Running again

Here is evidence that I am not the most compulsive runner out there. But I do love to run. Having a baby is an amazing experience, but it takes a while to start feeling like yourself again- physically and emotionally. Every time, getting back to running is what gets me back to being me. Last week my mom bought me a used Dreamer Design I had found on craigslist as an early Christmas present. I used to have a double Dreamer Design when we lived in Seattle. I got it when Brigham was a few months old, on the day that Eric started teaching early morning seminary. Almost every morning for the next two years, I pushed the boys up the big hill to the blessedly flat Burke Gillman trail. On the way up I would talk to them, listen to their quirky little observations, unwrap packages of crackers, etc. But when we got to the trail I put my earphones in and they knew that "mama can't hear you now because she's running".

If one of them dropped a toy I would pick it up once. If they dropped it again it was lost to the trail. Once Brigham kicked a shoe off and I didn't notice it until we got home. I loved those shoes. When Eric had worn them he'd kicked one off into the fish ladder at the Ballard locks and a worker had to retrieve it from amongst the salmon it with a long-handled net. I looked for the shoe on the trail everyday for a week. I finally gave up and threw away the other shoe, and the very next day I saw the match while driving to a friend's house- he had kicked it off on the bridge over Sandpoint Way and it had fallen onto a bush next to the road.

If they cried or screamed to get out of the stroller, I turned up the volume on my ipod. Many a disapproving stranger stared me down as I ran along, earphones in place, volume all the way up, smile on my face, while both children screamed and kicked their legs for all they were worth. Once or twice I almost didn't have the energy to push that load for five miles, and that's when I would think of my hero- triple jogging stroller lady. Somewhere in Seattle lives a woman with a set of twins and an older child that she pushes in a triple jogger- while running. Wow, is all I can say!

Mostly, though, they were good times out on the trail. The boys were content to watch for bizarre sights like the guy who rode a two story bike (two frames welded together, one on top of the other). How he got on and off, I still don't know. And the one-legged cyclist, another of my inspirations. We even trained for a marathon with that stroller (minus the long runs- I'm not that hardcore).

So as I begin a new jogging stroller era with my little Marley B., I wonder what strange sights we'll see, what great feats we'll accomplish, and what beloved articles of clothing we'll lose....