Motherhood embraced, more than ever
Sitting under a New Hampshire sky, Fiona English was joyous. Taking in the recent eclipse, celebrating the first birthday of her son Alder, anticipating her first Boston Marathon, it felt, she said, “like the end of my story.
“I can run my victory lap around Boston.”
A little over a year ago, from her home in London, English was feeling anything but joy.
She’d posted a public letter to the Boston Marathon that quickly went viral, in which she shared details of her failed attempt to get a deferral due to pregnancy. She’d been denied by a Boston Athletic Association still constrained by an outdated policy, one that made no exception for pregnancy, despite, in this case, English’s due date falling just two days before the race, leaving it both unwise and unsafe for her to travel and run.
In credit to the BAA, change came quickly. A policy shift, the organization said, was mere dotted I’s and crossed T’s away from being done, soon granting pregnant entrants who would prefer to defer two additional years to use their qualifying time, with an additional opportunity to extend by another year if they get pregnant a second time in that span.
One year later, English is back, a 17time marathoner and ultra-distance runner determined, she said, “to be on the start line where history is made.”
She stands as one of the faces, and bodies, of change in a conversation that is so important, yet for so long shrouded in silence. Getting pregnant does not have to mean the end of an athletic career, and more than ever, these running-while-pregnant women and marathoning moms are building a community. Showing by example how their beautiful, healthy personal choices can allow for a continuing, elite, athletic career with a postpartum body.
It’s a lesson Maegan Krifchin lived out loud.
“I was actually torn in the sense of being fearful, that I was going to get the negative hate because there’s still a lot of that out there and I was prepared for it,” said Krifchin, the Cambridge resident who made headlines at the Olympic Trials in February, competing in the marathon at 31 weeks pregnant. Last year’s 25th-place finisher in Boston, Krifchin and her husband, Matt McDonald — a top American in this year’s field — welcomed baby Mason just more than two weeks ago.
“Surprisingly, it was all mostly positive feedback, and all those kind words I got, they were inspirational. Motivating others to run through their first trimester, it was really rewarding,” she said. “We’re changing the storyline.”
“I think it’s still quite controversial to run when you’re pregnant,” said English, who completed a 5K just a week before delivering Alder. “I had an amazing experience. That’s what my body felt comfortable doing, but I also had people stop me in the street and tell me to stop running while pregnant.
“I had one doctor tell me he had a theory that running while pregnant was cutting off blood supply to the baby. I said, ‘What theory is that paper in, the evidence, because I’d love to read it.’ It was just his theory, and that’s the big problem with marathoning moms and pregnant women who want to run. Lots of people have heard rumors rather than heard facts.”
Enter women such as Alysia Montaño, the American runner and London Olympics 800-meter bronze medalist, who gained her own Krifchin-like attention in 2014 for competing in USATF’s outdoor track and field championships while eight months pregnant. Now a mother of three, the 37year-old is the founder of the nonprofit &Mother, which “envisions a culture where motherhood is not a limiting factor in how women succeed professionally or personally. Where women can openly express their needs and receive support without retribution.”
The site devotes a section to best practices and resources for professional athletes dealing with peri- and postpregnancy, filling a void in a space where scientific study is hard to find.
“We need the visibility of what it looks like out there. We need the experience to be shown in a positive light, not to keep this story that, when women get pregnant, this is where they go to die,” Montaño said from her home in California. “We’re using sports as a lens to what we face on a broader scale.”
Just a year ago, Hellen Obiri turned onto Boylston Street with her first Boston Marathon win in sight. As visuals go, her finish-line hug with her daughter Tania was one to remember. From bringing a child into the world nine years ago to conquering the marathoning world in front of that child’s eyes, well, messages don’t get much more powerful than that.
“It was a beautiful moment,” Obiri said in a phone call. “Your kid is there watching you, watching mommy being the best, you do it to inspire her. When I look back, I see there are so many ladies before me, and they inspire me to come back strong. For us to inspire them now, and to talk to them and let them know there’s life after giving birth.”
Which brings us back to the challenge, and back to Boston. More than ever, there’s support before, during, and after giving birth. If one part of the deferral pie is the application and approval, “part two is once an athlete gets back in the race, how can we create an environment that’s supportive of the needs of a new mother,” said Giselle Silva of the BAA operations team.
To that end, lactation stations are available at points along the race in increasing frequency, and the BAA can transport personal pumping devices from start to the finish.
“The sense of camaraderie that you see in that start area lactation tent among those mothers is unique, and we received a lot of feedback from these athletes directly, with many saying it was the best part of race day for them,” Silva said.
Susie Cleary, director of athlete services for the race, said the BAA granted 187 deferrals this year, up from 112 last year. A small number in the grand scheme of 30,000 runners, but absolutely life-changing to those utilizing them. Of the 112, Cleary said 55 are running this year.
Thrilled to be among them, English returns having helped tip an important scale.
“Getting pregnant, being pregnant, and recovering from birth are all really hard, and I don’t think we talk about that very much,” she said. “Qualifying for Boston is also really hard, and I’m proud to go through both of those things and be here to combine them together.”