New mothers are often expected to give up almost everything for their babies—their careers, hobbies, passions, etc. Utah mom Anna Young decided not to put her life on hold and joined her first race since giving birth in April.
However, she knew that she’d have to stop to pump her breast milk somewhere in the middle of the race—otherwise, she’d be running in pain from her engorged breasts. After the first 8 miles of the Revel Big Cottonwood Half Marathon, Young slowed down to walk while pumping, unaware that a race photographer was capturing the moment.
“I thought it would be a good way to start exercising again and share something I love with my daughter”
After the race, she was pleased with the photograph, and shared it on the Occupy Breastfeeding Facebook page.
“Yesterday I ran a half marathon at five months postpartum. I had to leave at 4:30am and the race started at 6:45am. I nursed my daughter before I left my house, pumped after running the first 8 miles and nursed her after I made it past the finish line. This group and Le Leche League motivated me to find a way to run my race and take care of my daughter. #normalizebreastfeeding,” she wrote.
On the next page: Young explains why she decided to pump while running the half-marathon.
Plenty of moms have come forward and thanked Young for normalizing breastfeeding. “Amazing!!” one woman wrote. “I ran a half on Saturday, too! I was DYING to get to my son after to nurse. I wish I had been brave enough to pump while running (walking)!”
Young ran competitively in high school and college, but hadn’t run long distances in five years, CNN reports. She had planned on running the race last year before getting pregnant, but injured her leg training.
“I thought about sitting at one of the aid stations, but I’m too competitive for my own good”
“I thought it would be a good way to start exercising again and share something I love with my daughter,” she explained to CNN.
Photo: Anna Young
She trained with her daughter, pushing her baby in a stroller on runs. She had planned on taking breaks during the race, but decided to push herself harder during the race.
“I thought about sitting at one of the aid stations, but I’m too competitive for my own good and didn’t want it to slow me down too much,” Young explained in reply to one of the comments on Facebook. “One of the other women competing realized what I was doing and cheered me on, and that gave me so much confidence in what I was doing.”
As of this writing, Young’s post has garnered almost 11,000 likes, and has been shared almost 2,000 times.
READ: Mila Kunis on being shamed for breastfeeding in public: “If it’s not for you, don’t look.”
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