We have ourselves a runner!

Running has become increasingly more difficult since Lydia is growing up and able to express her opinions.  She no longer enjoys sitting in the B.O.B. with her sister to simply take in the scenery.  She wants to be out.  Running around.  Riding Lightning McQueen or chasing the baby.  If we run at the Nature Park she wants to get out and join the horses or mingle with the ducks.  If we run around another park she wants to hop on the playground and swing on the swings, race down the slide or chill in the dirt/sand/wood chips or whatever the playground is surrounded with.  The world clearly needs to be explored.  And who am I to refuse her such grand opportunities?

Last week we took the B.O.B. to a nearby park on a day when Jon wasn't expected to be home until late and we were going nuts staying inside.  Mostly I just really needed to get a run in.  This time I brought Lydia's little Lightning McQueen scooter with the promise that I would take a running break to let her race around on her car.  After running two miles I could see that she either needed to get out to play immediately or I was going to find her sleeping at 6:30 p.m.  Not wanting to fight our two year old more than usual during her bedtime routine later that night I decided to pull her out and let her ride for as long as she wanted.  By the way, Lydia refused to nap that afternoon which explained her threatening to crash so early in the evening.  It took her a minute to pull herself out of her haze, but once she did, she was unstoppable!  She raced that little car (which may be getting to little for her) as fast as her little legs could go.  I wish I'd brought my camera with me because the expression on her face was so full of delight that it's a shame I wasn't prepared to capture it.  That, and seeing her long legs flying as she sped around the park was all I needed to put me in a better mood and promise myself to hold on to this moment in my memory for as long as possible.

She probably rode a half mile before she decided she wanted to run with me, so Lightning took her spot in the stroller and Lyds ran like her life depended on it.  She ran and ran and smiled at strangers as we crossed paths.  She'd occasionally say "hold you" (we're currently working on getting her to say "hold me" instead) if a particularly loud plane was flying overhead or a man was running our way.  Mostly, she just booked it!  Sometimes she'd run solo, and sometimes she'd hold onto the stroller.  It didn't take long for her to decide that Sophie needed to somehow be included in this fun so we played Runaway Baby.  Runaway Baby consisted of me pushing the stroller with as much as force as I could muster, allowing Baby Sophie to escape us, and then chasing her down so she could be rescued.  We succeeded if she was caught before strolling onto the grass.  Definitely a winner of a game if ever you want to try it!  And Lydia couldn't get enough of it.  By the time she had decided she was through she'd run an entire mile!  She was so worn out and definitely ready for bed.  And to top it off she slept so soundly that night!

Even though I didn't get to run as far as I had hoped, it was so awesome to run with Lydia and watch her get a kick out of speeding along on her Lightning car.  This is what running has become and I wouldn't change it for anything.