Staying active during pregnancy

Last year I wrote about my experience of running and staying active during pregnancy. And as I move into a new phase and look forward to returning to running in the coming months, I’m keeping true to the core principles – doing what’s right for me, adapting to my changing body and not comparing myself to other people’s journeys.

I interviewed some great women last year who had some solid advice on returning to their various activities after pregnancy and birth. They’re all runners but have other interests too and you can find them all below.

• Erin Taylor – yoga teacher
• Laura Stewart – runner
• Manda Read – swimmer
• Josephine Perry – triathlete
• Podcast – running and pregnancy – Kate Lewis

I still have goals I want to achieve in running. There’s that 99 minute half marathon to run and I’m determined to make it to Boston Marathon (you may remember I qualified at Edinburgh Marathon in 2016 and then didn’t enter the 2017 race – yep, now you know the reason why). But I’m in no rush to make them happen.

Running is part of my job, so the first order of business is to make sure I can keep up with my runners once my running groups start again in the spring. So, although I’m in awe of women who can run marathons just months after giving birth, there’ll be no signing up for races for me for the immediate future. Just a gentle return to moving my body in ways that feel right and a lot of patience.

I wish you the best with whatever goals you have for the year ahead.