Makenna Myler, a 28-year-old product trainer who lives in California, has been running five to six times a week throughout her pregnancy. "I cut back my mileage a lot and have been a lot slower, but I have been very particular with my strength training to make sure my pelvic shift and added weight didn’t/doesn’t cause any injury," she told BuzzFeed.
Toward the beginning of her pregnancy, she felt nervous about what running would look like when she was further along. She told her husband that she estimated she'd still be able to run at least a 7-minute mile, which was her casual pace prepregnancy. "To keep me motivated, he said he would give me $100 if I could break 8 minutes doing the mile at 9 months pregnant," she said.
Not only did she break 8 minutes — she broke 6! And the video of her feat has over 3 million views on TikTok.
While I was blown away by her display of athleticism, I was curious about how Makenna's doctors felt about her running this intensely while pregnant.
"My first doctor was all about it because he had dealt with elite athletes before," she said. "My second doctor asked me to be a bit more cautious because he didn’t understand my background — and that was before any ultrasound. After ultrasounds showed a perfectly healthy baby, he’s been more supportive, but emphasizes the importance of getting enough calories (which, if he knew me better, he would know that’s not a problem)."
Dr. Jennifer Lincoln, a Portland, Oregon–based gynecologist, told BuzzFeed: "In general, if someone has been doing a certain exercise prior to pregnancy, they can continue it in pregnancy, with some exceptions (hot yoga and contact sports, for example). General precautions should be taken, such as staying hydrated, stopping if you become dizzy or feel unwell, or if you have high-risk issues and your doctor has advised you to modify or cut back."
"Feeling capable is everything to me," Makenna said. "Running has been a big outlet for me in that way. Running during pregnancy has been a beautiful process of accepting effort and patience, not forcing anything, and letting go of pace and forced mileage."
Makenna is due on Monday, Oct. 19. When asked if she'll continue running up until her due date, she said, "It’s funny, I kept waiting and waiting for the day when I would just be done or my body would break, but that day never came. So yeah, I’ll probably still be running by next Monday."