Runner Competes at 34 Weeks Pregnant

What do you do when you've been the national champion for the past four years in the 800-meter race ... but you're 34 weeks pregnant during this year's US Track and Field Championships? Well, if you're Alysia Montano, you go ahead and run, of course. Montano didn't win yesterday—in fact, she finished almost 35 seconds slower than her personal best, with a time of 2 minutes, 32.13 seconds—but that's not the important thing, she tells the AP.

"I just didn't want to get lapped and be the first person to get lapped in the 800," she explains—and she didn't, though she did finish last, to loud cheers from the Sacramento crowd. The 28-year-old consulted with her doctors first, and they encouraged her to run. "What I found out mostly was that exercising during pregnancy is actually much better for the mom and the baby," she says. "I did all the things I normally do. ... I just happened to be pregnant. This is my normal this year." (More track and field stories.)