the mama's way to shave those mile times...

After my youngest son was born, I decided that I would start running again. Since I had two babies that I had to take care of and I didn't want that to be an excuse for me to not run, my husband and I decided that we would spend $550 on a Bob Revolution Dualie Stroller. It was spendy and a tough decision, but in the end it was probably one of the best baby purchases we have made to date. The stroller has large wheels, so running with it is an absolute breeze. That first summer, the boys and I just ran all over town. I would figure out my runs so that we would finish at the park so I could feed Austin and Aidan could play on the slide or swing. It was great. I also think it helped kick-start me into fitness, as the stroller with both of the boys weighed about 60 pounds. Once I started running without the stroller, my mile times really improved. I loved the Bob Duallie!

Now, fast forward two years.  The stroller weighs the same, but each of my boys is now about 30 pounds. That makes my stroller, with both boys inside, 95 pounds! And just so you get an accurate picture of how heavy this is...I weight about 120 pounds. OMG that is one tough run! The unfortunate thing (for me) is that the boys love going running in the stroller. And, why shouldn't they? They have done it for the last two years now. That is kind of our thing; we even have a usual running path and landmarks that we look for, like the snail mailbox and the big rock. The boys sit and visit with me the whole time, and it's really just good, quality time for us.

I fear, however, that my days of running with the boys is almost at an end. After running 3.5 miles pushing them last night, my back is horribly stiff. Where it used to be so easy to turn the corners and steer with one hand, now that I have 95 pounds in front of me, we don't corner on quite the rail we used to, and my poor, little wrist can't handle balancing all of that weight. I don't know how I'm going to break it to them. I will just have to get up early and get my runs out of the way before they get up.  Or, maybe the stroller should meet with an unfortunate accident. At any rate...I bet I shaved some seconds off my mile times last night.