Jogging Stroller Please

So, I'm thinking I need a jogging stroller.

Mary Ellen loves to go for walks - or rides - around the neighborhood in her stroller, but it's not really made for "Ann-Marie-pace" walking. I mean, if I could just be normal and go for a normal stroll, the stroller we have would be perfecto. But I'm not normal and I never understood why I have to walk fast. I just do. I read in Health magazine one time that it is healthy for your mind and also a great stress reliever to just stroll - to take your time and slowly walk around the streets, breathing in the fresh air and noticing the birds chirping and the breeze blowing.

Whatever.

I wanna walk and I wanna walk fast. I've tried talking myself into walking at a nice, even pace, but less than halfway into the stroll I'm looking like a rabbit running from a fox. My toothpick legs look like a pair of scrapbooker's scissors and I'm breakin' a sweat. Which brings me back to the stroller. This baby seat on wheels is not made for off-roading or even on-roading. It's made for mall walking. You know what type of stroller I'm talking about. It has the small plastic wheels that creak and squeak when they turn and if a pebble gets in the way, look out. Mary Ellen may go flying out of there!

One time I had to run because it started to rain on us mid-walk (and heaven for bid I get wet, because, it's like... icky). I'm sure that was quite a sight. I can see the neighbors peering out their windows:

"There goes that girl again. You know, the one who walks real goofy and fast. You know, the one with the baby stroller. There's no baby in it because she fell out a few yards back. Yeah, that girl. I think she's running now, if that's what you call that. She needs a jogging stroller," said the nosy neighbor.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my stroller. It's a part of a traveling system that allowed me to simply snap Mary Ellen's infant seat into it when she was itty bitty. It's great and has served us well. It's just simply not made for outside terrain. I think it was Brannon's sister, Bronwyn, who asked me how many miles I put on that thing!

"The wheels have definitely seen better days," she had said.

We haven't purchased a jogging stroller to date because I can't seem to part with a couple hundred dollars for a stroller. I mean, come on! Does it really cost that much to make a sling-shot on wheels?

So, if anyone out there in Dothan knows of a used jogging stroller for sale, I would love to know about it. Maybe then I won't have to stop mid-walk and scoop Mary Ellen up from falling out, or stop to pick up her pacifiers that pop out of her mouth after hitting a pebble.