatement. In case you didn't know, this is all part of perimenopause including the lack of motivation, and I know I'm in the middle of it.

With that said, my office manager, who is in her mid-50s has been struggling with the same issue, and she's consistently tried (way more than me) and been unsuccessful.  She knows an ARNP that does weight loss meds that are not very expensive.  I've been thinking about weight loss meds for a couple years, but they have been too expensive, and I don't necessarily trust the companies online that advertise them cheap.  Anyway, when my office manager had been on her pills a few months she came to me complaining that she "only" lost 10lbs in 6 weeks, and I was sold.  I told her 10lbs in 6 weeks is awesome.  At about the same time, I got some money from the farm so I decided to try it.  I'm doing Phentermine, which is not a shot, it is a pill and it boosts your metabolism and suppresses hunger.  It was one of the ingredients in Phen-Fen (or Fen-Phen whichever came first) but it is not the one that caused heart palpitations and death.

Anyway, I've been on the pills for 4 weeks and as of Friday, I've lost 8lbs.  Obviously, my weight fluctuates, and it's higher today than it was on Friday, but it's also lower than it was last Tuesday, so that is a win. 

If you're curious, I paid $225 for 2 months of pills.  She's got a $300 consultation fee on top of that, thankfully going forward it won't be $525, it will be $225-ish every 2 months, with monthly check-ins. I know some people feel this is cheating, but seriously, it's been a struggle for awhile now and I'm tired of it.  

I'm also hoping that these pills are unlike GLP-1 shots where I won't be dependent on them forever to keep the weight off.  I'm hoping to lose the weight and go off them and maintain.  Maybe I'll get out of this stupid perimenopause phase and it won't be so bad.  (I think once you've gone menopausal 😆things even out a little . . . I hope 🤞).

Tennis

 I posted a picture about 2 posts ago of Maddox playing tennis.  He told me last spring that he really wanted to play tennis this year.  He's been asking me for awhile to go play with him, and I didn't make the time, but I really need to go this coming spring.  He really, really enjoys it, and is surprisingly good at it for never playing before. (I don't think dragging a racket when he was one-ish counts.)

He's been playing doubles and really likes playing on the net, and is good at it.  He hasn't had a steady, regular partner, which is too bad because it's always better to play with the same person for awhile to learn each other.  He's had some good partners, but most of the time he's the better player.  He didn't start winning his matches until about a week ago, but it was a good boost for him because he was getting really discouraged and I was worried he would not want to play again.  

His last tennis match is Monday.  It's crazy that it's already almost over.  I think because you can't play tennis in the rain, they make it a short season with 3-4 games a week to get it done before the more consistent rains come.  Apparently, even though tennis is a spring sport, they have the boys play in the fall and the girls play in the spring because there aren't many courts.  

I've noticed that since I quit running so much I have gotten bad about not running in rainy, cold, too hot, overall not ideal, weather.  I need to go run 3 miles today.  That will put my mileage at 12 miles this week (don't get me started on how low 12 is, but honestly it's been awhile since I've gotten more than that in a week). It's raining pretty hard today and I don't want to run in the rain.  I've sorta talked myself into running on the treadmill.  I haven't run on the treadmill in a long while. December 2023 is the last time I ran on the treadmill.  I guess I just need to suck it up and do it. I've put it off for several hours.

more reminiscing and some guilt

 I've mentioned (multiple times now) that I'm reading old blog posts as I'm inputting old runs into the Garmin app.  Well, I stumbled (I guess that's not quite the right word) on this post about running in Kauai, from January of 2014.  I did not remember that we were planning on going to Kauai in 2015, I do know that in June of 2014 I was laid off due to the program I was working in being moved to a different agency.  I'm sure that's why I didn't go to Kauai in 2015.  We did go in 2019, and it was just as beautiful as I thought it would be.  I also think it's interesting that this picture that I posted in 2014

is the same beach as these pictures I took in 2019

It's hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure the top picture from 2019 is just the water to the right of the stock photo I posted in 2014. The second photo is the opposite side of the beach, I think. I still have not run a race in Kauai, but I have run many times, and it is just as beautiful as it looked in pictures in 2014.

I've also noticed that I was really selfish in my early years of running.  I forgot that my first half marathon was only because Damian, who was 14 years old at the time, volunteered to miss his gymnastics thing (being in a parade) to watch Maddox, who was 2, while I ran.  When I read that post I felt really bad that I did that.  I know at the time it was a big deal to me, but to put that onto my 14 year old.  I just feel bad.  I realize now that I treated Damian like a mini-adult instead of the teenager he was.  I have been paying attention to Maddox and his teenage years lately, and I've allowed him to be a kid a lot longer than Damian was allowed.  

There are differences, I was a single parent until Damian was 10, and I used him as an "emotional support person" a lot, which is also not good.  But then I threw him into a relationship (even if it was his Dad) that changed the dynamics of everything, and then had another baby, which really pushed him to the side.  I'm thinking I need to take him out and apologize for how I treated him when he was still just a kid (not that I was mean, but that I expected so much from him).  

Uphill both ways

 I mentioned in my last post that I am adding all my old runs to Garmin.  I started the last few days of February 2012 and I am currently in August 2013.  I was fast back then.  The (one and only) long run I did in August of 2013, I ran 8 miles at a 9 min/mile.  (Also, "one and only" is funny because all of my runs from back then are 4 miles or more, my current "long run" is 4 miles.)  

Also, I forgot how much I loved my treadmill when I first got it. I got it at the end of 2012 (maybe a Christmas present to myself?).  I remember how easy it was to run on it, I was doing 4 miles at close to an 8 min/mile.  I also remember when I moved it and suddenly it wasn't so easy.  I truly believe the treadmill was sitting on an incline, so it was like I was running downhill the whole time.  When I first got it, it sat in the carport of that home.  We moved in 2014 and it went to the garage in that house, and it was so much harder there.  We only lived in that house 6 months and then in the new, new house it was in the living room.  I liked it there because I could watch TV and still be "part of the family" while it was there.  It is back in my garage at my current house, and I don't care for it there and I rarely use it.  Since moving it out of the carport in the first house, it has never felt as easy, so I really do think it was on an incline.  

I forgot how active I got when I first started running.  In 2013 I had the goal of 100 miles a month.  I was not making that goal, so I switched to 1200 for the year.  Well, over the summer I got plantar faciitis and completely quit running for about a month (middle of Sept-middle of Oct.).  But I started going to a gym and was doing a row machine and elliptical.  In fact, I had a personal trainer assessment, and that was the person that told me to roll my foot with a lacrosse ball.  I did not remember that was who told me to do that.  As I'm reading old posts, I have started remembering things.  

Honestly, this is one of the biggest reasons I continue to write on here.  I have no followers (well, about 2 faithful ones) and like I said before, blogging is out of style now, but I can go back and read my thoughts from 13 years ago.  

Anyway, reading my old blog posts and looking at my old runs has made me want to run more.  I'm sure it won't last, but for now, I'm running.  Not farther, just more often, although, I'd like to run farther, I'm working on it. It's also made me appreciate hills a lot more, because I see how fast my times were, seriously, I was running 4+ miles at a 9 min/mile pace and sometimes under that.  After my month off of running in 2013, I came back and ran 4 miles at  a 8.26 min/mile.  I don't know if I'll ever get back to that, but I do want to go back to running hills, which means I have to do it during or after work (I work in the area I used to live in with all the hills).  

So yesterday I decided I was going to run at work, but then didn't have the time.  I was headed to Anacortes, a very cute town on the edge of the Sound about 30 min away, to see some clients so I decided I'd run that trail I last week and run the other part, the part that goes over the water.  However, it was really windy and I knew that the stretch over the water would just be horrible. I really struggled with just going home, and running there, but I really felt that I would not run if I did that.  I also had planned to run the hills at work, and Anacortes is very hilly, so I decided to just do it.  I stopped at a park that I knew had a bathroom to change in and then went for my run. 

I don't know Anacortes well, but I know a few streets so I planned to just do an out and back.  I started down one street and realized I was going downhill and really didn't want to run uphill on the way back, so I turned down a side street that went uphill. I started turning on random streets and it seemed that every street I turned down went uphill.  I had decided to only do 2 miles because I just didn't want to run, but then when I needed to turn back to the park, I just kept running into roads that turned and could not get back to the main road that I knew I needed to be on.  

The other issue I was running into was the really, really dark clouds that were fast approaching overhead.  It started raining, and I just couldn't get back to my car.  The run ended up not much farther than 2 miles, 2.6miles, but it felt forever because I just kept running into roads that turned instead of go straight, where I needed to go.  I also just kept going uphill.  I'd turn and go downhill for a block and then I was going back uphill but it really felt that there were waaaayyyy more uphills than downhills. I felt like the stories our parents used to say "I walked uphill both ways to school" were true and is really possible, meanwhile the clouds just kept getting darker.  Thankfully I made it back to my car before it started raining hard.  

On my drive home it really started pouring and about 10 min after leaving thunder and lightning started.  It really was a crazy run, and then a crazy drive home.  I was really glad I got done when I did.

I have no pictures, but here is a picture of Maddox hitting a tennis ball. 😀

Nostalgia

 I decided that I wanted to put all my old runs into the Garmin app because I was getting tired of "badges" saying things like "fastest mile" or "longest run."  Although, maybe the Garmin app has a short memory because it already has my 2017 marathon in it, so 4 miles is definitely not the longest run I've done.  

Anyway, it really is fascinating and kind of cool to look at my old runs and remember what I ran, or where I was.  I've been cross-referencing some of them with my old blog posts (for example, to see why I walked 4 miles one day instead of run . . . I hurt my calf turning to talk to some guy . . . which I had completely forgotten about).  

Also, I've noticed that I was not concerned in my beginning running year(s?) about hitting the mileage mark exactly.  I plotted a route and then ran it without making sure it was exactly on the mile mark, so there are a lot of random numbers, like 3.98 miles (who runs 3.98 miles without doing the extra 0.02 mile???) and 4.68 miles.  Very strange of me, but I think it was because I was just running.  I think I started making sure to hit the mileage mark after I had been reading blogs for awhile, although, bloggers helped me start and continue running in those early days.

I also noticed that I increased my mileage and pace a lot faster than I have this last year.  I'm still logging a lot of 2 milers, 9 months into talking about increasing my mileage.  In fact, last month I only had 22 miles total. Even in March 2012, the first full month of me running, I logged 61 miles, although I was running 5-6 days a week.  I remember feeling, at that time, that if I didn't run every day I'd quit, I forced myself to take rest days.  By the end of March 2012, I was running 3 miles every day (well, two of them were 4 miles).  This last Sunday was my first 4 miler since April.  My motivation has left, or determination? Whatever, I am not forcing myself to go run, and when I do force myself, I tell myself I only have to do 2 miles, although, I have done 3 miles after telling myself I only have to do 2.

The other difference in 2012 and now is that I now live in a flat area, whereas 2012-2022 I lived in a very hilly area.  I think hills really make a difference in pace.  I quickly moved from 11 min miles to 9 min miles.  I have stayed at over 11 min miles this time around, but I have also not been pushing myself.

I used to think that I had to run the entire time, my thinking has changed and I do a lot of walk breaks.  Probably even when I don't need them.  

I am looking at half marathons again.  I totally skipped even training for the one I was thinking of doing this fall (it happened last weekend).  I actually ran part of the route yesterday, and it was really pretty, so maybe I'll keep it in mind for next year.  There's a half marathon in eastern WA that looks interesting at the end of February, so maybe.  I do want to get back into that kind of shape.  Once upon a time I was always half marathon ready and I think it'd be nice to be back to that.

Anyway, the other day (Thursday) I ran in Anacortes along a trail I didn't know existed (I don't typically even go to Anacortes except for work).  But after I ran half the trail I looked it up and found that it was the "wrong" half.  I started in town and ran through industrial waterfront, which was not scenic.  The second half runs along the Sound and even over the water at one point.  I only wanted to run 3 miles, and the entire trail is a little over 3, but I did out and back.  I only ran a mile and a half one way and had just gotten to the prettier part of the trail whne I turned around.  Next time I'll start at the other end.

Below is the part of the trail I did not run. 

Oh well, I now have several clients in Anacortes, so I will run it another day.

The Runner's Commandments

 I found this on My First 5k and More... one of the new blogs I've been reading.  Darlene posted this in 2011 and I thought it was interesting. Some guy name Joe Kelly wrote them.  I don't know who he is, I googled the name and a baseball player popped up.  

The Runner's Commandments

1. Don’t be a whiner. Nobody likes a whiner, not even other whiners.

2. Walking out the door is often the toughest part of a run.

3. Don’t make running your life. Make it part of your life.

4. During group training runs, don’t let anyone run alone.

5. Keep promises, especially ones made to yourself.

6. When doing group runs, start on time no matter who’s missing.

7. The faster you are the less you should talk about your times.

8. Keep a quarter in your pocket. One day you’ll need to call for a ride. (I don't think this applies much anymore, I think most people run with their phones, and there are no payphones anywhere that I've seen.)

9. Don’t compare yourself to other runners.

10. All runners are equal, some are just faster than others.

11. Keep in mind that the later in the day it gets, the more likely it is that you won’t run.

12. For a change of pace, get driven out and then run back.

13. If it was easy, everybody would be a runner.

14. When standing in starting lines, remind yourself how fortunate you are to be there.

15. Getting out of shape is much easier than getting into shape.

16. A bad day of running still beats a good day at work.

17. Talk like a runner. “Singlets” are worn on warm days. “Tank tops” are worn to the beach.

18. Don’t talk about your running injuries. People don’t want to hear about your sore knee or black toe.

19. Don’t always run alone.

20. Don’t always run with people.

21. Approach running as if the quality of your life depended on it.

22. No matter how slow you run it is still faster than someone sitting on a couch.

23. Keep in mind that the harder you run during training, the luckier you’ll get during racing.

24. Races aren’t just for those who can run fast.

25. There are no shortcuts to running excellence.

26. The best runs sometimes come on days when you didn’t feel like running.

27. Be modest after a race, especially if you have reason to brag.

28. If you say, “Let’s run this race together,” then you must stay with that person no matter how slow.

29. Think twice before agreeing to run with someone during a race.

30. There is nothing boring about running. There are, however, boring people who run.

31. Look at hills as opportunities to pass people.

32. Distance running is like cod liver oil. At first it makes you feel awful, then it makes you feel better.

33. Never throw away the instructions to your running watch.

34. Don’t try to outrun dogs.

35. Don’t trust runners who show up at races claiming to be tired, out of share, or not feeling well.

36. Don’t wait for perfect weather. If you do, you won’t run very often.

37. When tempted to stop being a runner, make a list of the reasons you started.

38. Never run alongside very old or very young racers. They get all of the applause.

39. Without goals, training has no purpose.

40. During training runs, let the slowest runner in the group set the pace.

41. The first year in a new age group offers the best opportunity for trophies.

42. Go for broke, but be prepared to be broken.

43. Spend more time running on the roads than sitting on the couch.

44. Make progress in your training, but progress at your own rate.

45. “Winning” means different things to different people.

46. Unless you make your living as a runner, don’t take running too seriously.

47. Runners who never fail are runners who never try anything great.

48. Never tell a runner that he or she doesn’t look good in tights.

49. Never confuse the Ben-Gay tube with the toothpaste tube.

50. Never apologize for doing the best you can.

51. Preventing running injuries is easier than curing them.

52. Running is simple. Don’t make it complicated.

53. Running is always enjoyable. Sometimes, though, the joy doesn’t come until the end of the run.

An old truck, rubbed raw, and just plain lazy.

After finding a few new blogs to get me motivated to run, I have been running more often, not more miles.  I only ran 22 miles in August, but that was after about 10 days off during and just after my vacation.  I was going to run on Saturday and Sunday this last weekend, but I didn't.  That would have put me at 27 miles for the month.  

Sunday I was just lazy.  I did nothing.  I think I only got about 2500 steps on my Garmin, that's how lazy I was.  

On Saturday my sister, Nancy, came over.  She also brought a friend who is restoring my family's 1920s Ford Model A (he owns it now).  However, he is about to move and needs someone to store it for him for awhile, Nancy volunteered my garage.  It is running and really cool, so Nancy and I got to go for a drive in it.

After the guy left, and the truck was stored, we went for lunch and then a walk . . . a really long walk.  We went out to do 3 miles.  I thought one of the routes I recently found was only 3 miles, so we went that way.  I forgot that I turn off my Garmin and walk the rest of the way and our walk ended up being about 3.75 miles.  It was long and I definitely didn't wear the right clothes, I had a rub on my inner thigh from the jeans shorts I wore.  Oops. Plus, because we didn't realize how long we'd be, we almost missed our pedicure appt. We walked for just over an hour, which is pretty good time, about 16 and a 1/2 min/mile pace.

After that I didn't feel like running but told myself it was a long weekend, so I'd just run Sunday and Monday.  And then did nothing, literally nothing, on Sunday.  Monday dawned and I still didn't go run.  I decided that I was going to watch an episode of Bachelor in Paradise. (I don't actually like The Bachelor(ette), but I do like the Paradise version . . . or did until this year, it's terrible this year.)  Anyway, I decided if I was going to watch bad TV I should do it while riding my stationary bike.  So,an hour and 20 min later, I had ridden 18 miles.  It was not a vigorous ride, simply a "move your body instead of rot on the couch" ride.

I did run 2 miles today.  I've been telling myself to just go for 2 miles and that's it, it's really the only way I've been able to get out of my house and off my butt.

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.