Doing a marathon at 21 weeks. Did a marathon at 27 weeks with second pregnancy (marathon at 14 weeks with first.) but this is third pregnancy and I just don’t have the freedom to run as much as I’d like. I work from home and have two kids who aren’t in full time school yet. I can get maybe 3-4mi 3-5 times a week if I’m lucky. I tried really hard and got a 30 mi/week in but in reality it’s 10-15 mi/week at a very slow stroller jog.

No correlation with running and ease of labor or bounce back as far as I can see. Horrible first labor (though I did have the strength/endurance to endure 4 hr of pushing...), super fast second. Got back in shape pretty quick after first. Didn’t gain a lot with second (did lots of great workouts!) but also left hospital only down 5lb! Less than baby! Never really got last 5lb of baby weight off not got abs back. Again it’s less the body’s ability to do it and more that more kids = less time to workout as I’d prefer.

As for pain, the bump wraps (forget name, it’s like a belly band that pushes up on bump) were good for round ligament pain and alleviating bladder. Also I just always run with a huge Poise pad then go straight to shower after. No glory in any of this any more, lol.

I was a fairly competitive runner before kids so it’s been a hard adjustment. But listen to your body. If things hurt, ease back. I did a lot of water jogging with my first at the end because of the RL pain when running. It’s a great workout and you float better pregnant! With #2, I ran up till the night before I delivered (3 mi). This time I’ll take whatever I can get. Expectation management is key. If you are doing any type of exercise regularly you are doing awesome! (And chasing little kids around all day on your feet, many stairs, laundry, etc...don’t discount this exercise either.)

:steps off soap box and starts more laundry...: