Pregnant runner wins half marathon, outpacing 8,000 others: ‘Women have superpowers’

By Emily Van de Riet

On May 6, 2024

INDIANAPOLIS (WNDU/Gray News) – A runner who is 23 weeks pregnant took first place in a half marathon in Indianapolis over the weekend.

Anna Rohrer, 27, successfully defended her title as the women’s champion in the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon on Saturday, organizers said in a news release.

The 13.1-mile race started in downtown Indianapolis and includes a 2.5-mile lap around the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

According to race results, more than 8,000 women participated.

Rohrer, a University of Notre Dame graduate, was the women’s champion after finishing the race with a time of 1:15:18. This comes one year after she won the race with a time of 1:11:31.

Since she is pregnant, she told WTHR she wasn’t sure what to expect in this year’s race.

“I didn’t think I’d run quite the same time last year, but you know, whatever God wills is gonna happen on the day,” she said.

In an Instagram post, Rohrer said she was not expecting to win the race.

“It’s been a fun and strange training block trying to gauge how fast I can run while getting into better shape and simultaneously growing a whole human,” she wrote, in part. “I’ll always love running and competing, but it can’t even compare to the gift of motherhood.”

Rohrer told WTHR at the finish line that this is her first child.

“Women have superpowers,” she wrote in her Instagram post.

This piece was republished from WECT 6 News.