On Running with a Baby

I've concluded that running with a baby has to be one of the most taxing of exercises. Let's think about this for a moment. You're pushing a baby in a stroller. For me, that means a 15-pound baby, a 25-pound stroller, and a 10-pound carseat. I'll do the math for you: that's 50 pounds I'm pushing up and down hills. On top of all of the weight you're pushing, you're carrying all of the weight that's still clinging to you from being pregnant with that now 15-pound baby. (I'll spare you the details on exactly how much that still is for me.) And, if you're breastfeeding, you're also carrying along your baby's next meal.

So we've got a 50-pound load you're pushing, extra weight you're carrying from pregnancy, plus essentially a picnic for the baby strapped to your chest. And, if you're like me who barely exercised during pregnancy, you are pretty out of shape.

All of that is physically demanding and quite a workout. Now let's add in the mental workout of this situation. As you're running through your neighborhood, smiling and waving at neighbors and for the love just trying to push that dang stroller up that hill, you are also constantly aware of what your baby is doing and anticipating what your baby might need. Ok she just spit up, grab the burp cloth and wipe that nastiness off her little chin. Oh no, she's starting to fuss. Quick! put the toy snail in her hand. Ok that's not working, squeeze the snail's head a few times so it squeaks. Ok whew, she smiled. We're good.

And then, right when you've finished a couple of miles and you're starting to get a cramp in your side, the baby finally falls asleep. And so you just keep running. Because, sleeping baby. That elusive evening catnap finally won over the fussy baby and you can't stop running now. You run a couple more miles so that the baby will sleep and wake up ready to play happily during dinnertime.

And then when you put the baby down for bed that night and finally have a chance to log your exercise into your weight-loss app, you do a happy dance when you realize you have just enough calories left to treat yourself to a tiny bowl of Häagen-Dazs mint chip ice cream. And in that moment, you decide those extra miles were totally worth it.

My First Race

This past weekend I participated in my first race!  Caleb, my mom, my sister, my in-laws, and my sister-in-law all were running the 10-mile race, and somehow Caleb convinced me to sign up for the 4-miler.  I have always hated running so I just never do it.  I signed up because I hoped it would motivate me to start exercising - and it did!  I ran a few sporadic times over the summer, but since moving I've been running regularly.  So basically I trained for this race in two weeks and was not really prepared but that's okay!

The day of the race was perfect weather - it was pretty cool and very overcast.  I felt really good until I got to the first big hill, so I just decided I would walk all of the hills.  I think I ended up running half, maybe a little more than half of it. At one point a little kid with a cast on his arm passed me.  And then the arthritic old grandpa who was hunched over passed me.  But I didn't really care because I was out there doing something I never thought I would do!  

When I was close to finishing I saw Caleb on his way back!  I knew I wasn't going to be able to make it back to his finish line to watch him finish, so I was really excited that we at least got to see each other running and cheer for each other.  Close to the finish line my dad, my sister and her husband, and all my nieces and nephew were waiting to watch me finish!  That was seriously the most motivating part of the whole race!  I ended up finishing in 48:27, but since I walked about half of it I was pretty happy with that.

Caleb ran the ten-miler in 1:15 which I think is great!  He beat his goal which he was really happy with. Everyone in our group finished and did a great job!  It's really motivating for me to watch my mom and my mother-in-law run ten miles.  I don't know very many women in their 50s who run, let alone ten miles!

I don't think I can say running the race was fun, but I am very glad that I did it.  It's a good feeling to do something you never thought you would, and I'm glad that it pushed me to start running!

How was your weekend?