running + pregnancy

The best thing you can do is collect the data and decide for yourself.  When there is a fetus involved EVERYONE is going to be conservative.  ANYTHING that could be potentially dangerous they are going to tell you NO.  Esp people who basically have no knowledge RE: the science and literature. 

1-James Clapp from Case Western Reserve has done most of the good research RE: exercise during preganacy.  Put his name in your favorite search engine and go to town
2-There was an ask the coach section in a recent triathlete mag azine regarding this.  THey actually did a nice job and found Dr. Clapp and got his opinion
3-Most of Dr. Clapps research can find only benefits to exercising thru your pregnancy both for the fetus and mother.  There is better mother child bonding, the childern have lower body fat percentages than babies of more sedantary mothers, the exercising mothers lost preganacy weight faster and in general felt better post partum than sedantary mothers
4-ACOG has specific guidelines for exercise during pregancy which you should get from your OB/GYN
5-Your pre-pregnancy activity level should help guide your pregnancy activity level
6-There have been antecdotal reports of elite runners running thru preganacy with no ill effects to the fetus

Bottom line is that OB/GYN is our most litiginous medical specialty and no one is going to tell you go ahead and do ____ if they think it could potentially injure the fetus.  Its almost impossible to set up a study regarding the safety of anything in pregnancy due to fear of injuring the fetus and lawsuits.  As a consequence we are left with anecdotal reports of people who have exercised a lot during their pregnancies with not enough data to take a stand on and say "OK its safe to do X but not X+1"  The studies that have been done, as above, have really shown no ill effects to mother or fetus in a HEALTHY NORMAL pregnancy.

Hope this helps.  Feel free to PM me if you have other questions.  I'm a doc and, although not an OB/GYN,  had to write an article on the musculosleletal changes of pregnancy and exercise during pregnancy so I kind of had the topic thrust upon me. 

No experience with running a half marathon at 2-3 months, but I DID have to wear a bridesmaid's dress at 5 months.  It wasn't pretty.  Just a warning for you!

It doesn't put more stress on the back and legs with the extra weight running that late into the pregnancy?

Thats in the COJ area.

We just had our first about three months ago.  My wife was pretty sick during the first trimester and into the second, so biking and running kinda went out the window.  Nevertheless, the only thing I recall (and didn't see it mentioned above) is that you may not want your core, and, hence, baby (well, fetus) temperature to get above about 102F.  That is pretty high, but obtainable during exersize. 

Otherwise, why not?

Talk to a sports doc about it - and yeah, it'll depend on how you feel.  I did a sprint w/out knowing I was pregnant. She's now a healthy 4 yr. old   and did her first tri last year.

It all depends on how you feel.  You might be puking and tired during the first trimester which means you will have no energy to go for regular runs.  I felt pretty good throughout my pregnancy and ran until a couple days before my son was due.  Then he was 2 weeks late!  I tried to run him out, but it didn't work!

Anyway, listen to your body.  It will know what you can and cannot do.  Go ahead and sign up for the race.  Check out my logs from August 2008 to April 2009 to see how I handled working out while pregnant.  My son is now 8 months old and totally fine.  Good luck!

I have an 18 month old daughter and know that when I was in my first trimester, I actually felt pretty great!  Yes, there were some moments where I was just totally exhausted, but there were a lot of times when I really felt super.  So, it's just a really personal thing.  Old wives tales say that if your mom had super big morning sickness, then you will likely have it.  If your mom weathered pregnancy well and had no issues, then you may be totally okay too.  This was the case for me as well as several of my girl friends as well.

Sign up for the race and just know that you may either run-walk it, walk it or run the whole thing.  Being flexible is key.