(CNN) – A pregnant runner in California wants women to know it’s okay to keep their exercise routines while they’re expecting.
Alysia Montano ran in an 800 meter race at the USA Track and Field Championships only weeks before her due date.
The five-time national champion finished in 2 minutes-32 seconds in qualifying.
“Yeah. So it is okay to run during your pregnancy.” said Montano.
“They recommend that whatever you were doing beforehand that you continue to do mainly because of your chemical balance, and it’s just much better for mom and baby to continue that and it’s something that I have been able to do. I’m an elite runner. My PR in the 800 is 1:57, so 2:32 is a long way off. It’s not like I was gonna run the world record or any thing like that, so cyclists they say that they can still cycle, obviously take it over to stationary bike and it’s just really good to get that oxygen rich blood and that blood flow going.”
“So yeah, it’s actually a really good thing – especially coming from the 1980’s where they thought that if a woman ran any more than a mile their uterus was gonna fall out.”
Montano received a standing ovation after finishing the race.
