We love our BOB jogging stroller. It’s great for running as well as everyday strolling, especially if you find yourself on rough roads or if we want to walk along rail trails. It can be a little weird to get used to pushing a stroller and running, and KidRunner has an expensive but intriguing solution: pull your kid instead!
Yes, their idea is to basically make a rickshaw stroller, where you strap in around the waist and pull your child behind you. This way you’re running slightly more naturally, and you use your core to do the pulling. Plus, your child can look at your back the whole time! Apparently the company recruited an elite runner to test the stroller, and he wound up winning a local 10k while using it:
It looks very cool, and I think if you’re training for speed or running in a race where the roads are closed it’s a cool idea. My biggest concern with it is whether it will be of use to recreational runners who want to run with their kids. First, there’s the price; the KidRunner will be clocking in at $1,200, which is 4x the price of an entry-level Activ3 Jogging Stroller from Chicco and 3x that of an entry-level BOB stroller. Second, this is pretty much just an athletics stroller. The company says it will also work for Nordic skiing and biking, but, again, that’s a small fraction of the time your child is spending in a stroller. The rest of the time you would still need an ordinary stroller for everyday activities. I also would be quite concerned using this stroller in an everyday environment. I know my neighborhood is full of uneven bits of sidewalk, and lots of short blocks where crossing the street is necessary. I can’t imagine I would be totally comfortable just heading out for a run and not craning my neck back every minute to make sure the stroller was navigating bumps well, or that someone didn’t try to turn into the street while we were crossing. That’s also not considering the strong possibility of the child in the stroller melting down, throwing toys, and generally needing a quick break. These are all everyday hazards of running with a stroller, and all of them are easier to fix with a front facing stroller than when you have it behind you.
If the KidRunner wasn’t so expensive, I could see it being a great fitness tool, but at the price it seems like a great choice for elites, but out of reach of the average athlete! What’s your take on KidRunner? Would you be comfortable pulling your kids behind you as you ran?
Via Competitor.com
I don’t understand why it’s acceptable to pull kids behind you on a bicycle but not while you’re jogging. What’s the difference? I would think that you would be able to address a meltdown quicker while jogging than from a bicycle. All of Carly’s concerns are moot as far as I can tell.
Well, my concern wasn’t just with having the kid behind me. The cost for a jogging-only stroller was very, very steep, and that struck me as a bad idea when there’s tons of push joggers that also work as regular strollers for significantly less money. Some of them even convert to bike trailers, making them truly all in one for a hell of a lot less.
As it turns out, it’s been 2 years and one appearance on Shark Tank later and the stroller still isn’t available. So maybe you’re right, my concerns are moot. Not because they’re wrong, but because we can’t prove it either way when the whole thing has proven to be vaporware.