New mother Anna Young, who gave birth to her baby girl five months ago, ran a half marathon this weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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Utah mom, Anna Young, smiles with her daughter after finishing a half-marathon.
Instead of sitting off to the side, or under a canopy on the course, she chose to walk and pump.
When she was ready to pump at about 13 kilometres in, Young was pleased with her progress and kept walking.
“Yesterday I ran a half marathon at five months postpartum”. I had to leave at 4:30am and the race started at 6:45am. “I nursed my daughter before I left my house, pumped after running the first 8 miles and nursed her after I made it past the finish line”.
‘This group and Le Leche league motivated me to find a way to run my race and take care of my daughter.
Having run competitively in school, Young made a decision to keep her spot in the race.
Young, an avid runner, told Babble that she signed up for the race before she found out was pregnant, but chose to run it after giving birth, training while pushing her daughter in a stroller.
“I thought it would be a good way for me to get active again and share something I’m passionate about with my daughter”, Young said. The new mom added that she trained by running while pushing her daughter in a stroller.
“We started off on walks when she was about 3 months old”, Young said. “But one of the other women in the race turned around and cheered for me because she saw and knew exactly what I was doing”.
“I chose to keep walking and moving with the flow, more people started passing me, I wasn’t sure anyone could tell what I was doing because they were coming from behind”, Young said.
Young ended up running at a pace of 7:58 minutes per mile and finished in just over an hour and 44 minutes. “Usually I would eat and get changed, feed her and make sure she had a clean diaper and then we’d head out for a run”.
Young also noticed a photographer on the course, but she didn’t expect him to take a photo of her breastfeeding.
Young credits organizations like La Leche League and Occupy Breastfeeding to helping her through the first few hard months.
Anna’s post has received hundreds of positive comments from mothers who feel totally inspired by her determined attitude.
“I was really nervous, and I felt really embarrassed because I was running with kind of a CamelBak and I had a pump in it”, Young said.
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The post has gotten nearly 10,000 likes and reactions and dozens of women have thanked her for sharing her experience.
