A pregnant woman ran a five-minute mile one month before her due date to prove her critics wrong, who said she was harming her baby.
Makenna Myler is a 30-year-old professional middle-distance runner who refused to let her pregnancy stop her from training.
According to Daily Mail, “The soon-to-be mom-of-two, from Orange County, California, kept up her training routine throughout her first pregnancy in 2020 – which saw her completing a mile in five minutes and 25 seconds ‘just to see if it was possible.”
Last month, Myler broke her own record and ran on the track for eight more seconds while pregnant.
“I thought it was quite common to train during pregnancy, but there turned out to be a lot of people who think it’s not normal. Some of it has been genetic – I know some awesome runners who got pregnant, and their pelvis just couldn’t take running,” she said.
“I had people asking how I could do that while nine months pregnant when they can barely get off the sofa.”
Makenna added that it all depends on how you train your body, and as she has been running even before her pregnancy, so it helped her.
“A lot of it has to do with how you fortify your body before getting pregnant – I was running before pregnancy too which helped me.”
“There were so many days I tried to run while pregnant and it just wasn’t happening, so you don’t win every time. But you just keep trying,” the athlete added.
“But at the end of the day, it’s important to listen to your body and only do what you’re capable of, because a healthy pregnancy is the most important thing.”
The mom-of-one said during her second pregnancy, she wanted to beat her 5-minute 25-second pregnant mile record from three years ago.
“For me, it’s not even about proving people wrong, but about questioning the reality of what you’re capable of,” she explained. “I’m a big believer of listening to your “internal governor” – the voice inside your head that tells you to stop when you need to – but you can push it a bit first.”
“If you listen to that voice you won’t do anything that will endanger you.”
After receiving criticism from some people for being so active during her pregnancy, Myler said she didn’t pay attention to people’s negative comments.
“The people who are outright blatantly mean, they’re taking something out on me, but it has nothing to do with me. Sometimes it comes from a person who has doubts in themselves and compare themselves to what I’m doing.”
“But the only person I’m comparing myself to is me, and trying to beat my own time. Everyone’s pregnancies are different, and I just look for ways to enjoy my own.”
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Source: Daily Mail
