I don’t expect to record a personal best, but I will finish the 42-km race. It will take nothing short of a natural disaster to keep me from crossing the finish line.

 

I was still pregnant with my son, Oliver, who just turned 15 months, when I decided I would run this year’s marathon in Chicago. At the time, I was feeling heavy, hormonal and spectacularly unfit and I needed a goal – something that would make me feel like my old self again.

 

Although I worked out throughout my pregnancy, I quickly learned the road to Chicago would be a long and painful. My son was just five weeks old when I laced up my running shoes for the first time for a quick jog out to the Beaches and back. I was out of breath before I reached the end of my street. I huffed and puffed and chugged my way along the boardwalk, defeated by the steady stream of runners who breezed past me.

 

“That sucked,” I told my husband as I heaved myself onto the front porch at the end of the run. I ran four marathons before I had my son, but never before had I started my training from scratch. Although I was tempted to throw in the towel after that first disastrous run, I forced myself to put on my running shoes two days later and hit the streets.

 

It was tough to find the time to train while caring for a demanding newborn. My husband works long hours, so I would often head out late in the evening after he arrived home, pounding the pavement in the cold and dark. I joined a new gym in the spring – one with a great child care program – and I began running on the treadmill in the mornings. Even with TVs and my iPod as distractions, it was tedious, but it allowed me to get a few more miles under my belt.

 

I wasn’t alone in struggling to fit running into my life. A recent Canadian study found new moms struggle to find time for exercise in their busy days. The University of Victoria study found mothers of young children reduce their exercise by 80 minutes a week and only half of moms who were physically active before having kids were able to get the recommended levels of physical activity after their babies arrived. The study’s authors found new moms are often too exhausted to exercise or they don’t have the support they need, whether it’s child care or encouragement, to get back into shape.

 

As tough as it can be, it’s not impossible for moms to be physically fit. There are even examples of women who have resumed their careers as elite athletes after having babies. Kim Clijsters won the U.S. Open this summer, sharing her victory with her 18-month-old daughter. With her win, she became the first mother to win a Grand Slam tennis tournament in nearly 30 years. American swimmer Dara Torres, who gave birth to a daughter in 2006, won three Olympic medals in Beijing last summer at the impressive age of 42. And Paula Radcliffe, a British runner, went on to win the New York marathon in 2007, just 10 months after giving birth to her first child.

 

Not all moms can be elite athletes, Michigan State University kinesiology professor Jim Pivarnik told the Toronto Star. But motherhood does not have to mean the end of physical activity either.

 

“The No. 1 thing in (pregnancy) can be ‘woe is me, I’ll never be as good at (sports) as I was before.’ Well forget all that,” Pivarnik told the Star. “As long as you have the motivation and the social support network, there’s certainly nothing physiological or anatomical that should stop you.”