How To Know You Run with a Toddler

Ever wonder what it's like to run with a toddler in a stroller??  Let me enlighten you...

1.  Tiny princess yells "I DON'T WANT TO GO FOR A RUN" from the backseat as soon as she recognizes where you are driving.

2.  You arrive at start location and all of a sudden the tiny princess gets excited and yells "YAY LET'S GO FOR A RUN" from the back seat.

3.  It takes a small suitcase to bring all the things with you that you'll need on the run, for the tiny princess that is.  (Usually this includes a snack, drink, back up snack, toys du jour, lovie, and random rocks we find along the way.)

4.  Once you are finally ready to run (phone silenced, music on, Garmin located, water and fuel loaded, bathroom one more time, shoes checked, etc.) if you don't start fast enough the tiny princess starts yelling  GOOO MOMMY, GOOO impatiently (as if to say, get this going so we can be done Mom).

5.  And you're off....now you only have to stop and pick EVERY SINGLE FLOWER you pass on the way by, or face the wrath of the screaming crying tiny princess mourning the flowers she could have had.

6.  Mile three and the tiny princess is now bored and singing some weirdo song about anything that goes by you (or the last cartoon she watched, it's mind melting) that slowly degenerates in to just odd noises.

7.  Coming up to mile 3.81 of your planned 4 mile training run and Grammy calls......you answer and quickly say you'll call back.  Well, the tiny princess knew who you were talking to (how is completely beyond you, you had headphones in) and screams that she wants to show Grammy something so you have to FaceTime Grammy back (while running UP a hill at the END of your run pushing the tiny princess in her stroller filled with stuff) and spend the last 0.19 miles translating tiny princessese for Grammy instead of listening to that rocking song that was motivating you up that hill.

8.  Whew, you did it, 4 mile training run with the tiny princess but the problem now is you aren't back to the car so you have to walk......and the tiny princess has hit her limit on the stroller time and wants to get out but you want to keep her in...and the screaming begins again and the cycle starts all over as you load the tiny princess and her entourage of stuffed things and toys in to the car.

I'm exhausted just writing about it.....