The truth about jogging with a stroller

Most of the time I will mention off-hand "Oh, I ran 4 miles with the baby and dog today" or input it on Daily Mile without any commentary on how the run actually went. I was thinking during my run yesterday that it would be funny to explain in detail how it actually is to run with a baby and a dog.

I know I've talked about fast runs with the stroller, but that is the exception to the overall trend. I don't even normally take my Garmin because it drives me nuts to see my pace when I'm pushing the stroller (even though I know it slows everyone down). I took my Garmin with me yesterday (and I didn't even pause it when I had to stop to retrieve thrown toys), just because I wanted to shed some light on how it normally goes down:

Pre-run: Get the baby out of her crib, dressed and fed. Gave the dog her medication, but no breakfast because the little fattie is on a diet. Get myself dressed while dodging a clingy, teething baby. Load up a little container of Teddy Grahams, strap the kid into the stroller and leash up the dog.

Mile 1: 9:29
Thoughts along the way: 

• Holy crap I'm stiff. I'm not as young as I used to be.
• 80% humidity is a bitch
• Starting my run on an uphill is just mean.
• Man, that kid really likes her Teddy Grahams

Mile 2: 9:23

Thoughts along the way:

• It's a good thing the baby isn't old enough to ask me why I'm breathing so loudly.
• Are the stroller brakes on? Why is this so hard?
• Hurry up dog, we aren't out here for sniffs and giggles!
• Oh good, we hit the end of the road and now we're homeward bound!

Mile 3: 10:40

Thoughts along the way:

• Oh shit, we're out of Teddy Grahams. 
• Hey kid, stop trying to escape the stroller straps!
• Peanut, WHY are you pooping in the middle of the road instead of the grass? WHY?
• I should have brought more Teddy Grahams.

Last .5 mile: 10:56 pace

Thoughts along the way:

• I can barely breathe in this humidity, there is NO way I'm pushing this thing up that ginormous hill.
• Did a second kid hop in there too? Why does this feel so heavy to push?
• Peanut, you are a lazy bitch.
• Downhill to the house, wheeeeee!

I came inside, drenched with sweat from the humidity, and handed Faith off to my husband and I went downstairs to finish my run on the treadmill to make it an even 5 miles. Running unencumbered on the treadmill in the AC felt wonderful.

Now, I didn't share this to try to scare anyone off from stroller running, I wanted people to know that it's hard, but it's not your fault that it's hard. You're not out of shape and you're not a bad runner. It's just HARD. But if you do it often, then when you run alone you feel like a gazelle on the African plains in comparison. 

So if you see a woman running often with a jogging stroller and then you line up next to her at a 5K and she's running alone? Watch out. :)

I actually made this one, I feel fancy

Exciting race news: I got a note in the mail yesterday that my entry packet for the JFK 50 mile race was accepted!

Yes, those are cookies underneath. I'm carb loading early.

I was so excited to get this, especially since I was told this race was hard to get into (that's what she said), but I'm also a little like "I'm NUTS. Who runs for 11 hours??" This is a really cool video of the race course and gives you an idea of how far 50 miles really is:

JFK 50 Updated 10/2 from The Endurables on Vimeo.

I'm sure that "Oh man, what I have done" feeling is a sign of a good time to come. At least I won't be running the 50 miles pushing a stroller, right? :)

Do you mentally curse a lot when you exercise? I mentally (and sometimes out loud) swear like a sailor when I'm running.

Also, do you think this is as funny as me? I freaking love the internet.