Archive for November 13th, 2008

(Author’s note: This piece ran in the Huffington Post in November 2007. Given that Paula Radcliffe just won the NYC marathon again, I thought I’d reprint it. She’s an inspiring woman. I have a list of “people whose memoirs I would like to ghost” and she’s definitely on it).

Paula Radcliffe, the British distance runner and women’s marathon world record holder, won the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday for the second time in four years. Her all-out sprint at the end of a hard-fought 26.2 miles was a testament to human endurance. But what’s even more amazing is that the win comes just 10 months after Radcliffe spent 27 hours in labor delivering a little girl. She has described her childbirth experience as “frustrating,” but Radcliffe, like most marathoners, plays through pain. That same grit that helped her come back from a disappointing loss in the 2004 Olympic marathon in Athens to win the 2004 New York City Marathon had her come back from little Isla’s birth, and a post-childbirth sacrum stress fracture, to blow past Gete Wami (who is also a mom) for a 2:23:09 finish.

I took up running in 2004 after watching Radcliffe’s previous New York win. Seeing a photo of her, running, 8 months pregnant, in a spring issue of Vogue inspired me to keep running through my recent pregnancy. Radcliffe has made a career of showing that the female human body - even the pregnant and post-partum human body - is capable of amazing things. Pregnancy and childbirth need not slow a woman down.

Unfortunately, this message has yet to trickle down to most new moms and moms-to-be. More and more women are participating in sports these days, and some are sweating for two. Citing the growing body of evidence on exercise’s benefits for moms and unborn babies, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists revised its guidelines in 2002 to say that most pregnant women should get the universally recommended 30 minutes of exercise most days. But though women have made great strides in athletics, vigorous exercise during pregnancy is one of the last taboos to fall. A recent Saint Louis University study found that only 16% of pregnant women get the recommended amount of exercise, compared with 27% of all women.

This is a public health failure. Exercising during pregnancy not only reduces rates of complications, it helps keep women’s weight gain in check. Women who gain too much weight during their pregnancies may never lose it. That’s not just a cosmetic issue. According to the surgeon general, women who gain 20 lbs between age 18 and midlife double their risk of post-menopausal breast cancer. When doctors and others fail to push healthy pregnant women to exercise, they put them at risk for a lifetime of ills.

Even if people can get their heads around the idea that pregnant women can jog or swim, though, many coaches who work with young female athletes warn them that pregnancy can derail a career. The assumption is that there’s no way the human body can nurture another being for nine months, go through the process of birth, and emerge stronger on the other side. This puts young athletes in a bind, since a woman’s prime childbearing years (twenties and early thirties) are also the human body’s peak athletic years. Like corporate women, athletes seem to face a harsh choice: career or children?

But, just as statistics show that the career vs. children debate is a false choice (the majority of mothers are in the labor force in some capacity, and even the majority of high-earning women have children), Radcliffe shows that athleticism and childbearing aren’t incompatible, either. Just because no man has ever given birth to a child and then won a marathon doesn’t mean that women can’t.

In fact, pregnancy can have athletic benefits. Birth can hone an endurance athlete’s psychological toughness. Running with added pregnancy weight is the equivalent of a cyclist training at altitude. As Radcliffe told the BBC, “I actually feel stronger after giving birth and I noticed straight away I had a lot more stamina in my legs and my long runs came back very quickly.”

Though I’ve never been a fast runner, I likewise discovered that becoming a mother can build strength. Before I became pregnant with my son, Jasper, I ran 11 minute miles. Ten minute miles felt fast. I assumed pregnancy would slow my training. But, inspired by Radcliffe, I ran up until I delivered. When I started running again two weeks later, I noticed that my pre-pregnancy treadmill pace felt oddly slow. So I ran faster. A month after Jasper’s birthday, I ran my first 8:30 mile. I was amazed at what my body could do.

Girls in Isla’s generation probably won’t be so amazed. After all, they’re seeing that, like WellPoint CEO Angela Braly, you can be a business titan and a mom of three. They’re seeing that you can give birth and win a major marathon in the same year. That’s a lot to celebrate - and definitely a reason for balloons and confetti in Central Park this past weekend.