Running with the baby
As a Hanukkah / Christmas / Jeff’s Birthday gift to ourselves, we bought a nice running stroller so that Esme can enjoy one of our hobbies. Sure, it wasn’t cheap, though we figure it’s an investment in our health and will set Esme on the right track. Plus, with both of us planning on running the Half Marathon in April, it will make training much much easier.
We’ve taken Esme on several walks and jogs so far, though on Saturday Jeff took her on her first real race. (Leslie was going to join them, though she had a rough Friday night with Esme and wasn’t feeling too great.) The Frostbite Series is organized by the St. Louis Track Club and consists of a handful of races during the cold cold winter months. Despite the weather, and the start time (9am on a Saturday morning), several hundred people braved the cold for a nice 4-mile run through Forest Park (there was a half-marathon for the more adventurous).
True to the name it was cold — we didn’t realize until later that it was -2F with the wind chill when the race officially started! (That probably explains why no one else decided to run with their baby…) Luckily, Esme was bundled up very well — a full-body sleeper, then her full-body fleece outerwear (with hood), all bundled up inside a fleece Bundleme, and then protected by the awning on the jogging stroller. Jeff, well, he didn’t realize exactly how cold it was, and while most of his body stayed warm, the wind definitely gave his face a bit of a shock.
Esme slept for the first 3 miles of the race, then cried like crazy for the last mile. That turned out to be a good motivating factor for Jeff, though, as he sprinted most of that last mile to get Esme inside and out of the stroller. While his time wasn’t up to the pace he was hoping, considering that he was pushing a stroller, it wasn’t too shabby. Andrew joined Jeff for the race — his first! — and put in a good time as well. Despite the cold and wind, everything turned out well in the end, with neither Esme nor Jeff getting too cold or sick (and actually even maybe feeling a bit better after).
Sure, it was not fun being out in the cold, nor getting up and out of the house that early on a Saturday, though it was worth it. There’s one more Frostbite Series run in a few weeks, and hopefully the whole family will be out for that one as well.
Esme bundled in the jogging stroller
January 25th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
I have never heard of a bLundleme…I know of bundleme’s…j/k! Sounds like a fun weekend though.
January 25th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Thanks, I just fixed that typo. Hmm, maybe the windchill did effect me more than I realized…