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The Ups and Downs of Running for Two

(Photo: Getty Images)

From Redbook

My husband proposed at the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon after party. We've run eight Disney races together - mostly in silly character costumes. So it was only fitting that our unborn daughter's first race (at five months along) was the inaugural Disneyland Paris Half Marathon. Running babymoon in Paris seemed like the perfect way to celebrate our growing family.

But running for two hasn't been an easy road. I've found that just maintaining a consistent routine has taken as much dedication - though, definitely not as much mileage - as training for a marathon. Before that double pink line showed up on my at-home pregnancy test, I ran four days a week, averaging 20-30 miles depending on the season. A few weeks into my pregnancy, I found myself lucky to squeeze in two to three easy runs a week, sometimes clocking none at all. And my mileage dropped to almost half of what it was before.

Between around-the-clock nausea, debilitating fatigue, the flu, bronchitis, a boomerang cold that kept coming back, and a recurrent fever during my the first fourth months, I was barely functional. It would have been easy to kick my running sneakers aside during my first trimester and beyond. But for the last decade, running has been my escape, my me time, my coping mechanism, my everything mental-health-related. If ever there were a time, I needed my running therapy, pregnancy has been it.

So I did what any die-hard runner might do: I ran anyway. I was vomiting whether I was lying in bed, sitting at my desk, or out on the road, so I figured I might as well keep at it. I kept my pace easy and my mileage low. I went from running my second fastest half-marathon ever during what turned out to be the first week of my pregnancy to barely being able to finish three miles just five weeks later. Surging hormones in the first trimester leave many a woman winded, according to a recent study published in the Cardiovascular Journal of Africa, as their oxygen demand increases 20 percent overall and their cardiac output shoots up 20 percent in the first two months alone. Basically, your lungs and heart start working overtime. I felt like I'd taken five giant steps back in terms of fitness, sucking wind like a power vacuum.

Then there was the ever-present nausea. During the 2016 Track & Field U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon, I attended a Nike track workout at historic Hayward Field. I worried that I would besmirch the hallowed ground when I suddenly had the urge to retch. Happily, I discovered a lined "human spillage" bucket on the side of the track for just such an occasion, and immediately hurled into it. During another group run, Nike master trainer Traci Copeland rubbed my back as I stopped to dry-heave on the side of the road. Just a day in the life of a pregnant runner.

I heard from plenty of haters: "Are you really going to keep running?" "Should you really be running?" "I can't believe you're still running!" To which I replied, "Yes, I really am," "Yes, I really should," and "Well, believe it!" I'm not the first, nor the last pregnant runner, to get the stink eye.

"It's funny, the looks that you get when you're running pregnant," said marathon world record holder and Disneyland Paris Half Marathon ambassador Paula Radcliffe. "But the baby is actually healthier and better prepared for coping with the stress of delivery and the first few weeks than the mother who takes no exercise." Radcliffe is a mother of two who faced pushback from her doctor when she continued training through her first pregnancy 10 years ago, she told me. But her doctor later apologized, Radcliffe said, after seeing first-hand how healthy her daughter was amidst a growing body of research that shows the broadranging benefits of prenatal exercise.

Pregnant workouts decrease the risk of gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and cesarean delivery, as well as reduce back pain, ease constipation, encourage healthy weight gain, and strengthen your heart and blood vessels, according to The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Moms who exercise regularly often endure shorter labor and lower risk of delivery complications, and their babies benefit too; they're better able to handle stress, enjoy advanced neurological and behavioral maturity, and have lower fat mass - all great for a healthy start to life - according to a study from the University of Geneva. Plus, your prenatal workouts might actually give your child a healthier heart, according to a study published in Early Human Development.

The general rule from the medical community is to keep doing what you were doing pre-pregnancy, in consultation with your doctor. If you aren't a marathoner, like Radcliffe, pregnancy isn't the time to sign up for one. Of course, I got my doc's blessing. Not only that, she encouraged me to keep running. "I want you to exercise," she said at our first meeting. "I'm a runner," I replied. "Excellent. Keep running," she nodded with approval. When it came time to run the Disneyland Paris Half Marathon, I had to get written approval from my doctor, per French law - but every runner did, not just the pregnant ones. When I handed my doc the race's health certificate, she signed it without hesitation.

There were, of course, days and weeks when I had to hang up my sneakers. During the first 26 weeks of pregnancy - approximately six months - I missed a total of seven weeks of exercise. It was frustrating, and I got antsy. But I listened to my body and eased back into a routine after each break.

Come my second trimester, I got my breath back and running became easy once more. I kept the pace cool and the mileage low, but it wasn't a struggle like it was in those early months. The ever-present urge to pee settled in, making longer distances tough without planned bathroom breaks, but I was having fun again, sharing my passion with my baby-to-be, and reaping the health benefits for both of us.

Going into the Disneyland Paris Half Marathon, my longest pregnant run had been eight miles. But with 30 half marathons and eight marathons under my belt, I knew I'd be alright. Little Cinderella 2, as my husband and I dubbed our baby girl (after our dog, Cinderella), was ready for her first race.

We chose to dress as the rare Disney characters who actually have babies during their feature film: Lady and the Tramp. So two dogs set out on a cool morning in France to run side-by-side and stride-for-stride through Disneyland Paris and the bucolic French countryside. I was grateful the course was both flat and scenic as we stopped for photos in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle and with Disney characters lining the course, ducked into bathrooms for much-needed bladder breaks, and enjoyed lengthy snack stops to munch on the apple slices volunteers handed out on course.

I ran the first 10 miles at my usual training pace rather easily. But then my legs were ready to call it, thanks to a mix of low-mileage training and the 30 miles we hoofed through Paris in the days before the race. It all added up to the slowest half-marathon of our lives. But it was also one of the most fun. We got cheers for Lady and the Tramp, spotted friends who were also running on the out-and-back portions of the course, and chatted with each other the whole time. We talked a lot about our daughter - imagining her first trip to Disney, her first kids' race, what kind of person and athlete she might become. But on this occasion, she slept through the whole event. We should have nicknamed her Sleeping Beauty.

Finally, after 250 miles of training, 21 weeks of pregnancy, and 13.1 miles on the roads of Disneyland Paris and Val d'Europe, France, we crossed the finish line. It made all those tough months worth the slog of running through pregnancy. My girl "ran" her first race - one of many, I hope. Yes, running is my escape from the daily grind of life. But it's also something I share with my husband, family, friends, and now my unborn daughter. I don't run; we run - as a pack, as a family, through Disneyland Paris, and through life.

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