Photo:Courtesy of Taylor Riggs
Courtesy of Taylor Riggs
Running a marathon is already a challenge — but what about running 16 marathons and doing it while pregnant?
The co-anchor ofThe Big Money Show, 37, spoke exclusively with PEOPLE about how she’s breaking barriers and paving the way for women to stay fit throughout their pregnancies.
When she found out she was pregnant, Riggs realized that she had already signed up for her next marathon. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m pregnant but I’ve already signed up for the London Marathon, which is one of the six majors.’ I did not want to miss it,” she reveals.
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“I told her right before I got pregnant, I had just done two marathons back to back, I was in the best shape of my life, and she said, ‘Go for it.'”
While part of her impetuous to continue running marathons was to say in shape, Riggs explains that there’s more to it than just athleticism. “For me, running is more than just a physical activity, it’s so mental for me and emotional, and it’s my form of therapy, and so to not be able to do that I think would’ve been very difficult,” says the television host.
“I just needed to have that one thing that had always been so familiar to me…and it was so nice to be able to continue [running] and have that be the one constant in my life,” Riggs says.
Of course, running a marathon while pregnant is different than a typical race. For Riggs, she notes that while her time was “a full hour slower,” the point was not to compete. “It was always to go slower and to enjoy the experience, to make sure my heart rate didn’t spike,” she says.
Halfway through her most recent marathon, Riggs spotted her husband on the London Bridge and had a moment of panic. “I looked at him and was like, ‘Are you sure I can do this? Am I doing the right thing? This feels a lot harder than it usually does,” she remembers.
“But I always try to remember our bodies are really strong, and me as a woman, my body was meant for this,” she says. “I’ve been running my whole life, my body was also meant to give birth, and so if you take that holistically and understand your bodies are resilient, strong, and made for this…then everything will be okay on the other end.”
As for tips she can share for other moms who want to run or exercise safely while pregnant, Riggs recommends that first, “every woman should talk to their doctor.”
Once they’re cleared, “go slow. I just made sure I was conversational-paced at all times. If I ever started to feel out of breath or I couldn’t carry on a conversation, I would walk and I drink fluids at every chance I could get.”
While drinking more fluids can cause runners to lose time from running to the bathroom, she encourages everyone “to listen to their body and do all the fun things. And squats. Squats are great.”
With only a few weeks left in her pregnancy, Riggs is gearing up to welcome her first child with husband Bryan Kolterman. “I feel very blessed, it’s been easy, very few, if any complications,” she tells PEOPLE.
However, Riggs and her husband have a contingency plan. “We have a backup,” she explains. “We have a name for a boy and a girl, so we’re ready just in case either one comes.”
And of course, Riggs has another marathon on the horizon. “I haven’t gotten in yet and I haven’t consulted with my doctor yet, but I’m hoping maybe at least six months postpartum, maybe seven months, eight or nine months, there’s a marathon I have my eye on that I would love to do.”
source: people.com
