With the Pussification of America, this is exactly what we need to see. Wow, could you imagine trying to run a 'thon with that going on? Screw it.....she talked with her doctor and he said it was ok. My hat goes off to her.
With the Pussification of America, this is exactly what we need to see. Wow, could you imagine trying to run a 'thon with that going on? Screw it.....she talked with her doctor and he said it was ok. My hat goes off to her.
Not sure if some of the young people here have ever seen a 39 week pregnant woman. Pretty amazing she could cover the distance. My wife couldn't even get up the stairs without a break.
That said, this is one of the most irresponsible things I have heard of someone doing.
You get all sorts of freaks in big city races. I just finished the Paris (Fra) 20km and there were all sorts of nutbars in that race.
By the way, NEVER run this Paris race. The old streets of Paris can handle maybe 3000 runners in a 20km and this event had 21,000. Chaos.
Mrs. M wrote:
The article said she ran the first half and walked the second.
I read that, too, but looking at the results, that doesn't sound likely:
First half: 3:07
2nd half: 3:18
sounds reasonably even to me.
I saw her on the news and she did NOT look 39 weeks pregnant at all. I don't mean that in a good way either. Even super-fit women have big bumps. You want a big bump. I wonder about the weight of the baby. I am sure that the articles say what it is, but I am on my phone and cannot be bothered to download the articles.
My wife is a sub 3:30 marathoner and she ran up until the 3rd trimester. Just easy runs, nothing too challenging. Getting overheated can be uncomfortable for a pregnant woman, but it can be life-threatening for a baby.
Honestly, it isn't the running that is so irresponsible here, but putting herself in a situation to fall, get pushed, overheat, etc.
I am ALL FOR active pregnancies. Totally. This is going too far. That said, I am glad she and the baby are okay, and maybe this will get some fatties out there running.
How famous would she be today if the baby died?
Hey guys, thanks for all the support on finishing my marathon under such "conditions"!
I wonder how much other ridiculous crap this woman gets away with b/c her husband is too spineless to put his foot down.
What if something happened on the course??? It takes forever for medical personnel/transportation to get onto a marathon course. She could have been on a curb at mile 18 giving birth or much worse.
This is borderline child abuse. You can not endanger the welfare of a child. I hope child protective services checks up on her.
Periwinkle wrote:
No way the cost of a marathon registration fee is worth putting your kid at risk like that so late in a pregnancy. Truly appalling.
Exactly. I didn't find it impressive or courageous at all. Curious whether her water broke anytime during the run and if so did she ignore it? Once the water breaks, you lose fluid/nutrients for the baby and it becomes critical to get the baby out.
She is lucky that the baby is fine. Seriously, what was she out there to prove? It obviously wasn't for a great marathon time but instead she was extremely irresponsible in my opinion.
You are a prime example of "You can't fix STUPID"
Beaver Retriever wrote:
With the Pussification of America, this is exactly what we need to see. Wow, could you imagine trying to run a 'thon with that going on? Screw it.....she talked with her doctor and he said it was ok. My hat goes off to her.
haha YO wrote:
Her doctor said it was fine, who cares? Nothing happened to the baby, everyone was fine. So many of you freak out about stuff that never actually happened. She finished a very slow marathon and gave birth to a healthy baby. What's the problem?
I am not equating the two, but you know that a good deal of doctors still believe that drinking alcohol while pregnant is okay. In addition, there are a lot of mothers who drink and smoke while pregnant and still have healthy babies. This does not mean that we should still advocate these things.
There's nothing wrong with what she did. She had doctor's permission, she kept it very easy, and she trained for it. It's not like she just decided to run a marathon on a whim a week before she was due. Exercising during pregnancy is a lot healthier than those women who gain 45 pounds from shoving their faces with Big Macs. Hey, let's try to get gestational diabetes and have our baby be born deformed.
Father Figure wrote:
I saw her on the news and she did NOT look 39 weeks pregnant at all. I don't mean that in a good way either. Even super-fit women have big bumps. You want a big bump. I wonder about the weight of the baby. ...
According to the article, the baby was seven pounds, 13 ounces with no complications. Sounds fine to me. As mentioned by others, I am more horrified with how other women abuse their babies by morphing into enormous blobs, smoking, drinking, etc. This woman got clearence from her doctor to run/walk the race and had a healthy baby. No need to jump ugly on her.
Four things I see that might support the argument that what she did was objectionable:
(1) Chicago is a mass participant race with a very busy course - tricky at times (e.g. aid stations) to keep your footing. It was very possible for her to trip or to have another participant collide with her.
(2) What if she had gone into labor on the course or at the finish - this is not what a medical team, even one as good as in Chicago, would be anticipating. And, resources that might be needed for someone in cardiac arrest (less predictable) might be then allocated to her giving birth (50/50 chance that this could happen perhaops but only she would know this, not the doctors in the medical teams).
(3) Did her doctor give her the okay a week before, a month before? Or did he give the okay a day or two before knowing the temperatures would be in the low 80's? I cannot imagine any lawyer advising a physician to ever tell anyone to run a marathon in 80 degree heat at nearly 39 weeks pregnant - that physician might be served well to seek legal counsel prior to giving that sort of advice in the future.
(4) And, finally, didn't she learn anything from the experiences of the 2007 Chicago Marathon - the key learning would be that the marathon or anything of that ilk, is far less important in the grand scheme of things than your family, your overall health . . . your baby's health. That child's health should be paramount. Not some money-saving rationale of "I already paid for the race so I better do it." (not her exact words, admittedly). This takes the Griswold and Roe decisions to places I never thought they would go.
Periwinkle wrote:
Not awesome at all. Irresponsible. She put the baby's health/life at risk. Whether she was walking or running, body temp was high for an extended period of time, and most likely due to her physical exertion during the event, the baby was delivered early under high risk conditions because of Mom's actions.
I'm a female, a runner, and a woman who ran some during pregnancy. What this lady did was stupid. Hopefully the infant doesn't experience any longterm effects.
No way the cost of a marathon registration fee is worth putting your kid at risk like that so late in a pregnancy. Truly appalling.
Your reaction is a little over the top. 39 almost 40 weeks is not early. She and the baby are fine.
Not a doctor wrote:
According to the article, the baby was seven pounds, 13 ounces with no complications. Sounds fine to me. As mentioned by others, I am more horrified with how other women abuse their babies by morphing into enormous blobs, smoking, drinking, etc. This woman got clearence from her doctor to run/walk the race and had a healthy baby. No need to jump ugly on her.
I did not jump ugly on her. I appreciate the info on the baby. She did not look that big in the pictures.
I would agree with you in regard to the overeating, etc.
My issues weren't so much with the exercising as they were with the event in general, as I stated in the post that you quoted. Tripping is very easy when you have 20 pounds on your stomach, especially when you are in mass crowds of people pushing each other around.
I would say the same thing about a woman at a Slayer concert, or something like that, where people are pushing to get to the front row.
Her marathon time comes out to about 14:24 per mile. for a 3:25 marathoner, this isn't stressful.
Our ancesetors put out much more effort crossing the country in a covered wagon and getting food on the table than this lady did.
why is it that everyone thinks they are an OBGYN and knows what is safe for a woman to do during pregnancy? Have you done the research?
Women shouldn't be allowed to run marathons even under prime conditions, much less decide what to do with their own bodies when an unborn child lies in wait.
My aunt ran a marathon while 6 months pregnant, much to the astonishment of many people in the family. She had no complications and a seemingly healthy baby. Sadly, the child showed signs of severe mental retardation within a few years. No particular reason to think it is related, but I'd hate to wonder the rest of my life.
not Mammoth Track Club wrote:
Well, the baby clearly wanted to get the hell out of there!
Us dudes spend 9 months fighting to get out and the rest of our lives fighting to get back in!