Day 49: Challenges

Pushing the jogging stroller over the soft dirt trail is a struggle sometimes. Especially for three miles.

This afternoon, the load felt heavier than ever. I wanted to break free. To pump my arms. But I was bound by the BOB.

T Junior went to his 15-month check up on Monday and we found out he weighs 24 pounds. That’s how much I’m pushing, plus the weight of the jogging stroller. That doesn’t add much, but I’d say I’m running behind at least 30 pounds. The wheels and momentum probably cut that down quite a bit.

Tires on dirt and tires on pavement are so different, though. I may have to start driving to the paved trail. It’s not far, just a hassle that makes getting to my workouts even more challenging.

And another thing. I have not yet replaced my busted pump, so one tire is much squishier than the other. This makes the stroller constantly roll to the right. The upside? My right bicep is going to be huge.

And then there was this: T Junior wriggled a lot in his seat during today’s workout. So, the BOB was jerking around all over the place. Despite all this, we had some fun. Especially, when it started raining.

I’d noticed a few drops before we left the house, but I thought the weather was bluffing. Luckily, I brought the cover for T Junior because it did, in fact, begin to drizzle. Big drops, too. It wasn’t cold. I was in a tank top and my Adidas capris, and T Junior was even wearing shorts.

He thought the rain cover was great. I could tell because he was laughing and poking at the plastic window and kicking it and generally waving his arms around. But then the coolness wore off at around 1.75 miles. He started whining and squirming. I think mostly because he couldn’t see out the sides.

I was trying to ignore him, but each high-pitched complaint was making my blood pressure spike. Good thing I brought the trusty package of Ritz.

“Would you like a cracker?” I managed to get out between breaths.

“Curcur?”

I slipped one through the back opening of the bright yellow cover. We did the cracker dance almost all the way to my finish line: the manhole cover near the park.

Me handing T Junior his “curcur” on Wednesday.

I still have to do my strength exercises for the day, except for situps. I did those before we left. I only did 45, though, because I did them on the floor with three boxers in my face and one toddler trying to swing his leg over me for a horsey ride.

Before that, I did some jumping jacks (those are not nearly as easy as they used to be, by the way) prior to stretching. T Junior stretched with me (“stetch!”), copying a couple of my poses. He even showed Dada the calf stretch when he got home.

I don’t mean to complain about taking T Junior with me. It definitely makes things interesting. On Sunday morning, we’ll be running four miles with my friend Heather and her son, J. Better bring extra crackers.