The Double Jogger: A Love/Hate Relationship

This morning, my husband, Tom, asked if I wanted to run the four-mile town loop with him. I figured that we wouldn't be shelling out money for a babysitter and inquired, "the double jogger?" Our girls, now two and four years old, are weighing down the jogger and our preschooler is now doing so many sports on her own that totes in the jogger have become infrequent; plus she barely fits under the sun canopy. But the idea appealed to me. Our daughters contained and chatting with each other while we ran. The timing would be easier than each getting in our own run, too.

So, we headed out at about 10 a.m. The girls were great. Tom did the pushing in the heat so he had to work hard. I felt a little guilty about that so did take over for one uphill. We know that our double jogger days are about over, so the run for me was bittersweet. As much as you feel like you're pushing a wide load, there is a sense of accomplishment when taking two kids along on a run and they enjoy the companionship.

We used to see people running with preschool age kids in a jogger and scoff to ourselves that the kids were too big and old to be pushed. Now we understand. Parents do what works for them and when you've got a good thing going, you try to hold onto it as long as you can.