Showing my Kids my World

When I was younger (still a kid myself), my mother exercised at gym inside of a resort. At the time, it was called The Point. These days, it’s called the Arizona Grand Resort. It's at South Mountain, which is an awesome stretch of mountains that run along the entire south border of Phoenix.

For a while, she dropped me off in the small child daycare. I remember once, she dropped me off with a huge bag of pink jelly beans. That made me very happy.

As I got older, the daycare became boring and I explored the exercise machines that surrounded the aerobics floor. I dawdled on the Stairmaster, elliptical and treadmill as I watched my mother do her step-aerobics.

These machines were rather boring, but it was fun watching my mom take her step class. If step-aerobics was a competitive sport, my mother would be an Olympian. When most people used one, or two steps, my mother used three. When most people stepped onto the step, my mother sprung. When most people hopped over the top, my mother leapt.

This was back in the day when people wore spandex. And to make it worse, wore leotards over said spandex. If it wasn’t her amazingly high kicks, or her undisputable enthusiasm that made my mother stand out, it was her unconventional, hippie-inspired and non-existent method of hair removal.

So at a very young age, I learned 3 things:
1) Standard gym equipment is boring
2) If you are going to jump, you might as well jump the highest and not care who is looking
3) I was going to shave my arm pits

At some point, my Dad started joining us. We would hike the trails at South Mountain while my mother dominated her step-class. As we became more efficient, we started to run stretches of our hiking path.

Running made me tired; I could not go for very long.
But I have been running those exact same trails ever since - so around 18 years. I became even more familiar with the park during high school cross country, since it hosted our home course.

As much as I love the excitement of the triathlon,
or embrace the challenge of road running,
my heart and soul belong to trail running. I am first, and foremost, a trail runner.

It is my drug,
my therapy,
my identity.

When I am trail running, I feel like ME. And for that hour, everything is right in the world and everything makes perfect sense. I guess it's the combination of adenaline and mother nature at its best - it makes you feel life.

Anyway, in all my years of trail running, I have seen ONE jogging stroller. And of course, ever since that moment, I have been dedicated to one day running the trails with my own kids.

I have never seen a double stroller but I wasnt about to let that stop me. I knew my BOB Ironman could handle at least the most modest trails. With the durability of my stroller, and my knowledge of the trail system, we went out and conquered nearly 6 miles of beauty.

Along the way we saw one mountain biker. It was very quiet, the only sounds were my breathing, and my kids squealing with delight. To them, this was a rollercoaster.
To me, it was perfection.