The full recap
By Makenna Myler
On October 9th, 2026 300+ people came out the Pregnant Mile.
I was hoping I’d be able to break 5 minutes at 9 months pregnant, but I did not.
And that was never the point.
We wanted to spread the message that has become truer and truer to us with every kid so far: you can have kids and dreams.
During the warmup I was dealing with back cramps for the first time ever while running, and feeling generally pretty terrible even for the third trimester.
At the start line I remember thinking, This is going to hurt. One lap at a time.
My legs felt better than expected on the first lap considering my warmup, but it all tanked pretty soon into lap 2. After that it was just survival.
I was happy with 5:22 all things considered (back cramps, altitude of 4,300', in the evening when I never have motivation to run during pregnancy, was on my feet and running around for the first 2 hours of the event, etc.).
Hearing how deeply grateful the women who came were, crying and hugging me, made me want to cry and hug them right back. And seeing my kids run up to me at a finish line NEVER gets old. My youngest hadn’t eaten dinner except a race ice cream so he was trashed emotionally and was crying and begging me to hold him until I did.
This is motherhood.
No matter how important you believe certain things to be, you just have to lean into the inconveniences that kids create. And what a privilege to be inconvenienced in this way, every day, in and out, constantly. I’m so much more resilient than I ever was as a single person.
ASICS, my loyal and generous sponsor, paid for the event and has always supported me in building a family while continuing to represent their brand.
My husband Mike did… the WHOLE thing. Idea for the event in the first place, the website, the marketing, the videos, the organization, the writing, the sound, the delegation, everything. I just showed up and ran.
If I were to tell a young woman what I hoped she got from the Pregnant Mile it'd be these two things:
1. Starting a family does NOT automatically mean sacrificing running, athletics, career or any other part of you that means a lot to you. 2. With the right support, a woman has the capability to reshape reality as it’s been explained to her. I think we did that on Friday.
I’m a major fan of making big bets in faith. A bet made toward an eternal truth very often pays off. There is literally nothing in this world that can give you the sense of fulfillment a child of your own can, and with the right systems in place and the right support, you may not even have to decide between athletics and a child.
All I’m saying is that you shouldn’t make your decision about whether to have a family based on fear, because you don’t have to.
And when someone wears “Have kids and dreams,” I hope it reminds them that they don’t have to drop everything they’ve always loved and been to start a family. You can bring it all along with you.
