Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Pregnant and pumped for their run on Sunday
They call themselves "Knocked Up, But Not Out" because this team of five women will deliver a lot more than a big finish at the 2009 Manitoba Marathon.
Joan St. Laurent, Chantelle Harder, Laura Masterson, Sarah Johnson and Sam Czemerynski are all experienced runners who are between four and eight months pregnant and all will give birth to their babies later this year.
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But first, each will run a leg of the Manitoba Marathon relay, a distance of about six miles per person, with their unborn running partners along for the ride.
"We're super excited, we're ready to get out there, and with every day that passes, we laugh about 'oh, are we going to be too big, are we going to pop one day?' " laughed Harder, 31, who is pregnant for the third time. She is the mother of two sons, five-year-old Tobin and 17-month-old Tristan, and stepdaughter Hailey, 5.
Harder started the team by posting an ad on a local online classified advertisements website in which she said she was looking for pregnant women who are still running. Her brother-in-law came up with the name and the group adopted it.
"Pregnant women are not couch-bound, putting our feet up and eating chocolate. For some, maybe they are, and that's great, but we still like to run," Harder said. "One of the girls said she wondered if there were any other pregnant women out there who were still running and we got our answer. There's at least five of us."
St. Laurent, 27, is the farthest along. She will be 32 weeks pregnant with her first child on race day, but she's also the hard-core runner in the group. St. Laurent has run six full marathons since 2004 and ran the annual Winnipeg Police Service half marathon last month at 25 weeks.
"I've had fun with it with the group. I said I used to have a PB (personal best) and now I have my PPB for pregnancy personal best," said St. Laurent, who ran the storied Boston Marathon in 2007. She ran her most recent marathon last October, one month before she became pregnant. "I'm still at it, but I'm definitely slowing down now."
She said the team hopes to send a message about women continuing their previous activities during pregnancy.
"Before the first woman ran the Boston Marathon 40 years ago (Kathrine Switzer in 1967), people thought your uterus would fall out if you ran a distance that far," St. Laurent said. "It's important to be active throughout your pregnancy and (know that) nothing bad is going to happen. It's healthy for the baby and it's not obscene to see some pregnant woman running down the street."
Harder said the motion of running seems to be soothing to her little person.
"As soon as I start exercising or running, that's when my baby is the most calm. It's almost like my baby gets lulled to sleep," she said. "After I run, I feel so much better and so much better about myself."
None of the five women knew each other before answering Harder's ad, but now they have a new group of friends and a support network.
"It'll be fun to be able to tell our babies about how they were in the marathon before they were born," Harder said. "Maybe someday when they're older, they will run the marathon relay all together, the next generation."
The fearless five
Joan St Laurent, 27, 32 weeks pregnant
Due Aug. 15
Chantelle Harder, 31, 25 weeks pregnant
Due Oct. 4
Laura Masterson, 27, 24 weeks pregnant
Due Oct. 8
Sarah Johnson, 30, 23 weeks pregnant
Due Oct. 22
Sam Czemerynski, 29, 16 weeks pregnant
Due Dec. 13
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 20, 2009 A11
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