As someone who is trying to get fitter after years of inactivity, I’m still hesitant to sign up for a 5K race, no matter how important the fund-raising cause or how cool the T-shirt they give away might be. I’m not up for that 3.2 mile jog just yet. I walk 4 miles per day, but running just isn’t my thing.
So it’s hard for me to fathom pushing my body through a 26.2 mile marathon like rescued Chilean miner Edison Pena who ran the New York Marathon. I can’t imagine running a marathon naked or while wearing a fun costume. And it’s impossible for me to consider running a marathon if I were just days away from my expected due date as a pregnant woman like Amber Miller.
Miller didn’t even expect to finish the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday, but she did. Registering for the event before she knew she was pregnant, Miller planned to run half the distance, advance through the rest of the 13.1 miles and then walk across the finish line.
But once she got moving on Sunday, Miller, running along with her husband, finished the first half and kept on chugging before her contractions began and slowed her pace. She and her spouse walked the rest of the mileage, finishing in 6.5 hours. Baby June was born hours later.
Miller has now completed eight marathons, three while pregnant. She ran one at 17 weeks with June and finished another 26.2 miles while previously pregnant with her son.
