Strollerderby : jogging

Pregnant Women Compete in Marathon

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:50:00 GMT

Meet the Speed Bumps: a relay team of five women who are planning to beat the pants of off their competition in Ohio’s Road Runner Akron Marathon.

The only difference between this team and their 10,000 or so competitors is that the Speed Bumps will all be running for two. All five women are in or nearing their third trimester, with Kimberly Bucey (pictured) the farthest along at eight months.

All of the women got the OK from their doctors before agreeing to compete, but some of their husbands are nervous nonetheless. Naturally, the key to healthy exercise during pregnancy is to listen to your body’s cues (for instance, if you can’t catch your breath, your baby may not be getting enough oxygen), and this may be harder to do when you’re competing.

But the Speed Bumps are marathon buffs who are thrilled to be able to keep running during their pregnancies, and are confident they can do so in a healthy manner. “It’s great to keep running because it’s great to stay in shape,” said Monica Nowac, one of the Speed Bumps. “And it’s great to spread the word about staying in shape while you’re pregnant. To think anything else is simply archaic at this point.”

What do you think? Is "spreading the word" about exercise during pregnancy a laudable goal, or are those nine months when staying in shape should be the last thing you're worried about?

Photo: Ohio.com

Weekly Check-Up: Five Ways to Exercise With Kids

Kelly Mills — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:29:00 GMT

With all the news reports about childhood obesity and the sedentary lifestyles of kids, there's usually some plug for getting your kids off the couch and into some form of physical activity. This has not been a problem (so far) at my house, because I have a highly active child. My theory as to why? Exercise is a huge part of our family life. I report this without righteousness because for most of my life, I avoided physical activity, and thought I was a total shlump. It wasn't until after my child was born that I fell in love with fitness. Now here's five ways we work physical activity into our lives.

1. Take the baby out. I started my fitness endeavors in a simple way: My infant cried unless the person holding her was moving. So I was forced from the get-go to put her in a front pack and walk outside. I started opting for hills on my walks, and eventually graduated to running with her in a jogging stroller. Basically her colicky nature helped get me fit.

2. Be your own mode of transportation. When my child went to daycare, I put her in the stroller and ran the two miles to the sitter's house. Then I ran home. For preschool I put her in a bike trailer and rode ten miles to school, then a few more to get to work. Yep, this meant I had to get up extra early, I had to change in the bathroom at my job, and I was kinda sweaty at my desk. You know what? Still worth it, because it made me active.

3. Tag-team. When the kid was old enough to go to the park on weekends, my partner and I would bring her to a park with a track. He'd hang with her for a while so I could do laps, then it would be his turn. When I played with my daughter I'd do sprints--also known as "tag"--and give her piggyback rides and wrestle in the grass. Beats a thighmaster session any day. You can also work this deal out with another parent if your partner isn't on board.

4. Shared sports. My partner enrolled my child in the same martial art he enjoys, and now coaches the kids' class. He reports that coaching can be a good way to participate and improve in an activity yourself. I've also taken classes that met at the same time as some class my kid was enrolled in. It's a good way to share the love of a pursuit. I even bring her to the gym I work at from time to time and we mess around with the "toys" there. We have a pull up bar in our doorway we all use, and she practices on the monkey bars at school too. Her pull ups are way better than mine.

5. Dance party. My personal favorite workout is when the kid and I put on music and do some very graceless and athletic dancing around the living room. After thirty minutes, I'm sweaty. Good times.

How Safe Are Jogging Strollers, Anyway?

Karen Murphy — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 12:04:00 GMT

So this short little local-news article, about a woman hit by a car while jogging with her baby along a road in Grand Teton National Park in Idaho, has got me to thinking. First, how is the poor woman, Michelle Benson, doing? She had to be airlifted to another hospital and usually that's not a good sign. Second, the baby was reported as being unhurt. How does that happen? Third, how the hell does a car doing the posted speed limit manage to hit what must be, at 9 am on a Sunday morning, a rather visible mama-baby-jogging -stroller combination? How?

I guess what concerns me most is my own sense of invulnerability while pushing my three-year-old in his snazzy red Baby Jogger (I actually loathe running, I truly do, but he won't keep a helmet on in the bike trailer and where I ride isn't appropriate for a trailer anyway, cars going too fast and all, so I'm reduced many days to running. Bleh). Those jogging strollers are big! And I always felt I could push him out of the way to safety if a car came bearing down on us unexpectedly, but now I'm wondering if my sense of safety isn't unfounded. Am I deceiving myself here? Are cars really that blind to strollers?

I'm not trying to showcase my own naiveté here, but I truly think that I'm not alone here in presuming safety where there isn't any. It's not like I'm taking risks: I don't run on freeways or anything, of course, and the one higher-speed road in my route has a posted speed limit of 45 mph and we're only on it for a block or two before turning on to a quieter street. And I run at midday and in visible clothing. Like, presumably, Michelle Benson was doing. It all obviously comes down to personal comfort and safety boundaries. My point is that maybe some of us (okay, me) might need to rethink those. What about you? Do you think you take risks with yourself and your child or do you consider yourself to be overprotective? Do jogging strollers provide a sense of security that doesn't exist?