As probably all new parents have discovered, car ride and hum of a busy road during stroll are the most effective natural sedatives for babies. Going for a walk is of course vital, as they need to get some fresh air, also it calms them down and usually sends of to sleep fairly quickly. And for that reason walk is a must in our case, as Joseph sleeps longer than 20 minutes only outside. Noise of the road and rocking of the pram carries him off right into Morpheus arms in no time. The problem is that being out for 2 hours would be a pleasure in May, but in January it can become a real torture, especially that you have to repeat it every day. Rain, snow, frozen hands, wind pushing me with such force I almost fly away with pram and with my inside out umbrella. No thank you, I think I’ll pass. Well, sorry but you can’t. At first I tried to escape from this dounting walk duty and I’d been hiding in a shopping centres, but deception was uncovered immediately, and my son was signalling with high notes screams he won’t be fooled like that and no way he’ll sleep anymore. When I almost resigned myself to those depressing autumn / winter walks, I had a stroke of genius one day. I bought a running stroller – I’ve been running for years and really missed it after I had Joseph, so I decided to try how it would be to run together.
I’ve got bugaboo cameleon, so just bought bugaboo running chassis, which is compatible with bugaboo seats. I’ve not tried any other running stroller but I think this one is great. It’s very stable, glides on the surface, feels more like flying rather than running (on a good day, when I’m not dead tired 🙂 ) the wheels are like bike’s wheels and, if pumped well (pump is included), cushion most of the bumps, but still you need to remember to choose a route with a good even surface so that baby is comfortable during ride. Another similarity with bikes is horiontal hand brake, located just under the handle, which is very easy to pull when you need to stop suddenly. There is also regular brake, like in all pushchairs. To make ride more secure we can use wrist strap (which are standard feature in all bugaboos), to make sure pushchair won’t roll away if we accidentally let go of it. Only thing you need that isn’t included are adapters, which allow you to fix the seat in and change position from sitting to lying down, when your little one is sleepeng, and from back to front facing, if he decides it’s time for a bit of sightseeing 🙂
Before you start running just remember about couple of things. The wheels in bugaboo runner (and other runners as well) won’t turn, they’re not manouverable and can only go straight, that’s why you are able to keep straight line while running. If you want to turn you need to press the handle down and lift the pushchair, that’s why it’s best to find route that goes straight, because stopping all the time to turn is really annoying and makes you loose your pace. I always aim to go for a run when Joseph is tired, fed and ready for nap, if he has too much energy he might be rebellious and not happy with being strapped in a pushchair for long. It’s best not to go too far at first, to see how your baby reacts and also how you find it, because there is a difference between running solo and having to push big stroller with a couple of kilograms load in it. I was afraid I won’t like not being able to move my arms, but it turned out it didn’t bother me at all, and the run feels really comfortable.
In autumn and winter you can put raincover over the pushchair so that wind doesn’t blow directly in baby’s face, I also take 2 toys and a snack for him in case he wakes up earlier (I run for 1,5 hour), additional blanket in case it was colder than I thought, and phone and water for me. You can put it all in the basket underneath, that also has elastic bands to ensure things stay in place.
What do I think about our running together after a couple of months? It was one of my best ideas ever. Since I replaced walks with running my life has completely changed (how serious that sounds:). I can carry on with my pre pregnancy hobby while looking at the baby at the same time, isn’t that just brilliant? Life with baby means that you get 1% of time for yourself out of 24 hours, so since I started running with my son I feel as if I got a gift of time, which is absolutely priceless to me. It is a blessing for my head, wind refreshes my mind, I breath deeply, the whirlwind of my thoughts is going away and they all find their place, like neatly folded clothes in a wardrobe. Despite sleep deprivation and tiredness I come back home after run full of energy, high on endorphines, with newly found strength to face washing machine, mount everest of dirty dishes, vacuum cleaner and other domestic monsters 🙂 We run almost every day, it’s our special time when we both get what we want. Joseph falls asleep at once and I just run, I do what I love, I am myself.
What remains 