Today is a somewhat unique day for us. My wife got a call to substitute teach at our kids school for today. I am also scheduled to start nights tonight. I told her to take the job, planning that I would get a good nap in the afternoon.
Home alone with the two younger kids, I decided it would be great for us to go for a run. We are experiencing our January thaw, so the temps are warm and the weather is mild. There was plenty of melting yesterday, and I knew ice would be something to keep an eye on. We needed the run anyway.
I pulled out the jogger (not the once that trails the bike. This one is bigger and easier to use when I have two kids with me.) Step one, inflate the tires. I got myself dressed and ready to go while my daughter got herself ready. She helped me get her younger brother ready. With the tires fully inflated and everyone ready, I started the running app on my phone. We set out carefully down the sidewalk. I hit the trail and opened the throttle.
I was thrilled that the path was clean and limited ice. I suddenly remembered that I was more interested in distance than speed, so I slowed a bit. I kept pushing, but balanced a few times of walking. One of those walking breaks, at a point that I couldn’t simply turn around and head back (pretty much halfway around the zoo which was between us and our house) I realized that one of the tires was not right. It was coming off the rim.
Running was no longer a good idea. Both of the kids had fallen asleep. The bad wheel was on the side of my daughter who is heavier. I was concerned that I may need to wake her and have her walk. I avoided putting any extra pressure on the wheel and kept a steady pace to our door. I was thankful we had made it without any further problem.
I got the kids inside. Both woke up at that point. I got them out of the winter outerwear. I then went out and pulled off the wheels. Both of the back wheels were off. I could now see how bad the wheel was. It was a miracle that we got home. After about five minutes in the house the tire blew. The tare in the tube is about four inches long. I quickly deflated the other wheel to make sure the same wouldn’t happen.
I use the Apollo reference as that is kind of what I felt like. Everything seemed just fine starting out. Out of nowhere comes a major problem that I had to nurse until safely arriving home. That is after having given up on the mission itself (distance). Overall, I can’t complain as I was able to hit the trail for a bit today.
So after my youngest got the nap in the jogger, he doesn’t want to take a nap this afternoon (giving me time to write this blog). This means I’m not getting that nap I was looking forward to and I will be living on a prayer for work tonight. Perhaps I can squeeze in a quick run to wake myself up in the middle of the night. (Stay tuned 🙂
I’m sure others out there have a “fail” story. What is it and how did you handle it?
Do you run with Kids? What is your method of having the kids with you?
View of the North 