Many of our Stroller Warrior families are now at the tail-end of PCS season— filled with anticipation for the day they will receive crates packed with belongings finally arriving from previous duty stations.  Some Stroller Warriors are reunited with their jogging stroller that was tagged and shipped with their household goods.  Others watch as the movers carry a heavy treadmill from the moving truck and into a garage as they hope it is delivered undamaged or able to operate on a European adapter!  Hopefully, the free weights or kettle bells did not smash the other items loaded into the crate, especially not the jogging stroller! 

Kettle bells, free weights, jogging stroller, and the treadmill all have one tiny PCS item in common: these items were tagged with a numbered moving label! 

Earlier this week I lead an introductory kettle bell session with Stroller Warriors Charleston.  I grabbed the kettle bells from my car and placed them on the concrete when I noticed one kettle bell with a blue moving label still attached— a moving label from Germany…several assignments ago!  This kettle bell has been lifted thousands of times by either me, a Stroller Warrior, or a military spouse friend, neither of these people having removed or mentioned the sticker still being stuck to the handle!  

So, today before the post-run strength training session, I peeled the sticker off the kettle bell and placed it on my key fob (I didn’t want to litter).  That little sticker brought back fond memories of Friday evening strength workouts on the Southside track at Ramstein, Friday morning strength workouts with Stroller Warriors Fort Belvoir— all the kids playing in the grass while the moms lunged and swung kettle bells, workouts in my garage with my Elsewhere friends, and now on to Stroller Warriors Charleston where my friends stick around to learn about kettle bells in the heat.  These PCS stickers are a reminder of so many wonderful memories with Stroller Warriors and how incredibly grateful I am to belong to an extremely supportive military family!

Interested in joining Stroller Warriors?  Please visit our website to find a chapter near you! 
https://www.strollerwarriors.com/chapters.html

​Happy Running,
Rose   

​Giving back is an important part of the Stroller Warriors® mission. During the month of June, Stroller Warriors Global organized a charity event in support of DAV ( https://www.dav.org/).
 
Founded in 1920, DAV is a leading nonprofit charity that provides a lifetime of support for veterans of all generations and their families. The organization helps more than a million veterans each year in positive, life-changing ways. Last year, the organization provided more than 163,000 rides to veterans attending medical appointments and assisted in filing over 151,000 claims for benefits. In 2021, DAV-represented veterans received more than $25 billion in earned benefits. DAV’s services are offered at no cost to all generations of veterans, their families and survivors.
 
DAV is also a leader in connecting veterans with meaningful employment, hosting job fairs and providing resources to ensure they have the opportunity to participate in the American Dream their sacrifices have made possible.
 
With over 1,200 chapters and more than 1 million members across the country, DAV empowers our nation’s heroes and their families by helping to provide the resources they need and ensuring our nation keeps the promises made to them.

​One similarity shared between DAV and Stroller Warriors is the persistent support for military members and their families. Both organizations continually recognize the importance of having someone who is there to support our cause. Let us not forget about DAV as we move on throughout our summer. 
 
Thank you to our Stroller Warriors chapters for organizing events in support of DAV.  SW dedicated over 1000 between chapters and individuals personally running to #supportDAV.

Good conversation is one the best parts of running with close friends.  Running gear- be it sneakers, clothing, fuel- is one of the many topics often discussed mid-run. 

This past weekend I ran a trail half-marathon with a dear friend and right away our conversation turned to a running gear-- specifically, how we each clean a water bladder after a race.  Prior to the race last weekend, it had been over 6 months since I last used my hydration pack where my husband used it for a Saturday trail race series, and I used it for the Sunday race series.  Luckily, my husband sanitized the water bladder after we last used it and it was ready to go for my race! There have been times when I have had to make an emergency pit-stop at Walmart to snag a new insert.    
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So, how does one clean a water bladder hydration system?  Here are a few useful tips my friend and I discussed along the trail…

Invest in a cleaning system for the water bladder (like the one below)— using the tools to scrub the water bladder and valves, then hanging the bladder on the drying rack.  However, I had a bit of mold build-up on the inside of a tube and the bladder when I used this method last.  Thanks to my friend, I learned an easy remedy to this problem— place a few paper towels inside of the water bladder before placing it into storage.  The paper towels will absorb excess moisture and help prevent mold.  Be sure to use a cleaning system that fits your hydration system to ensure you do not tear the bladder.  

Another simple solution is to clean the hydration system with the tools above and place the water bladder and tubes into the freezer— ready to be re-filled right away for the next use. 
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Some use specific cleaning tabs for a deeper cleaning of the hydration system.  I use cleaning tablets after every 3 uses of my hydration vest.  Follow the directions on the cleaning agent packet, rinse several times, and scrub.  

One can also hit the easy button, like I did this weekend!  I needed to get my water bladder cleaned and put away amid the happy chaos of returning home from a weekend trip, unpacking, and prepping for a week of the kids’ summer camp.  I drained the remaining fluid from the bladder, filled the system with hot water, gave it a good shake, and drained it— I repeated this several times before placing in the freezer until the next race!

​Happy Running,
Rose

I could not tell you how many times I open the trunk of the car to load groceries, school items, etc., only to see the jogging stroller taking up much of the trunk space— it’s a permanent fixture.  I always let out a long sigh and use a delicate system of placing a full load of groceries from Costco around the BOB stroller.  I remember our BOB stroller sitting in the front entryway of our house in Germany— rolling it out of the way to grab our shoes stored under an entryway table.  I would often load the kids in the stroller and walk to the bakery in the mid-afternoon for a snack before going to the neighborhood park as the evening church bells rang.  In the mornings, the stroller would go back into the car before Stroller Warriors, only to be placed back in the entryway when I got home.  The jogging stroller— taking up much needed space and always annoyingly working around it. 

I mentioned to my husband that I cannot wait for stroller free days— we will have so much more space!  However, as I was running this morning before story time at the library- extremely hot, sweaty hands slipping from the handlebar, and my youngest singing the lyrics to her favorite Disney tunes at the top of her lungs- I realized that I would miss the jogging stroller and stroller running days. 
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I have been running with a jogging stroller for over 10 years-- beginning with a single stroller pushing my first born through strong windy weather in Montana; transitioning to a double stroller when my son was born; adding a bike rider to the mix when my youngest came along and experiencing the need to run at turbo speed with a double stroller in order to keep up with a quick kiddo on wheels; thankfully moving back to a single stroller with 2 kids on bikes; now here I am with my last stroller rider who will be heading off to school in a month.  

I made so many cherished memories while running with my kids in the BOB, but one in particular is by far my favorite— during our last days in Germany, my husband and I took a family run down the Kaiserstrasse heading towards a local overpass to watch the trains pass.  It was a perfect evening— pleasant summertime weather with a slight breeze in the air, and puffy clouds in the sky with the early evening sunbeams bursting through.  In the middle of the run, my daughter leaned over, reached her hand out and brushed her hand over the wild daisies that were growing alongside the path. 
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The jogging stroller has helped keep my love for running alive throughout each stage of parenthood.  Ten years, a quarter of my life, running with a jogging stroller.  The stroller and my kiddos have been my steadfast companions throughout the past decade.  It has been an instrument that set me on an incredible path in discovering the Stroller Warriors community.  There are many aspects of running with a stroller that I will miss….I will miss the storage for my water bottle and cellphone, I will miss having the space for my Bluetooth speaker, but most of all, I will miss the company it keeps. 
 
Happy running,
Rose