We're baby joggers

When I first met Jean-Louis 12 years ago, we ran together. It was the first thing we ever did together. Now, not only do we run together, we also race together. In fact, we are so compatible that we're each others pace buddies. Some times I beat him and some times he beats me. These days, he is kicking my butt!

We love to run for the exercise and fun but we're not serious by any means. We have entered in dozens of races in the past and even ran the Paris Marathon in 2003. We're sort of hard core in that we will attempt crazy events without much training. No, the marathon was not crazy. I'm actually thinking of other crazy races like the 53KM winter night walk. If you think a simple walk can't hurt you, think again. Ouch, those memories hurt.

I had a friend once tell me "couples who run together, stay together." Nice :) I was also told that there are two kinds of people in Paris, those who smoke and those who run. We were definitely running junkies there. It's a great city to run in because there are races every weekend, either in Paris or in the suburbs and the cost of entry is ridiculously cheap compared to Canada. Racing was one of the few things I actually missed about living in France.

When we raced in France and in Canada, I saw parents running and pushing their baby strollers. I remember thinking to myself how great that would be to do. When Tristan was 6 months old, we bought a jogging stroller. From the reviews I read, the Bob Ironman stroller seems to be the best stroller for running. It turns out they don't actually sell this particular stroller in any of the stores here but any store will place a special order in. We ordered ours through Jack & Lola in North Vancouver.

We love our Bob Ironman stroller! It is super lightweight and so easy to push. The trick is not to constantly have your arms on it to push, otherwise your arms get really tired. It is definitely a smooth ride for Tristan and he tends to fall asleep in it quite a bit. I also love the yellow color. After nearly a year, it still looks brand new! Because of our schedules, we only run with it once or twice a week and we haven't gone out with it in the rain yet. Yes, we like to keep things clean :)


Last summer when Tristan was 8 months old, we were totally out of shape. I hadn't run since I was 5 1/2 months pregnant and all I wanted to do was to start slow again. We were in no state to race and we had no time to train. This year, things have changed. Tristan is 20 months now and is in daycare part time. Daycare gives us the break we need to train again. It feels so great to be able to run regularly and we both feel physically stronger. Now is the time to look into possible races!

We had our minds set on the Victoria half-marathon, which is a beautiful race in October. We've done that one a couple of times and it also gives us an excuse to go over and see family. Being in October is awesome because it gives us the summer to train. When I sat down to register us, I found out that baby joggers are not permitted to race. I then quickly looked into the Vancouver half-marathon and other races and no luck :( None of them allow baby joggers. Actually, that is not entirely true. The Vancouver Sun run allows baby joggers, except that you are not allowed to jog. Then what is the point? Besides, that is the last race I would want to be in with a baby. It's completely chaotic. In fact, the race organizers say that only registered runners can run the route so we couldn't even run along for the fun of it. Sniff :( Their excuse was that their event liability insurance does not cover baby strollers. I understood that but I was just so bummed by the news. I swear I have seen baby joggers in some of those races too. Anyway, we don't want to take our chances and then get kicked out. Too bad for us.

What we need is a race just for baby joggers. Some kind of "stroll and run" event. Until I can find one, the three of us will just run together for the fun of it :) Sadly, I wanted to race with the stroller so badly but life goes on, right? By next year, Tristan may be old enough to run in his own race.

Trip to Paris

It was a relief going to Paris. Paris is almost the opposite of Toulon. The city is always bustling in activity and there is almost too much to see and do. I wanted to go there for a few days to shop and sightsee with Tristan. I also had a friend I wanted to visit. Since it wasn't too far from Vernon, Jean-Louis' cousin and family took the train down to see us one afternoon as well. With so many plans, we didn't have a chance to do or see a lot :(

We stayed at a hotel by Montparnasse. My parents-in-law came along with us. They were still living in Paris the last time we visited but now they just come to visit every couple of months. When we arrived in Paris on the TGV, we had to take a taxi to the hotel. We had 2 big suitcases, maybe 5 carry-ons and handbags, plus a stroller. We waited to take the biggest taxi so that we could all go together but it just wasn't possible. The other problem is that none of the taxis have a car seat so I was upset. When we realized all of us wouldn't fit in one taxi and my father-in-law wanted to take two taxis, we said no and we told them we would walk to the hotel instead. I felt safer doing it this way since the French drive like mad and I really wanted a car seat. We ended up walking half way across Paris in probably 1.5 hours. It wasn't too bad except that we were carrying heavy bags and it was hot out. However, any walk in Paris is a lovely walk :) Unlike Toulon, many of the sidewalks are nicely paved and very wide too.

Our hotel stay included a buffet breakfast and dinner. It was nice because there was always something that Tristan could eat! Eating was fine for me but really stressful for my parents-in-law because we let Tristan eat on his own in the highchair and he would make a mess each time. Of course he will! He's only 18 months old. He may make a mess but a lot of the food actually ends up in his mouth. They were embarrassed because we were in a public place and thought we should have fed him instead. Here is the thing. Tristan was brought up eating on his own. He has been doing it since probably 9 months old so needless to say, he won't want us to feed him. He wants to do it all himself. We also tried to feed him things we knew he would eat too to minimize the mess.

We went to Ladurée, a fancy salon de tea, in Printemps with the family. We munched on delicious macaroons and had espressos. There, we also found out that it costs 1Euro to pee without a restaurant coupon. If you want to change a baby's diaper, it will cost you 2Euros. What!! There was no way we were paying 2Euros just for a clean diaper room. We took a stroll in the Parc Monceau and changed Tristan's diaper in the stroller there. For FREE! Take that Paris!

We soon learned that Paris is just not baby-friendly. Sure, they may have tons of beautiful baby and children clothing stores but it's no city for parents with small children. Buses are ok to take but they are slow and the subway is brutal for strollers. Unfortunately since we were pressed for time, we had to rough it in the dirty subway. I would carry Tristan in my arms and Jean-Louis would carry the stroller down or up the stairs. A few of the big subway stations had a stroller access once you are inside the station but most of them don't. We had to disassemble our bugaboo stroller into two parts and slide it through the gate at the top. All this while juggling Tristan and bags in our hands :( We were really sweating it too. I forget how hot it was down there!

Walking through Paris, brought back so many memories. I sure miss the shopping paradise. The elegant shops, great choices of styles, restaurants etc. What I didn't miss was the cigarette smoke and I smelled it almost everywhere we went. Yuck! The longer we stayed, the more I realized I couldn't live in Paris anymore and am so glad we live in Vancouver. It's hard to believe we lived there for so long. I was unhappy when it was just the two of us but now with Tristan, it would be a nightmare! I couldn't wait to go home :(