I ran over my dog. Twice.

Today is Cole’s first day off summer vacation. It’s his first Monday of no school. And it is his last day with us before he goes to his dad’s house for nearly four weeks. (No! It never gets easy!). I called it quits early today hoping to spend some time with him. Cole had other plans though. He spent the afternoon playing with his friend Conner – sneaking in one more fun day of play before he leaves.

While Cole was busy playing, I decided to take advantage of my time at home and the wonderful weather. I headed out for another stroller run. After my wonderful run yesterday (10k exactly 1 minute faster than last week – and it felt easy – and I was able to keep a conversation going the whole time – and I ran negative splits), I was really looking forward to running today. As I buckled Chet into his stroller, the dog stood by the front door. He looked so sad. Please take me with you. After telling myself I couldn’t handle both the crazy dog and the jogging stroller, I walked into the house and decided to give it a try. Why not? If I couldn’t handle both, I didn’t need to feel guilty about leaving him at home in the future. (I was secretly hoping this was the case).

It was anything but hard. It was easy – relatively speaking. Alex fell into the perfect stride next to the stroller. Chet softly coo-ed (and cried) himself to sleep for the first mile. By mile two, my legs started to warm up. I was comfortable with pushing the stroller and holding the leash. I was comfortable not using my arms during my run. At some point, Alex did get distract by other people out enjoying the day. I ran him over. Not once. But twice. Technically speaking, he actually ran under us. Luckily he didn’t seem to mind. I think he was just happy to be with us.

3.11 miles later, we arrived home. I felt like super woman.

I ran a 5k in 32:22 (10:25 pace) with the dog and the jogging stroller.

Mile 1 – 10:48

Mile 2 – 10:24

Mile 3 – 10:06

Final .1 – 10:01

A shower and a snuggle session with Chet later, Cole was ready (or not so ready) to hang out with his mama for the rest of the day.

We headed to the zoo with grandma and Christian. The animals were out every where today. They too loved the amazing weather.

I can’t believe this sweet little face is leaving tomorrow….for a month. It’s always a bit overwhelming to me. I never know how I’m going to get through it, but just like running with the dog and the jogging stroller – it just works out.  I might run over a few dogs or people or obstacles in the process of adjusting, but I’ll get there. I guess I will be doing a lot of running with the stroller and the dog.

I’m already counting down until July 14th.