Now Im not sure if I’m the only one with this internal complex that I had to battle when my son was born in February. I still want to get my runs in and train while mom is off at work and its just me and the little guy. I would like to think of myself as a “Mans Man” (Bearded and tattooed) but still struggled with the idea of purchasing a jogging stroller. During the baby shower I was talking with my wife’s cousin who suggested the BOB stroller and told me he gets all kinds of positive attention as a man handling is fatherly duties and getting a run in. At that baby shower we received a $500 Toys-r-us gift card, and thats when I really looked into buying a stroller.
My situation is a bit different than most, I work graveyards and am on daddy duty while my wife works a 9-5 type job. So in order to get my runs in while she works I would have to bring little man along. My two older daughters are off in school most the day leaving me and my son time to bond in these early years. I have very limited free time in this season of life, and really just want to keep this one hobby alive even if its just small runs 2-3 times a week. Im still somewhat young at 31 and know that I can really tackle some running goals in 5 years or so when he is off to school leaving me with more free time to train.
So I went on the hunt looking for strollers not caring about what it might do to my manhood. I was surprised by the selection of strollers out there. Some strollers you can actually attach the car seat into until the baby is sitting up on its own, but i was told its probably a bad idea to have a very young baby out like that. We decided on the Jeep brand stroller with a fixed front wheel, and waited till he was about 5 months before trying it out. It actually supports up to 40lbs and has some nice features.
Timing couldn’t have been better, by the time he was ready to ride out on to the local greenway it was late spring and the weather was beautiful. I have had nothing but positive attention and no one has questioned my manhood, actually I think it might be the opposite where people recognize that real manhood lies in family first. We have logged about 70 miles together since I started using it about 4 months ago, and will tell you its a nice change of pace workout. Pushing that bad boy slows me down by about a minute a mile since its added weight and the periodical stops to check the fussy baby. Most the time he falls asleep and for the most part loves being out running. Its a bummer that the winter gets a little rough for an infant so I will have to pack it away till next spring, but having that option really helped me in getting some runs in when mom was at work. Having a jogging stroller worked out perfect for me to get my shorter runs in, and I think may build into a solid foundation for my sons running career in the future!
