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Amber Miller's day was far from over when she crossed the Chicago Marathon finish line on Sunday. She still had to give birth.
The 27-year-old from suburban Chicago was nearly 39 weeks pregnant at the start of the 40km race, and went into labour shortly after finishing, a spokeswoman from Central DuPage Hospital said.
Miller ran in marathons while pregnant with her son Caleb, but never close to 39 weeks pregnant, the spokeswoman said. Miller told reporters at Central DuPage Hospital that she did not plan to finish the race.
"I was kind of planning on running about half, and maybe skipping to the end and walking across the finish line," Miller said in a video on the ABCNews Web site.
She ended up alternating between running for two miles and walking for 3 km throughout the race, Miller told the Chicago Tribune.
After the race, Miller and her husband, Joe, celebrated for a bit and got some dinner, the spokeswoman said. Then around 3 pm, Miller felt contractions and the couple headed to the hospital.
Miller gave birth to her second child, June, at 10:29 pm on Sunday, the spokeswoman said, adding that the baby and Miller were both healthy after the pregnancy.
Miller had kept her doctors aware of her exercise plans while pregnant, and her doctors had no objections to her running in the marathon, the spokeswoman said.
(Reuters Health, Roy Strom, October 2011)
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