Do Twins Run In Your Family?

I get asked this all the time.  As a matter of fact, they do.  They run very, very slowly apparently.

Before having babies, I was a fairly frequent runner.  When we lived in California, I ran almost every day.  On Saturdays, I would run up to 11 miles (usually at least 8 miles) at the peak of my running "career."  (I use the word "career" here with a lot of liberty.)  I ran a couple of half marathons with my best time being just over a 9-minute mile pace for the entire 13.1 miles.  For me, this was a huge accomplishment, considering that I used to think that people who ran "for fun" were masochists.

I stopped running when I was around 4 months pregnant.  I had started to get considerably larger, and the weather was really heating up here in North Carolina as summer approached.  I transitioned to taking a long walk (around 4 miles), which seemed much more manageable for my doubly pregnant body.  Eventually, my OB suggested that I walk no more than a mile a day - ONE MILE a day.  I found that really depressing, but by the time I was about 7 months pregnant I didn't even want to walk from my car to the grocery store door (more less all the walking you have to do inside the grocery store).

After having the babies, my little trio has done a ton of walking together.  Miles, Vivienne and I got a lot of mileage out of both our Snap n Go and, more recently, our Bob stroller.

The Bob stroller website recommends that you wait until your babies are EIGHT months old before you run with them.  I assume that they are just saying that for liability purposes, so I asked our doc.  Our pediatrician suggested that we wait until the babies are about 6 months to take them for a run, because he wanted to be sure that they have good head and neck control.  Well, they aren't 6 months old yet, but I think they have great head and neck control.

During our Christmas vacation, I ran a couple times (for the first time since I was pregnant) with Jason while my parents watched the babies for us. (Thank you, Mom and Dad!)  Needless to say, my legs were extremely sore on the days after those runs. 

Today, I decided to finally take Miles and Vivienne for a real run in the Bob with the weather shield.  At first, I was worried that they would feel claustrophobic behind the shield, but they didn't even seem to notice that they were in their own little bubble.  It was in the high 40s today, but the weather shield kept them nice and toasty (as did their ridiculously cute fleece-lined matching bear trapper hats).

Smiling Behind the Weather Shield

Miles and Vivienne slept through our entire run.  We went 3.22 miles according to the GPS.  My average pace was about 11.5 minutes per mile, which is honestly just depressing.  I did walk in the beginning to warm up and walked after the biggest hill, but I would still hope that my average pace would be higher than 11:30.

I will say that running a double stroller up a hill is no easy task.  I think my legs definitely get a better workout when Miles and Vivienne are there to "help" me.

It feels so nice to run again.  It's liberating to know that I can run with the babies now.  I really enjoyed getting out in the brisk air and taking a little time for myself.  I got to stretch my legs, say hello to my wonderful neighbors, soak up the natural beauty of North Carolina and enjoy a little This American Life.  I'm already looking forward to our run tomorrow.