Anyone win a race while being pregnant?

I did a local turkey trot in San Antonio last Thanksgiving, and the first woman was mega-preggers. Not elite level racing, but she was prob. running sub-6:30's.

Actually, she doe run around the elite level. A few months earlier she competed in the Olympic trials while pregant.

If you are racing while pregnant then you don't care about the health of your baby. OK some will argue it probably doesn't hurt the baby. I just don't see a reason to risk it and find out.

Agree. However, my ex qualified for the OT while 8 weeks pregnant. Second in a marathon in 2:46+ Didn't know it at the time. Found out 2 days after.

Stupidity Check wrote:

OK some will argue it probably doesn't hurt the baby. I just don't see a reason to risk it and find out.

I think if a woman has the o.k from her pediatrician that should carry a little more weight than what you think. Pediatricians state that an expecting mother can carry on the same fitness routine (not step it up a notch) until nearly the end of their pregancy. If a woman is an elite athlete, then carry on. I'm not a pediatrician but this is what my wife was told. This is also what the woman in San Antonio was told. If this is wrong, send a link showing studies to the contrary.

Mr. San Antonio wrote:

I think if a woman has the o.k from her pediatrician that should carry a little more weight than what you think. Pediatricians state that an expecting mother can carry on the same fitness routine (not step it up a notch) until nearly the end of their pregancy. If a woman is an elite athlete, then carry on. I'm not a pediatrician but this is what my wife was told. This is also what the woman in San Antonio was told. If this is wrong, send a link showing studies to the contrary.

Sorry don't need links to studies, it's common sense. Obviously racing isn't going to be good for the baby. You think it's GOOD for the baby? I am not saying women should run, but I don't see the reason for the risk. What is there to gain? What happens if you lose the baby or it comes out with some disorder, aren't you going to hate yourself for taking the risk? It's like women that drink caffine or alcohol while pregnant, what happens if the baby comes out with an arm missing or something aren't they always going to think "what if I didn't do ....?"

Janis Klecker won the City of Lakes 25k in Minneapolis back in the mid-90's while pregnant. It was early in the pregnancy. Not sure if she knew yet. I think she ran around 1:33 - 1:35.

Ingrid Kristiansen

Joe Pants wrote:

Janis Klecker won the City of Lakes 25k in Minneapolis back in the mid-90's while pregnant. It was early in the pregnancy. Not sure if she knew yet. I think she ran around 1:33 - 1:35.

Not knowing isn't quite the same thing.

Stupidity Check wrote:

Sorry don't need links to studies, it's common sense.

And 500 years ago it was "common sense" that the world was flat. I'm sorry but well done clinical trials are essential and they yes... they mean more then your common sense.

One of my good friends back in college won a road race and was training very hard. She was pretty fast as she went to Nationals for D2 in the Steeple and 5k. She passed out at the end of the road race after running her normal low 17's. She didn't know she was pregnent, and went to the cotor a few days later and found out, and then had a miscarriage about a week later. She was only 3 weeks in, so it was still very early.

The doctor told her her body fat was too low to support pregnancy and the body was under too much stress from running 80 mile weeks.

I'm sorry to hear that however some people do run... hard...while pregnant and still have healthy children. Also, a lot of people have miscarriages and they don't excercise at all. While running (weight) may have played a part, miscarriages are also a way for the body to get rid of a non-viable entity.

Fetal hemoglobin is much denser than normal human hemoglobin... it would be tough to harm the baby's oxygen supply no matter how hard you ran. The sheer bouncing up and down would be the only real danger of racing, and I think that problem would be minimal in a flat road race.

My dad runs all the time, and he's 3 years pregnant. Oh no wait, that's just his huge gut, nevermind, sorry.

This may seem a stupid male question.

Does running while pregnant lift the baby's heart rate?

I ran and won a road race when fairly newly pregnant, but was not aware at the time, and would not have raced had I known. My doc said feel free to run, but no intense speed of any kind for a number of reasons. Chief among them was the elevated core temp that you tend to produce during hard efforts. This can cause uterine contractions that could then cause miscarriage. Run as long into the pregnancy as you are comfortable, but racing is a selfish and stupid thing to do when you are the mother ship!

You are assuming that if someone runs a race while pregnant that they are trying to run hard and win...maybe the woman who won felt like running 6:30s was an easy pace for her (which it might be based on the posts about her normal non-preggo times). At her level of ability, her heart rate probably stayed nice and low for the race if the pace was easy for her...Just because her time ended up winning the race doesn't mean she went to the event planning to run hard and try to win...just worked out that no one faster showed up that day.

If pregnant woman wins a race, then should there be an under 0 age group?

Ti wrote:

I'm sorry to hear that however some people do run... hard...while pregnant and still have healthy children. Also, a lot of people have miscarriages and they don't excercise at all. While running (weight) may have played a part, miscarriages are also a way for the body to get rid of a non-viable entity.

That is not always true. a miscarriage does not necessarily mean there is something wrong with the fetus, can be that there is something wrong with the "environment" like low progesterone, cervix, etc.....as for the doctor that gave the young lady the excuse that she miscarried because she ran 80 miles a week, well, he obviously wasn't "up on things" because he doesn't know why she miscarried.....babies have been born under all sorts of poor circumstances to women who are poorly nurished and never had an ounce of medical care, and sometimes miscarraige occurs under the best of circumstances.