Article in Marin IJ! :-)

An article in the Marin Independent Journal and me and my experience running pregnant!   CHECK IT OUT!!!!!! Corte Madera pro runner not slowing down much during pregnancy By Barry Spitz Special to the IJ Posted:   10/08/2013 04:18:56 PM PDT Clara Peterson runs on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, in Kentfield, Calif. Eight months pregnant with her third child, a little girl named Robin, Peterson runs on well-travelled trails in the event of an emergency. (Frankie Frost/Marin Independent Journal) Frankie Frost Clara Peterson pauses before a run on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, in Kentfield, Calif. Eight months pregnant  Marin runners have been pioneers in raising the bar on the possibilities of athletic achievement. Marion Irvine, followed by Shirley Matson and Melody-Anne Schultz, completely altered traditional views regarding women over 50, 60 and 70. Reilly Johnson won the Dipsea at age 8, and Steve Lyons and Lori Cohen somehow finished the grueling race while in the throes of Lou Gehrig's Disease. Sam Hirabayashi transformed age 80 into the "new 50." Now Corte Madera's Clara Horowitz Peterson is changing perceptions of training during pregnancy. Clara, 29, turned heads at the Marin Memorial 5K (May 27) when, wearing only a racing top and shorts though obviously pregnant, she ran Clara Peterson runs on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, in Kentfield, Calif. Eight months pregnant with her third child, a little girl named Robin, Peterson runs on well-travelled trails in the event of an emergency. (Frankie Frost/Marin Independent Journal) Frankie Frost a time of 18 minutes, 12 seconds, or 5:52 per mile. Only four runners, male or female, were faster. Her protruding abdomen was even more obvious when she blazed a 5:18 at the San Rafael Mile in July.Clara had run hard through two earlier pregnancies, with Ramsey, 4, and Riley, 2, including a 7-miler the very day before each birth. Now, with a due date of Nov. 20, Clara is still training with elite runners such as Chelsea Reilly, who won the Marin Memorial 10K in a course record, Dipsea winner Brian Pilcher and Olympic Trials marathoner YiOu Wang. Though she's gradually cutting back her mileage and pace as her pregnancy advances, 8-9 milers replacing 20-mile runs, and 6:30 miles now 7:30, Clara is definitely not jogging. "There is new thinking about exercising rigorously during pregnancy," Peterson said. "The consensus now is that it's fine if you'd been doing it a high level before and there are no complications. It might even be bad to stop. "My obstetrician, (Greenbrae's) Lizellen La Follette, agrees, and that was one reason I picked her. It's OK to get your heart rate way up, but just not for too long, so I watch that. If I'm not feeling all that great, I'll cut a planned hour run to 30 minutes." Clara most certainly meets the high level test, possibly the most decorated open woman runner ever to have lived and trained in Marin. At Head-Royce — Clara grew up in Berkeley and went to East Bay schools — she won four state high school titles, three in cross country and one in track. Several of her Bay Counties League records still stand. She was a five-time All-American at Duke, and twice finished second at collegiate national championships (5,000 meters indoors, 10,000 meters outdoors). After college, she became a professional runner, sponsored by Saucony and coached by 2008 Olympic marathoner Magdalena Lewy-Boulet (wife of ex-Drake High star Richie Boulet). Clara was 16th at the 2012 Olympic Trials marathon and won both Clara Peterson runs on a fire road on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, in Kentfield, Calif. Eight months pregnant with her third child, a little girl named Robin, Peterson runs 50 miles per week. She runs on well-travelled trails in the event of an emergency. (Frankie Frost/Marin Independent Journal) Frankie Frost  the San Jose and the Great Half (San Francisco) half marathons."Clara has a great perspective on life. She is a wonderful, caring mother, daughter, sister, wife but a very fierce and talented competitor at the same time," Lewy-Boulet said. "She sets no limitations on her ability to chase her dreams. It continues to amaze me how well she balances her daily responsibilities and how how much fun she has doing it." "Clara has all the tools and the talent to be at the top of the national racing scene," Pilcher said. "But she's been busy with two, soon to be three, kids while her competitors train full time. Clara has not let this get her down. She has still put up some remarkable times, which only indicates how good she will be when she can train full-time." Clara's husband, Jeff Peterson, also a top competitor who ran the fastest actual time in the 2008 Double Dipsea and athletic director at San Francisco's Town School, is fully supportive. His sister even pitches in with babysitting when Clara is running. "Not a day goes by that people don't ask me about Clara running pregnant," Jeff said. "She is the most dedicated runner I know. She has not missed a day or contemplated missing a day of running, ever!" Clara is not planning on much of a rest after childbirth. She aims to race in the United States Half Marathon championships in Houston on Jan. 29. After that, she's looking at the national 15K championships in the spring, then a sub-2:30 marathon in the fall. All roads lead to the Olympic Marathon Trials in 2016, and a berth on the U.S. team. "Though I learned that it's easier to run right before a birth than after — the body needs to heal — I intend to start training within two weeks," Clara said. "The prime age for a marathoner is 30-35 and I don't plan on having another child or going right back to work." Clara will be 32, in her prime, during the 2016 Olympic Games. She just may achieve her ultimate goal, to run the Olympic Marathon through the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Barry Spitz is the author of 'Dipsea: The Greatest Race.' Email him at bzspitz@aol.com.