Giuliana Rancic's baby trains for Chicago Marathon

Giuliana Rancic's baby will be running the Chicago Marathon next year with Mom and Dad... in his stroller.

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AP Photo/Evan Agostini
Giuliana Rancic and Bill Rancic attend an E! Network upfront event at Gotham Hall in New York, April 30, 2012.

There’s a pint-sized nugget already training for next year’s Chicago Marathon (or some other race), according to celebrity couple Bill and Giuliana Rancic.

Yes, the E! News host and husband, who were hosting a Nike + Run Club event as part of the festivities leading up to the Chicago Marathon this Sunday, announced that next year, their baby Duke would run a marathon with them. In a jogging stroller, of course.

“We’re going to train next year,” Giuliana Rancic said. “And we’re going to stroll him the whole way.”

Right. 

Hear that, daughter of mine? Baby Rancic is going to let his parents push him in the Bob (or whatever other high-priced jogging stroller I’m sure they have) for enough time to actually train.

He’s not going to insist he’s hungry at mile four. (And if he does, I bet Giuliana will have remembered snacks).

He’s not going to shout “Done!” just as they’re pushing him up the super obnoxious hill in their neighborhood. Or “water,” even though there’s no way he’s actually thirsty at mile three.

He’s not going to scream just because his parents forgot to bring an extra sweater for him (it was warm when they started, really), or toss out the books that they’ve brought to keep him occupied.

I bet he’ll conveniently even stay light enough that running with the jogger doesn’t turn into the back-breaking, shoulder-wrecking, pace-slowing plod that might best describe our “runs” these days.

And maybe Baby Duke won’t insist, as soon as he can talk, that he would prefer to run himself, thank you very much.

Oh, wait.

Maybe he will do that last bit. 

As Giuliana says, she and Bill are going to encourage Duke to be fit. And it’s never too early to start that, they say.

Which is awesome.  The problem is... what’s physically advantageous for baby, we are learning in my household, does not always mesh with the sort of running we’d like to do. Sure, there are baby exercise classes and the joggers and all of that, but the blissful picture of happily striding with the contented baby? Not so much.

But no need to be a naysayer.  Kudos to the new parents for dreaming about long runs rather at all. When Baby M was a month old, all we were dreaming about was a full night's sleep.

As E! News and reality television aficionados already know, the Rancics have already struggled a lot for Duke, sharing with viewers years of infertility, a miscarriage, a breast cancer diagnosis and finally a pregnancy by surrogate.

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In comparison, I guess, the 26.2 might seem like baby’s play.

So we'll be eager to watch them go forth and train. Maybe it will help prompt us into gear, too.

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