3 Reasons Pregnancy Made Me a Better Runner

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Last May when I found out I was expecting, I was undoubtedly excited. I couldn’t wait to be a mom.

Only thing, I  was in the early stages of training for my First Marathon… Actually a 39.3 mile, two day challenge at Walt Disney World. 
My pre-pregnancy plan was to keep up my base mileage, and work on strength training. I’ve read so many articles that encourage a strong core for better running form, so I was going to work on my core, and building my base from April – July. 
In July, I was going to start the Jeff Galloway training plan for the 2014 Goofy Challege. Since I was expecting, I couldn’t train for the race but with my OB’s consent (and constant supervision – seriously, she was always checking in on my mileage) I continued to run until I was 36 weeks pregnant. 
Becoming a #pregnantrunner helped me in many ways, here are three of them! 

1) Proper Form
When you are carrying a child, your balance is different. In order to compensate, I took shorter, more focused strides and was sure to keep my head up.  By focusing on proper form, and taking slower runs during pregnancy, I’ve seen a change in my current running. 
I’m actually paying attention to the details of the run, not just pounding the pavement gathering miles! 

2) Nutrition 
Running for two requires attention to your water and calorie intake! 
It’s easy to get focused on the need to run and forget to make sure you are properly hydrated, and have a snack before the run. 
Now that I’ve gone from #pregnantrunner  to #breastfeedingrunner the same applies! 

3) Enjoy each run, and be thankful. 

At 37 weeks, my baby was full term and I had started to lose weight. Baby was healthy but my OB was concerned for my health and asked me to stop running, and only walk a few times a week. 

I was bored. The 8 weeks I wasn’t permitted to run I missed it… 

My lesson was learned. Even on the rough days, I try to be positive and thankful that I was able to run! 

Question: did you / would you run while pregnant? 

Reminder: I’m not a health professional, prior to running while pregnant be sure to get clearance from your doctor! ❤️

First pregnant running event! (June 2013)






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