Running News Daily

New mom runs 15:45 5K, 4:42 mile just months after birth of first child

In October 2020, a woman named Makenna Myler ran a 5:25 mile while nine months pregnant. Just a couple of weeks later, she gave birth to a baby girl, and now, only six months after her daughter was born, Myler is back, not just racing, but winning. Her return to the track after her pregnancy came in mid-April, when she won a 5,000m in California in a huge personal best of 15:45.48, and she followed that up a week later with another win and a mile PB of 4:42.40.

Myler first blew up on Tik Tok, where her husband posted a video of her one-mile time trial at nine months pregnant. A 5:25 mile is a fast time for most people in general, but to run that quickly with a full-grown baby in your belly (Myler’s due date was just days after her time trial) is extraordinary. After a few months of recovery, she is back to incredible form, and she’s running faster than she ever has before.

Myler, who ran at BYU and now lives and trains in California, had pre-pregnancy PBs of 4:43.31 for the mile and 16:10.33 in the 5,000m. These are both great times, but she has bettered both since having her baby, Kenny Lou. Her 15:45.48 PB in the 5K is a whopping 25-second PB, and it gives her the 38th-fastest time at the distance among American women in 2021. (Only five Canadian women have run faster over 5,000m so far this year.) In the mile, Myler’s one-second PB gave her a top finish at a meet at her alma mater of BYU, and it is the sixth-best time run by an American woman so far this year.

Myler credits being a mom with her success, as she has learned some valuable lessons in the months since her daughter was born. “Having a baby less than six months ago has pushed me to ask for help so I can reach goals and show my little girl that I will never stop becoming, I will never stop trying in one way or another,” she wrote on Instagram. “I will keep surrounding myself with those greater than me and I will always come off better for it. I’m not the first and I won’t be the last mama to keep at it.”