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What makes a jogging stroller a jogging stroller? The standard, 4-wheeled baby jogger has certainly been used for jogging in past years. Those runs had to be carefully planned to cover only flat, smooth surfaces, and great care had to be taken in securing and padding the child while you ran, because the stroller had a tendency to skitter every which way on the path due to its shopping cart wheels.

Over the past decade, a new breed of baby buggy has evolved with three large fixed wheels, shocks, 5-point safety harnesses and drink holders for the child. Since our last stroller review in 2002, the jogging stroller has continued to develop, and the models available today offer unprecedented ease of use and safety, both for the runner and the rider.

Of course, one person's improvement is another person's scourge. And anyone who has ever tried to find the "regular" kind of toothpaste on the grocery shelves knows that having lots of options just makes decisions that much more complicated. In this guide, we break down choosing a stroller into the major variables that can make a stroller just what you're looking for or the next-best-thing-that-falls-just-short. Then we'll take a look at a selection of strollers that is available today and give you some tips for getting started running with your new stroller.

THE BREAKDOWN

Stability: Stability, of course, is a good attribute for a baby travel system that will carry your precious bundle for many miles. But a well balanced stroller is not a runner's friend. Turning a stroller when running depends on uneven distribution of weight among the three wheels so that the runner can easily and smoothly lift the front wheel incrementally to turn the stroller around a corner or bend in the road. We observed that many of the strollers that are made for walking as well as running were much more stable, making them more difficult to maneuver when running. Take into consideration how much of your stroller time will be spent running versus walking.

Front Wheel: Many jogging strollers available today offer a front wheel that can be either locked into the straight-ahead position that is best for running, or set free to swivel, which makes steering when walking much nicer. This decision is related to the stability issue above. If you will be using your stroller only for running, then you don't need to spend the extra dollars to get one with a swivel option on the front wheel. Running with the wheel in swivel mode is dangerous because running over even a small pebble with a swivel wheel at running speeds could send the stroller quickly veering in an unplanned direction.