Biker Bars and Jogging Strollers

It's been an exciting 7 days. Last week we accidentally took Katie to her first biker bar. Who knew that the Hard Times Cafe in Springfield was a favorite spot for rowdy motorcycle enthusiasts. At one point during our meal, all the male staff suddenly ran out of the kitchen and towards the back of the bar. We asked our waitress (who appearantly is a piercing enthusiast) what happened and she rolled her eyes and nonchalantly said "Oh, just a fight." Oh, ok. When we got home we reeked of smoke even though we were sitting in the non-smoking section. At least the food was good.

We spent the last week looking for a jogging stroller so we can try to get in shape again. Actually, we've been looking for a stroller for what seems like forever but we were determined to get one last weekend. Our travels brought us to the hinterlands of Gaithersburg, the strip mall mecca of Rockville, the shadow of the Mixing Bowl's on-ramps in Springfield, and all over cyberspace. We considered a $75 jogging stroller at Target but balked at the weight (50 pounds). We were tempted by the Bob Ironman stroller at REI but were shocked at the price ($350). We found an affordable Bob stroller on REI's outlet website but it was gone before we could make up our minds. We felt like we would never find a stroller.

Thankfully we finally found a used Bob stroller on Craigslist and jumped on it. The only problem was we had to pick it up in Stafford, VA. That didn't seem to be a problem until we found out where Stafford is. It's near Fredericksburg, about 45 miles south of Alexandria. But how bad could traffic be on I-95 on a Sunday afternoon in the summer? You don't want to know. It was so bad that we ended up taking backroads the whole way... for 90 long, hot minutes. Oy.

But we made it to Stafford and now we have a jogging stroller! It's very light (about 20 pounds) and easy to run with. It handles bumps and curbs very well and it's easy to pop wheelies. We've taken Katie on 2 runs so far and she likes it (thankfully!). We ran slow with a lot of walking breaks but we look forward to many runs with her.

The day after we got the stroller I was getting lunch with a co-worker who is my age and single. There was a slight lull in the conversation and I was just about to tell him all about our new stroller when he blurted out, "So I've been hooking up with this Indian chick..."   We live in completely different worlds.