Camping
We went camping this weekend, only the second whole-family trip of the year, the first being about two weeks ago. And this time, by "whole family", I mean almost my husband's WHOLE FAMILY. Two out of three sisters, six out of ten nieces/nephews, both parents, a couple of extra friends along for the ride. We tend to vacation in a pack.
We camped at Eldon Hazlet State Park on Carlyle Lake. Jeff went up on Thursday to make sure that we had campsites together, since in years past the park has been packed on weekends. Especially glorious weekends, as this one was. Suprisingly, here's what the park looked like this morning, though.
There were lots of campers in the campground, but I've never seen this many empty sites here on a summer weekend. Ever.
We weren't complaining, though. We had a nice little area for the five pop-ups in our group.
View of the lake from our campsite.
Home, sweet home, all set up.
Jeff came home on Friday and picked up the boys and me. It was definitely nice getting to just show up and have all the work done! I had made taco meat the night before, so all I had to do was heat it up for dinner once we got there.
I took a quick bike ride on my father-in-law's bike Friday evening to scout out the 4-mile loop I'd be running twice the next morning. I had mapped it out online, but I wanted to make sure I knew where I was going. It felt great to be on a bike again, but the clouds of bugs I had to ride through were awful. Any time I opened my mouth I got a mouthful (ugh!!), and since it was almost dark and I couldn't wear sunglasses, I ended up with one in my eye. The gps on my phone didn't drop any of the ride, though, and confirmed the distance for me.
We got to hang around the campfire and make s'mores, and the kids caught some good-sized frogs near the camper.
We let them go once we were ready to go to bed.
Saturday morning I set my alarm for 7 and got up for my scheduled 8-mile run. Last week's 8-miler had a rough ending. Well, slow. That last mile and a half hurt, and I was really doubting that I'd be ready to run the HM on Oct. 3. This week went much better.
My phone's gps let me down (maybe it was being shoved in my sports bra that hampered its reception? lol), so I was really glad I'd checked it ahead of time. Since I couldn't remember where the miles were, I just ran my loop. On the first pass around, I took my dog, and he pulled me the whole time. I dropped him at the camper after 4 miles and headed out again.
As I passed the 6-mile range, I started wondering when it was going to hit. It was at about 6.5 miles last week that I kind of fell apart. This time, though, I felt OK. The last mile was a little tougher, but it was nothing compared to last week. And the time proved it: 1:17...8 minutes faster than the same distance last week. 9:35 pace, which is awesome for me on any kind of distance. :) Very exciting. Of course, I wasn't supposed to be running fast, but I wasn't really trying to run fast. I was just out there, running.
After breakfast, we headed to the lake to swim and play.
Well, the kids swam. I took a nap on the beach while Jeff got in the water. I did get up later to play soccer on the beach, though, so I wasn't a complete slug.
After lunch, my sister-in-law and I took the kids up the the campground pool while Jeff and another sister went fishing. The water felt great...and I needed to get in there just to get a little cleaned up from the run and the beach! We had supper and then more s'mores around the campfire, and then I was beat.
J. woke up at 7, and Jeff put in a movie to watch with him. I ended up taking the dog for a walk. It was gorgeous this morning!
We went for a hike this afternoon. The park's trails are flat, mowed trails. Not my favorite type to hike, but better than nothing. They were really calling to me, though, as I ran yesterday. I was really tempted to take off down one of the trails, but since I had no idea on their distance I passed.
My unwilling hiker
The above trail was a pretty short one to a small fishing lake where much of the family was fishing.
Fishing derby
Spectating with the pup
Love the cattails
We hiked one other trail while J. stayed back with his grandpa. He'd made the first hike unpleasant enought, and grandpa offered.
Frankly, this trail was pretty boring, so we headed back to the camper for a quick lunch and to pack up.
J (in orange shirt) and his cousin A. played some catch while we did the parts he couldn't help with. A. plays baseball and was very patient with J, who's not much in the catching department. He started to do a little better towards the end. After packing up, we had a quick family game of whiffleball and then headed home. We definitely packed a lot into the weekend.
Even the dog was beat!
We camped at Eldon Hazlet State Park on Carlyle Lake. Jeff went up on Thursday to make sure that we had campsites together, since in years past the park has been packed on weekends. Especially glorious weekends, as this one was. Suprisingly, here's what the park looked like this morning, though.
There were lots of campers in the campground, but I've never seen this many empty sites here on a summer weekend. Ever.
We weren't complaining, though. We had a nice little area for the five pop-ups in our group.
View of the lake from our campsite. Home, sweet home, all set up.Jeff came home on Friday and picked up the boys and me. It was definitely nice getting to just show up and have all the work done! I had made taco meat the night before, so all I had to do was heat it up for dinner once we got there.
I took a quick bike ride on my father-in-law's bike Friday evening to scout out the 4-mile loop I'd be running twice the next morning. I had mapped it out online, but I wanted to make sure I knew where I was going. It felt great to be on a bike again, but the clouds of bugs I had to ride through were awful. Any time I opened my mouth I got a mouthful (ugh!!), and since it was almost dark and I couldn't wear sunglasses, I ended up with one in my eye. The gps on my phone didn't drop any of the ride, though, and confirmed the distance for me.
We got to hang around the campfire and make s'mores, and the kids caught some good-sized frogs near the camper.
We let them go once we were ready to go to bed.Saturday morning I set my alarm for 7 and got up for my scheduled 8-mile run. Last week's 8-miler had a rough ending. Well, slow. That last mile and a half hurt, and I was really doubting that I'd be ready to run the HM on Oct. 3. This week went much better.
My phone's gps let me down (maybe it was being shoved in my sports bra that hampered its reception? lol), so I was really glad I'd checked it ahead of time. Since I couldn't remember where the miles were, I just ran my loop. On the first pass around, I took my dog, and he pulled me the whole time. I dropped him at the camper after 4 miles and headed out again.
As I passed the 6-mile range, I started wondering when it was going to hit. It was at about 6.5 miles last week that I kind of fell apart. This time, though, I felt OK. The last mile was a little tougher, but it was nothing compared to last week. And the time proved it: 1:17...8 minutes faster than the same distance last week. 9:35 pace, which is awesome for me on any kind of distance. :) Very exciting. Of course, I wasn't supposed to be running fast, but I wasn't really trying to run fast. I was just out there, running.
After breakfast, we headed to the lake to swim and play.
Well, the kids swam. I took a nap on the beach while Jeff got in the water. I did get up later to play soccer on the beach, though, so I wasn't a complete slug.
After lunch, my sister-in-law and I took the kids up the the campground pool while Jeff and another sister went fishing. The water felt great...and I needed to get in there just to get a little cleaned up from the run and the beach! We had supper and then more s'mores around the campfire, and then I was beat.
J. woke up at 7, and Jeff put in a movie to watch with him. I ended up taking the dog for a walk. It was gorgeous this morning!
We went for a hike this afternoon. The park's trails are flat, mowed trails. Not my favorite type to hike, but better than nothing. They were really calling to me, though, as I ran yesterday. I was really tempted to take off down one of the trails, but since I had no idea on their distance I passed.
My unwilling hikerThe above trail was a pretty short one to a small fishing lake where much of the family was fishing.
Fishing derby Spectating with the pup Love the cattailsWe hiked one other trail while J. stayed back with his grandpa. He'd made the first hike unpleasant enought, and grandpa offered.
Frankly, this trail was pretty boring, so we headed back to the camper for a quick lunch and to pack up.
J (in orange shirt) and his cousin A. played some catch while we did the parts he couldn't help with. A. plays baseball and was very patient with J, who's not much in the catching department. He started to do a little better towards the end. After packing up, we had a quick family game of whiffleball and then headed home. We definitely packed a lot into the weekend.
Even the dog was beat!
What an awesome weekend!
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the how it goes...when you just run to run- you run so much faster and better. Great job!