Here’s another story about a woman who won’t let impending motherhood get in the way of getting the job done: Amber Miller, who was nearly 39 weeks pregnant, ran half the Chicago Marathon this weekend and then walked the second half. And then right after crossing the finish line, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. After grabbing a nosh. Yup. Did you get winded after climbing some stairs this morning? Guess what? Amber Miller is about to make you feel like a real slacker.
Already the mother of a son, Miller was 38 weeks and five days pregnant when she started running the Chicago Marathon yesterday. She’d gotten permission from her doctor to train for and run half of the approximately 27 miles of the marathon. It was around the halfway point that she stopped running and started walking. When she reached the finish line, she started feeling contractions.
So she went out to eat first.
And then she thought it might be a good time to give birth to her daughter, June, who weighed in at 7 lbs, 13 oz. at exactly 10:29 PM. Miller arrived at the hospital wearing the medal she received from running the marathon.
Throughout the marathon, Miller says that she received lots of “interesting comments” from other participants who were probably surprised to see a woman who was nine months pregnant taking part in an extremely strenuous 27-mile athletic activity (that, sadly, also saw the death of 35-year old firefighter William Caviness). Miller says:
“Everybody just kind of stared as I’m running by.”
Yes, they were probably thinking, “Maybe she’s smuggling an engine under there.” And it is at this point where we’ll remind you that previously, we reported on a woman who gave birth after completing her bar exam, so maybe the key to a smooth delivery is distraction.
