Portable Music

Music to help you run is great. Listening to a fast beat both helps to pass the time and to keep your feet moving at a good clip. I like to listen when I am running on my own, running on the treadmill or riding the bike trainer. Sometimes, however, I absolutely will not put an ear bud in an ear. Cycling outdoors is never a time to listen. Neither is when I am pushing the jogging stroller. It is safer to be able to hear traffic and such sounds all around you, but with a child or children along, you have to be able to hear them too. For a long time I had the rule of thumb that if the run was 10 miles or more, the child could listen to the iPod. But on shorter runs like today, my rider was also my music. She sang the new version of the ABC song she has learned in school. We sang the oldies that I also know together: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," "Apples and Bananas," "If You're Happy and You Know It," and so on. This is hard. We are talking cardiovascular fitness here. So the time passed more quickly for her and we had a nice time together. She wasn't just getting dragged along and ignored. It is hard to find the right balance of dragging around and just staying home. Every year is a little different. This day reminded me of one of my finer memories of jogging stroller life. Maybe 7 years ago, I was jogging up the road as we belted out "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid, of course, as we passed this other dude out jogging. Yep. Like he was standing still.