June 27, 2014

"I’ve been running through my entire pregnancy, and I felt really, really good during the whole process."

Said Olympian Alysia Montano who ran in the 800m at the U.S. Championships yesterday, when she was 6 weeks short of a full-term pregnancy.
"I definitely was like, OK, I think I can run a pretty decent time... I just knew I didn’t want to get lapped, be the first person to ever get lapped in an 800m. More than anything, I wanted to be here..."

She said she consulted her doctor and midwife, who encouraged her....

“That took away any fear of what the outside world might think about a woman running in pregnancy or exercise in general...  I just felt so supported... I didn’t want to be judged or have any ill things said about me. I just wanted to kind of do what my heart and my desire wanted to do."
Via Metafilter. Video of the race here. (The camera keeps the focus, properly, on the women in front and destined to win. You only see Montano after all the others have crossed the finish line and finishing about 30 seconds later.)

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Try running a marathon with a Viagra-induced four-hour erection.

Bob Ellison said...

Gotta like her smile and the flower in her hair.

CStanley said...

Seems foolhardy to me. Your center of balance changes day by day at that stage of pregnancy, and even her moderated goal of performing decently rather than trying to win the race, put her at risk of getting mixed up in the pack, tripping, etc.

Anonymous said...

There was baseball star married to a tennis pro.(I can't remember the names.) The baseball guy was super-competitive and always trying to beat his wife on the court. After several years of marriage and serious marital court competition he finally bested her and whooped and hollered in triumph. The next day his son was born.

Greg said...

She's running for two. They should divide her time by two and give her the gold.

kjbe said...

Props to her.

I tried (kinda) something similar about 8 months into my pregnancy. I hadn't planned on it, but had to fill in on coed softball game, lest we forfeit due to a lack of players. Swinging the bat was easy. I hit, what would normally been for me, a double, but took off first and soon realized I wasn't going too soon.

I almost didn't beat the throw.

Fielding was also a challenge.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

A new Olympic sport is born, the 800m pregnant dash.

n.n said...

Physical activity, certainly; but, running? Perhaps. I suppose the baby is well cushioned in the womb.

dbp said...

Pretty impressive! I would be hard-pressed to match her time.

wildswan said...

A lot of women athletes lose so much body fat in training that their monthly cycle goes out of whack. This potential loss of body fat to the point of upsetting hormonal balances is the reason being careful about undergoing severe physical training while pregnant. It isn't what some person might think of you; it's what might happen to your child. And sure, a doctor was consulted - in this case and it all seems to have worked out - in this case. But if real sports training began to control physiological changes during pregnancies there would be tragedies , I guarantee you that.

Trashhauler said...

More proof that children are merely optional appliances. The lesson is there is no need to play it safe when doing what you want.

Crunchy Frog said...

I am very surprised they let her compete given the potential liability issues if she loses the baby during or after the race.

Haven't these people ever heard of lawyers?

Bill Crawford said...

Link in article reads:

Alysia Montano runs 800m while 34 months pregnant

I think the focus of the article was on the wrong accomplishment.

MadisonMan said...

The winner in that heat ran a 2:02.39.

She would've placed 23rd among the high school boys running earlier this month in LaCrosse.

khesanh0802 said...

Good for her. My wife played four sets of mixed doubles tennis the afternoon our first son was born. Of course she was a Marine Corps wife at the time so it was to be expected!

Birches said...

I stopped running just short of 30 week this time around. I found that I could still run quite well until the last couple of weeks before I quit, and I am no where near Olympic running shape.

Consistency will erase almost any risk to baby, because your body has adapted to your training and your pregnancy at the same time. Now, if you decided to started running AFTER you were pregnant and hadn't run before hand, that would be different.

Marty said...

The slippery slope:

I have a child growing inside of me, but:
" I just wanted to kind of do what my heart and my desire wanted to do."
Run a race...abort...

Ann Althouse said...

I was skeptical reading the text, but watching the video, I thought it was fine.

I worried about her falling, but you could fall anywhere.

Laura said...

Completing an 800 meter run at 34 weeks is significant and admirable. Next challenge: leaving a human resources office with a job offer in hand, whether part or full time.