21.

Meet this week’s Teacher Feature…

Helen’s Story…

“she motivates me when I’m running by shouting ‘faster’ and ‘wheeee!!!!’ as we go up or down hill!…”

11 years ago I got into running, a year later I was pregnant but knew that there must be a way I could run and push my baby. There wasn’t a great deal around then, but I managed to find a ‘BabyJogger’ and as soon as she was 6 months old we were off! 

Fast forward 7 years and here I was again! This time though there was a plethora of buggies to choose from, dedicated FB groups and a mate who had an ‘Out ‘n’ About Sport’ going cheap!

So the thing that makes running buggies, running buggies is that they have suspension, the ability to fix the front wheel and a brake. It’s a bit weird running to begin with as you have to lift the front wheel off the floor to turn and push down on both handles, but once you’ve got the hang of it, it’s second nature. I always have a wrist attachment too in case I fall over so the buggy doesn’t roll away. 

Things that are a challenge:

People assume you’re going to be slow pushing a buggy and run in front quite a lot, so you have to become adept at wheeling in and out and making people aware that you’re there.

Most races won’t allow buggies, so it means I can’t always race, however a few have let me run with a buggy and it makes it even more of a challenge. I hope more races become inclusive to buggy running as it’s becoming more and more popular. Obviously as Erin gets older, she needs more entertainment and merely seeing a park causes her to spend a good ½ mile yelling that she ‘wants to get out and play on the swings’ sometimes literally throwing her toys out of the pram! Plus she’s getting heavier!

Things that I love:

She asks to go running and likes to run. I am a positive role model for her and I hope that when she is old enough she’ll want to do parkrun. I get to spend time with her, get fresh air and keep fit at the same time and she motivates me when I’m running by shouting ‘faster’ and ‘wheeee!!!!’ as we go up or down hill!

The best thing though is seeing some of my students at parkrun, they already call me ‘Marathon Miss’ and I hope that I am showing them that even when you’re ‘well old’ that you can still make time for fitness and family!

---

Click the link bellow to follow Helen’s active journey on Twitter!!!