According to a study published in the July 2012 Journal of Physical Activity and Health, when parents increase their activity levels, so do their children. Running outside with your children in tow not only helps you achieve your own fitness goals, it encourages kids to be active. Fitting in running while raising small children can be challenging, but with a little preparation and patience you can achieve your running goals in no time.

How has it been 6 months since Lila was born? I don't know. How have I avoided regular exercise (chasing kids does not count)? Well, it seems to be my pattern to be lost in baby land and wake up 6 months later. I have lost all the baby weight. Thank you, fast metabolism + breastfeeding. However, breastfeeding may help with the fat, but not the flab. So, I have decided that it is time to get active again.

So you had a baby, and along with all of the coos and cuddles, oohs and aahs, comes the realization that maybe you should get some fresh air!  Some exercise maybe? A stroll in the park? How about a light hike on the trail?  All sound like great ideas for new moms, but will your stroller live up to your newly found active mommy lifestyle?  Being active before, during and especially after pregnancy is vital to any new mom’s overall well-being. Including your baby in outdoor activities is a great way to regain that pre-pregnancy shape and ward off the baby blues. 

By Kristen Horler, CEO & Founder of Baby Boot Camp

The weather is improving and we’re all excited to get outside! With summer weather approaching fast, a little sunshine and fresh air will do you (and your little one) a world of good. Our stroller-based interval workout will take you 15-20 minutes to complete, (not including warm-up and cool down).

The school year is wrapping up and we had our pre-school field trip to the zoo this week. It was rainy (of course), but not enough to cancel. I tried to scrounge up umbrellas for all of us, but could only find two. I told Ian and Eva they would have to share and hoped it wouldn't pour.

Be in to win one of two amazing books - Train Like A Mother: How To Get Across Any Finish Line - And Not Lose Your Family, Job or Sanity - by reading the excerpt below, and then answer the three easy questions that feature after the blog!

Five years ago, Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea, both mothers, writers and runners, took on the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco. Their combined 54.4 miles sprouted a book called Run Like a Mother: How to get Moving— and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity and an amazing, supportive, funny virtual community of mother runners that gathers at Another Mother Runner and at Run Like a Mother: The Book on Facebook. The sequel, Train Like a Mother: How to Get Across Any Finish Line—and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity was released on March 20th. Here’s a sneak peak, and some ideas to keep your kids and you happy during your runs while you push Mountain Buggy terrain.

By Kristen Horler, CEO & Founder of Baby Boot Camp

I was never a runner. During pregnancy and for the next few years, I learned to love walking. I walked miles and miles and miles with my kids in their double stroller. When we moved from California to Florida in 2005, I started jogging my kids to pre-school in their double stroller... mostly because we were running late. But the flat, paved path from our house to their school was a nice way to spend the morning together, while they enjoyed their breakfast.

We came across this post on a top influential parenting forum in Australia, by a mum who was making an important purchasing decision on what the best double buggy was for her and her kids. We got in contact with her and got her permission to post here, as it gives valuable insight into the all important decisions to make when purchasing a new double buggy! Thanks Amelia, and welcome to the wonderful world of Mountain Buggy!

Well, I guess I didn't want to linger over it... so we have made a purchase: The Mountain Buggy duet! Haven't taken it out yet, but this was my shopping experience (for those looking for the same sort of thing).

We heard from today's guest blogger Kristina, when she sent through a gorgeous email to our team, just to say thanks for designing a great stroller!

"I purchased a Mountain Buggy Urban Double stroller back in 2004 with the birth of our second child. Since then, we've had 3 more kids, now aged: 8, 7, 5, 3, and 9 mths. I'm still on the original stroller (replaced the seats a year ago, but not out of necessity, I just wanted to update it a bit with a new color). We live on a farm and I use that stroller more than our ATV and tractor combined. If it doesn't have 2 kids in it, or 3 or 4 (arranged very carefully), it has a kid and 3 50lb bags of horse feed, or a kid and 6 buckets of tools, duct tape, twine (farm necessities) where I walk around the property fixing fences and what not. We recently had a crew come clear some pine trees off our property and I wanted to walk around and look at what they had done. I walked 60 acres, going over pine trees 6-8 inches in diameter, sticks, twigs, dirt mounds, mud, you name it! What's in the woods, I went over it with the stroller - not a flat tire... nothing! I can't tell you how much I love that stroller. There are only a few things I would buy if I had to do it all over again, knowing now what I know after 5 kids, what I would start over again with one, and that stoller is one of them... along with diapers! So, thank you so much for producing such a great stroller. And if you ever need one tested for durability, just send it my way!" :-)

We loved Kristina's story - Along with kids and buggy in two, Kristina really did live life without limit! So we contacted her and asked her to be our guest blogger, introducing us into her world!

Roisin McGettigan is a runner who specializes in the 3000 metres steeplechase and she competed in the her first Olympic Games in Beijing 2008. Born in Ireland but now residing in the US, Roisin is a new mum and owner of Mountain Buggy's all terrain, all peformance jogging stroller - the terrain.

Tick, tick, tick... the baby is down for  a nap. This one usually lasts 30 minutes, and it has taken me 10 minutes to get laundry on, organize dinner, and then settle myself in this rocking chair with my tunes playing at just the right volume (Ray La Montagne pandora station). So, focus. Here, now, present: This blog. I want to write but just cant seem to pin my butt in a seat long enough to get anything of substance. I've been told to just discipline myself.