Why Fox Business’ Taylor Riggs Ran a Marathon at 19 Weeks Pregnant
By Movieguide® Contributor
Taylor Riggs had already signed up for her 16th marathon when she found out she was pregnant. Rather than bow out, Riggs decided to take on the challenge.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m pregnant but I’ve already signed up for the London Marathon, which is one of the six majors.’ I did not want to miss it,” she told PEOPLE.
After consulting with her doctor, she was given the go-ahead to run the race even though she would be 19 weeks pregnant when the marathon came around.
“I told [my doctor] right before I got pregnant, I had just done two marathons back to back, I was in the bast shape of my life, and she said, ‘Go for it,’” Riggs explained.
While Riggs wanted to do the marathon for the challenge of it, the motivation to keep running was the larger draw for her.
“For me, running is more than just a physical activity, it’s so mental for me and emotional, and it’s my form of therapy, and so to not be able to do that I think would’ve been very difficult,” she explained.
“I wanted to be healthy for me, healthy for my baby,” Riggs continued. “I had read some studies or notes from people saying it’s actually been proven that if you continue to stay active in pregnancy, babies are healthier and better and maybe better mental acuity… so I was excited from the physical aspect, but also mental.”
Riggs, however, was cautious with her running, ensuring not to harm her baby by pushing herself too hard. During the London marathon, she took it slow and ran a full hour slower than her pre-pregnancy times. Even still, the increased difficulty of being 19 weeks pregnant lead to a moment of panic halfway through the race.
“I looked at [my husband] and was like, ‘Are you sure I can do this? Am I doing the right thing? This feels a lot harder than it usually does,’” she recalled.
“But I always try to remember our bodies are really strong, and me as a woman, my body was meant for this,” she continued. “I’ve been running my whole life, my body was also meant to give birth, and so if you take that holistically and understand your bodies are resilient, strong, and made for this… then everything will be okay on the other end.”
Having overcome this hurdle, Riggs is now gearing up to welcome her first child.
“I feel very blessed, it’s been easy, very few, if any complications,” she said of her pregnancy.
She also had another marathon on the horizon, although the timeline for this one, she recognizes, might be a little too ambitious.
“I haven’t gotten in yet and I haven’t consulted with my doctor yet, but I’m hoping maybe at least six months postpartum, maybe seven months, eight or nine months, there’s a marathon I have my eye on that I would love to do,” she said.
“But I think I also want to remind myself that you only give birth a few times in your life, if no, maybe sometimes just on[ce], and I want to make sure that I’m recovered, but I would love to be able to take the baby out with me for a run.”
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