Before I was even pregnant, I knew I wanted to be a stroller running mom (obviously!). I knew that the BOB was the one, top of the line, MUST-HAVE running stroller. After all, my sister is Lindsey (queen of pregnant and mother running!)

So I put it on my baby shower registry not thinking I would get one but sort of my hoping my mom would come through for me. I figured if not, I would try to find a used one.

Well — my friends know me well! They came together and all put in to get me a brand new, BOB running stroller. I was excited but then realized you weren’t allowed to run with the babies in them till they were much older than newborn. There is an addition you can add to use a car seat insert, but I never got around to getting it.

Long story short, I finally started running with it last week. Jacob is close to 6 months old, has pretty good head control and we were ready to try it out. We packed him in there with plenty of blankets and did a test run walk/jog. Now I’ve done it four times and here’s what I’ve learned so far!

The Good: Those legs are gonna get an extra good workout! Now that I’m not pumping my arms, it’s clear my legs are doing a lot more work. Also — hello core! You have to stabilize yourself and those abs are moving back and forth much more. You’re also obviously pushing a load so that’s more work for your total body. Add in a few hills? Whew boy, that’s gonna getcha. I went up two huge hills my first day and the next day my inner upper thighs felt amazing (sore but in the good way.)

More good? Jacob immediately conks out so it can be used as naptime so easily. It’s nice because on the weekends, I can take him with me if Rick is busy and still get my workout in. And Jacob really seems to enjoy it. He can see everything and never fusses at all. It’s convenient and so crazy smooth. Everyone was right — the BOB is amazing on all terrains I’ve been on so far (trail, sidewalks, street). I’m sure I will get plenty of good use.

ALSO: It has a great overhead piece that folds out three different ways so if the sun is shining bright, you can keep it out of their eyes. There’s also a piece of material covering a transparent part on the top so you can look down while you’re running & make sure they’re doing okay.

The Bad: It’s really hard! Oh my gosh, stroller running is SO much harder to me. My arms started cramping a little and I still haven’t figured out if I should use both hands or one. I can’t imagine doing really long runs with this thing, but I know my sister and others have done 20-milers with the stroller before. If I train for a marathon anytime in the near future, I may have to get tough. It’s not quite as freeing as regular running. You know that, “I’m running, I feel amazing!” feeling? I haven’t quite been getting that. But it’s okay, I will get used to it.

The Ugly: Not really ugly — more like funny. So I wear my Garmin fitness tracker most everyday and rely on it to track my distance when I go running. Well, while running with the stroller, I didn’t realize that it wouldn’t be able to track my distance correctly since my arm wasn’t moving much. So the first couple times I went out, I was like — wow! I can’t believe I’ve barely gone any distance at all, why isn’t this thing moving? I thought I must have been going way slower than I realized. Just this morning I realized…duh, Ericka, if your arm isn’t moving it can’t track you! So the times I went out thinking I ran 2.5 miles were probably at least a mile more than that. So now I’m gonna have to wear it on my ankle or get an actual distance tracker.

So I have found a few places I like to run around here but so far am not finding a good place to do a long out and back. My favorite thing to do is go a long distance one way and come back so I have no choice but to finish. Otherwise, it’s too easy to quit or feel discouraged at how far you’ve gone. Here, I keep running into dead ends or places where you can’t get past the busy road. It may take a little more exploring to find the paths that will work for longer distance.

Finally, I ran longer than 6 miles (has been my cap post partum for the most part) and it felt great. 3 miles of that was with stroller. I feel confident that I will be able to do a half marathon without feeling like death soon. I wish I had gotten my act together to run the mini-marathon this past weekend but…whatever! This area has so many races. There’s a half coming up nearby on both May 21 and May 28th — okay I’m gonna do one of those!

Love my shirt from Refresh Attire!