Marathon after childbirth

Hi folks

I've not been on this forum for ages because I've temporarily stopped running. I'm expecting my first child in January 2013 and gave up running in April of this year. I would have liked to run during pregnancy, but we had IVF and spent a lot of money on it, so I did not want to take any chances.

Before the treatment I ran about 30 miles a week. I've run several half marathons and one marathon but of course all that fitness will be long gone now!

I still exercise (I walk, swim and go on the bikes in the gym - about 4 times a week). Anyway, by 2014 I will have built up enough rejections to get a place in the London Marathon. Is it realistic to expect to be able to run it after having had a baby in January 2013?

I hope so as it feels I've been waiting ages to get a place of my own, without the pressure of being a Golden Bond runner.

Would love to hear other people's experiences.

Ta

Hi cougie, thanks for the reply. Yes, they are still doing the rejections thing, but 2014 will be the last time they do it. So I was quite lucky to get in. Have a good family network so don't think childcare will be a problem, was just a bit unsure about the physical effects of childbirth etc!

You should double-check on the rejections thing - I think it has stopped already.

However, I don't see why you shouldn't be fit more than a year after having the baby.

Cheers Wilkie - nah, I'm OK on the rejections thing. The mara sent an email out to us when it was stopping and said if we registered on some link or other, we could still qualify. I think they sent emails out to anyone who already had a certain number of consecutive rejections at the time - I can't remember now. Anyway, they email me with a different registration link each year (you register a couple of days before the ballot opens) and I have been ticking away the years ever since!

Thanks Katy. I think my aim would just be to finish, and forget about the time I did before (which was not very fast anyway )

I had a baby on 29th of March and will be doing the Loch Ness marathon in 8 weeks (so 6months to the day), so a year should be more than enough. Just watch your calories with breastfeeding, my weight is plummeting with doing both and be aware that it's not so much childcare that can be the problem, but exhaustion (esp, with feeding yourself). You can do it! 

Thanks for all your replies. I feel a bit happier that it's do-able now!