the daycare closed during the holidays, the queen at work, so the little princess joined in on the morning session today. conditions dry an crisp with temperatures just below freezing, no snow. ideal for the stroller, a hartan skater model 2003, which was never really optimal for running but it actually does the job good enough.
hartan skater, model 2003
the wheels are about 5 cm wide which is good on gravel, but they’re still a bit small sized for a running stroller, so there’s some additional friction. empirical data shows that in the end it slows you down by about 5-8% in addition to requiring 3-5% more energy compared to running your favorite route without a stroller (taking into account that the little one weighs somewhere in the region of 10-12kg). apparently a good tool to lose some additional grams of fat when running with it. a bad tool to improve your running style. whatever running-with-stroller guides say, they mostly don’t take into account the need to constantly correct the stroller’s direction. gravel and forest pathways have holes you need to avoid, so has the tarmac in helsinki in many places, there are longer bends and sharper corners. one minute it’s up on the walkway the next it’s down again to move to the other side of the road. all in all, you lean into the stroller pretty much half of the time, instead of striding royally next to it and steering it with one hand from the side. that’s ok for the casual run and active relaxation, it doesn’t work if you’re out for speedier things.
the little princess enjoyed to ride, she discovered pretty much all the dogs we came across and pointed out to daddy: “koldo, hau, hau” (”koldo” stands for “koira”, the finnish word for dog). and a smile appeared when the stroller’s back wheel suspension softened the jumps off the sidewalks or through a hole in the road. quite a racer, the little one.
