Run Baby Run

My parents took both the kids to the fish fry on Friday so I was faced with running the QD5 without the stroller. The previous two weeks I jogged the shortened, 2.5-mile, route - jogged in the most liberal sense of the word. The first week I was behind a fellow who was speed walking. I never caught up to him.
When you're jogging with a baby stroller, no matter how slow you are going, people are still impressed. Strangers cheer you on and say your baby is cute, friends call on the phone and leave messages that say "good for you!" Real runners empathize and say encouraging things like, "I'm sure you'd run much faster if you weren't pushing that stroller." A statement, which, for the record is not true. I'd been using the stroller as a crutch, without it, I might have fallen down; like a novice hockey player who uses his stick to prop him up. But regardless, for two weeks I've gotten the distinct impression that people view moms who jog with baby strollers as plucky and spirited and worthy of applause.
It's like when Ken takes the baby to town on the weekend. Without a baby, he's just another guy in town doing errands on a Saturday morning. With the baby, he's a sensitive new age dad; everyone wants to give him their place in the check out line and open doors for him.
Without the stroller, I'm not even a mother. I have no excuse for being so out of shape. Without the stroller, I'm just slow.

song: Run Baby Run • artist: Sheryl Crow