Jogging with Children

My children are not children anymore, but now budding teenagers.  But when they were children, I don’t know where I would have been without my jogging stroller.  Being an active runner, I came up with many creative ideas on how to get my running workouts in.  One of my favorites was heading to the track.  The long jumping pit served as a sandbox for the kids to play in, or they would ride around the track on their 3-wheelers and later graduated to the two wheel bicycles and they would ride loops around me.  Although the scenery was the same and could get pretty boring at times, it still allowed me to get my runs in.  But I think that I would have been “dead in the water” without my jogging stroller.  The kids loved it, the fresh air blowing in their face and the scenery was forever changing. 

Today there are many brands of jogging strollers. Jogging strollers usually have a basic model or with an assortment of features.  I must admit, when I was running with my kids, my jogging stroller didn’t have many bells and whistles, other than a brake and it packed up really nicely.  However, because of their popularity and the competition, there are many choices of jogging strollers to choose from. With the past experience that I’ve had, if I was in the market today, a few features that I would look for are:

• Make sure there is a sturdy seat belt that wraps around your baby’s waist and between his/her legs and shoulder straps are essential.
• Check that the hand brakes grip the tires easily and effectively.
• Make sure the stroller does not collapse too easily. It should have an easy to use locking mechanism and be easy to maneuver in a straight line.  However, it is a nice feature to have a stroller that folds up nicely.
• The handle height should be waist level or slightly below.
• An adjustable (and removable) canopy is essential, especially if you live in a rainy climate.

Today my “teenagers” are very active in sports.  They run, swim, compete in triathlons, play a multitute of team sports and they love it.  They are so proud of their sporting abilities and this contributes so much to their positive self-image.  I often think that because we introduced them into the running and triathlon world at such an early age and continually throughout their lives what a major role this has played on their involvement and enjoyment in sports.

Vancouver Sun Run

[photopress:tri.jpg,thumb,alignleft]I have been running now for over 20 years and love it. In the past I have led Sun Run training groups and have shared so many tears of joy with Sun Run participants who achieve goals that they never thought possible. My greatest “Sun Run” joy was training my 12 year old daughter to run the Sun Run in 2005. After the initial excitement of signing up, she experienced days of frustration and disappointments even to the point of giving up the training and not wanting to participate. However, she made it to the starting gate, got caught up in all the mass excitement and ran the whole Sun Run in just over an hour. I have never seen her so proud of her abilities as when she ran through that finish line and we shared our greatest tears of joy. She has already entered for Sun Run 2006 - with confidence!

Is your child a runner?  If so, I would like to share a few tips that I feel are important if you are going to train with your child.
1.  Make sure your child has appropriate running shoes.
2.  Let your child drive the running program - not you.  It is important that they have fun!
3.  Children need to drink water every 10-15 minutes when exercising.  Either run on routes that have plenty of opportunities for water.  My daughter likes to run with her camelback.  It also makes a great diversion from the actual run, when she has something else to fool around with.
4.  Watch the temperature - your child is more susceptible to extreme temperatures then you are.