a blessing and a curse

My jogging stroller.

Oh man, I'm so grateful for it, but it's SO hard to run with. Even Leslie (my running buddy who sadly just moved away) who pushes a jogging stroller, too, thinks mine is really hard to push. Every time I run with it, I try to decide whether it's a blessing or a curse to my poor body. Usually "curse" wins. :)

This past week (last Thursday?), I ran a 10K distance for the first time in my life!

6.2 miles.

And I ran it WITH A JOGGING STROLLER.

I was so proud of myself, I almost jumped up and down and shouted out loud as I crossed my imaginary finish line by my mailbox. However, I think our neighbors probably think we're already weird enough (we don't drink???), so I figured I wouldn't give them any more reasons to question our sanity. But holy moly, I was excited. Never mind it took me seriously an hour and a half. I was just so happy to have completed that. I was shooting for 6 miles to begin with, but after about 3.5 miles, I was done. So I decided that I'd run as long as Jaden was being good, and as soon as he started getting restless, I'd stop. Yeah, that well-behaved kid made me run the whole stinking distance. He sure knows how to challenge his mom, in a good way of course :).

Anyway, I'm hoping that running with a jogging stroller will help me over prepare for the race I have coming up, so I don't crash and burn. I'm more than a little worried about it, but I know that running is totally psychological, so I'm just pretending like I'm ready. Hopefully it works.

Also, on a totally vain note, I decided that for a boost for each race I run, I'm going to buy something new to wear for it. For my 5K in July it was new shorts. This time I got a moisture wicking technical t-shirt. Holy moly, those shirts changed my life, especially because of how humid it is out here. I sweat SO bad in regular t-shirts and finally Leslie let me have one of hers to try and seriously I don't think I can ever go back. Oh the things you learn as a new little runner :). So for date night I made Steve take me out to the outlets and I picked out a new shirt at the Nike store. Bright pink. So yeah, I know that sounds funny and vain, but it makes me feel legit, so I don't care. Plus Steve agreed that it was a good reward for training so hard.

Rock on.

Oh and a bonus about the jogging stroller?

Totally giving me the best arm workout ever, as well.

That monster is seriously both a blessing and a curse.