Tuesday, April 12, 2011

I already eat for two, why not run for two?

Did you run while you were pregnant? Many women do. I did. 

I had the full support of my doctor to run during both my pregnancies. She found me to be healthy and fully capable of running while pregnant, particularly because I am a longtime runner, and she gave me the following common-sense advice: Don't get your heart rate up too high, which means you are going to have to slow things down and take it easy. Other than that, she said to only keep up the activity as long as it felt good to do so. I ran with Sonja until I was almost eight months and loved every step. It was a different story with Haven, since I simply didn't enjoy running for most of the pregnancy, so I stopped around six months. The bottom line was that I didn't have anything to prove to anyone, least of all to myself. I wasn't running during pregnancy to keep in shape, I was running because running is something I love to do and I didn't (and my doctor didn't) see the point in stopping if there was no medical reason to stop. 

I ran four races while pregnant with Sonja and three races while pregnant with Haven. None of these races was over 8km, but I ran considerably farther that 8km on some of my regular runs. I want to be clear: I wasn't setting any Personal Bests at any of these races, I was just out there to have fun. By the time I gave up running during my first pregnancy, I was running about two or three times a week, very slowly.

For the most part, I had a good experience as a pregnant runner. People were largely supportive and encouraging, although I admit that many of those were runners themselves. I recall quite a few shocked looks from folks walking on the street and I was always thankful that I was moving too fast for them to give me their opinion. I simply smiled, said hello and kept on my way. The fact was that I didn't much care what anyone thought; my doctor, my husband and I were OK with me running during pregnancy and the last thing I needed was the two cents from an armchair critic. 

So when a friend of mine sent me this old article from the Winnipeg Free Press (originally printed June 20th, 2009), I read it with a lot of interest and a smile on my face. It's a fun and inspiring story that's close to my heart. If you were a pregnant runner or even hope to be a pregnant runner someday, please read this and let me know what you think.

Pregnant and pumped for their run on Sunday

By: Ashley Prest
Posted: 06/20/2009 1:00 AM

They call themselves "Knocked Up, But Not Out" because this team of five women will deliver a lot more than a big finish at the 2009 Manitoba Marathon.
Joan St. Laurent, Chantelle Harder, Laura Masterson, Sarah Johnson and Sam Czemerynski are all experienced runners who are between four and eight months pregnant and all will give birth to their babies later this year.

But first, each will run a leg of the Manitoba Marathon relay, a distance of about six miles per person, with their unborn running partners along for the ride.
"We're super excited, we're ready to get out there, and with every day that passes, we laugh about 'oh, are we going to be too big, are we going to pop one day?' " laughed Harder, 31, who is pregnant for the third time. She is the mother of two sons, five-year-old Tobin and 17-month-old Tristan, and stepdaughter Hailey, 5.
Harder started the team by posting an ad on a local online classified advertisements website in which she said she was looking for pregnant women who are still running. Her brother-in-law came up with the name and the group adopted it.
"Pregnant women are not couch-bound, putting our feet up and eating chocolate. For some, maybe they are, and that's great, but we still like to run," Harder said. "One of the girls said she wondered if there were any other pregnant women out there who were still running and we got our answer. There's at least five of us."
St. Laurent, 27, is the farthest along. She will be 32 weeks pregnant with her first child on race day, but she's also the hard-core runner in the group. St. Laurent has run six full marathons since 2004 and ran the annual Winnipeg Police Service half marathon last month at 25 weeks.
"I've had fun with it with the group. I said I used to have a PB (personal best) and now I have my PPB for pregnancy personal best," said St. Laurent, who ran the storied Boston Marathon in 2007. She ran her most recent marathon last October, one month before she became pregnant. "I'm still at it, but I'm definitely slowing down now."
She said the team hopes to send a message about women continuing their previous activities during pregnancy.
"Before the first woman ran the Boston Marathon 40 years ago (Kathrine Switzer in 1967), people thought your uterus would fall out if you ran a distance that far," St. Laurent said. "It's important to be active throughout your pregnancy and (know that) nothing bad is going to happen. It's healthy for the baby and it's not obscene to see some pregnant woman running down the street."
Harder said the motion of running seems to be soothing to her little person.
"As soon as I start exercising or running, that's when my baby is the most calm. It's almost like my baby gets lulled to sleep," she said. "After I run, I feel so much better and so much better about myself."
None of the five women knew each other before answering Harder's ad, but now they have a new group of friends and a support network.
"It'll be fun to be able to tell our babies about how they were in the marathon before they were born," Harder said. "Maybe someday when they're older, they will run the marathon relay all together, the next generation."


I loved this article and could identify with a lot of it, especially the idea of not wanting to sit out of my favourite activity simply because I was pregnant. I also agreed with the Mom who talked about her baby being lulled to sleep during the run. This always happened with me as well and it was nice to read about another Mom with the same experience.

..and then I read the comments:


So for those who are highly critical of this team, I'd like to ask the ones who have doctorates in Obstetrics to please stand up and raise their hands... *Chirp* *Chirp* *Chirp* Are those crickets in the night I hear? I thought so.


When was the last time any of you naysayers sat down with one of these professionals in order to find out exactly what risks are involved? *Deafening silence* Interesting.


So what your silence tells us is that you're simply talking from your posteriors without bringing any real game to this table. Since late 1940's, pregnancy has been considered a disability; your intense criticism perpetuates this incredibly silly notion. What did your great grandmothers do while pregnant with your grandfathers and grandmothers? They were working the fields in summer heat. Period.


These five women finished their race legs looking far less phased than some of their non-pregnant peers who were heaving air in and out of their lungs looking dazed and confused. I know, I was right there watching. What this article does not mention is that all five were under GP and / or Obstetric group supervision. Can you quote fact and prove that this group of General Practitioners and OBGYNs were wrong in their approval of this activity? I'm waiting.
I'm guessing that the people commenting here that think it's a stupid idea probably aren't even runners and can't understand why someone would want to run a marathon, pregnant or not. Keep in mind that these girls were running the relay not the full marathon. Not one of them ran more than 10k yesterday, so cut them some slack. I'm sure their training was supervised by their doctors, who wouldn't have given it their OK if they thought there was a risk to the babies. I think they set a great example of how it's possible to stay active during pregnancy!
Many a woman worked hard years ago and had very sickly babies too - in fact, many more than the women who could afford to rest.


Pretending to oneself that risk doesn't exist because some children survived ignores the fact that many more didn't survive to tell the tale.
Exercise is great but running is just plain stupid. Why put yourself at risk and why risk the life of your child? How SELFISH. If anything were to happen how could they ever forgive themselves. Best to sit this one out and wait til after baby is born.
I think it's great as well. Of course they have been training for a awhile and are not amatures. But they are demonstrating that pregnant women should be active. If you think obesity is on the rise for everyone, think about how much more mothers become obese due to over eating, gaining more weight than needed and being inactive over fears of harming the unborn baby. A baby is well cushioned inside the womb. You learn this in prenatal class. If you are an amature runner, don't run or jog. But do walk more often and do yoga, pilates or stretching and other easy exercizes.
I agree as long as they know what they're doing and are doing it health..fully?(you need to already be healthy, and doing the same activity for at least 6 months while to continue doing it during pregnant)


then great job ladies!! !!
Why in her right mind would a pregnant woman want to jostle her baby this way? Isn't walking good enough? A friend of mine jogged well into her last trimester - and her baby had quite a few problems. Whether it was coincidence or not, she regretted jogging instead of just brisk walking. A little common sense! There is nothing to prove. Think about the welfare of your baby!
i think that 32 weeks pregnant and running a marathon is stupid, she can have the baby on the running trail. DUH wake up JOAN ST LAURENT, you are putting your baby at risk.
You know what, many a woman worked hard years ago and had healthy babies. As far as I'm concerned I think this is fantastic. All the ladies look healthy and I think they deserve a pat on the back for staying active and pushing themselves. We have to realize that nature built us to be active and that includes throughout prenancy. It's just our lifestyle now that makes us think less is better. Great job ladies and I hope everyone makes it through the day happy and healthy.





























































































I was taken aback by how borderline abusive some of these comments were, calling these women "selfish" and accusing them of not caring about the welfare of their unborn babies. If I had been one of these Moms and had read this, I would have been angry and hurt, but I also would have known that my doctor had given me the go-ahead and had even encouraged me to continue running while pregnant. So in the end, I likely would have read these comments and then taken great pleasure in thumbing my nose at the computer screen.

Finally I want to draw special attention to the final comment at the top of the list that urges these naysayers to supply hard evidence (and not just uneducated, gut-reaction opinion) that running while pregnant is in any way dangerous, provided you do so with the support of your doctor. Interesting that no one piped up to support their arguments..!


So, what are your thoughts on the subject? What's your reaction to the comments to this article? I'd love to hear what you think.



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