You Came A Long, Long Way, Baby Pregnant Woman, 16 Days From Her Due Date, Completes Marathon

Watching for friends and relatives to cross the finish line at Grandma’s Marathon Saturday, spectators couldn’t help but keep an eye out for the “pregnant woman.”

Runner Sue Olsen, who’s 8-plus months pregnant, not only crossed the finish line, but was feeling well after the event. She ran a respectable time: 4 hours, 50 seconds.

Many people thought she was crazy for wanting to run the marathon only 16 days from her due date.

After the race, Olsen, 38, of Burnsville, Minn., said training and running the 26-mile course will, indeed, affect her baby.

“The baby kicked for the first 6 miles. Finally the running put it right to sleep. I realized then how much motion it’s going to take to get this baby to sleep from now on,” Olsen said with a laugh.

To make sure she was up for Grandma’s Marathon, Olsen got the go-ahead from her doctor this week.

Spectators were supportive along the course, she said. It was the folks who offered their opinions before the race that she could have done without.

“What they don’t realize is that the level of training I’m used to is so much more extensive than this,” she said. “This is moderate.”

She beat all women and men to win the Family Advocate Network System 24-hour run at Lake Harriet in Minneapolis three years ago, a distance of 122.4 miles. And she covered 216.8 miles at a 48-hour run in France last summer.

Some speculated she might have the baby during the marathon. That wasn’t a concern of Olsen’s.

Her most pressing urge crossing the finish line was getting an ice cream cone.

“I guess I’m a little hungrier than normal,” she said.