British runner Callie Hauger-Tuckery finished the Boston Marathon while five months pregnant, the BBC reports.
It was Hauger-Tuckery, 33,'s second consecutive Boston Marathon appearance. In 2025, she finished sixth in the women's race, clocking 2:22:38 for an average pace of 5:29 per mile.
The athlete continued to compete throughout her pregnancy. In December, she won the Honolulu Marathon, and in January, while eight weeks pregnant, she won the Houston Marathon in 2:24:17. The decision to participate in the Boston Marathon was made in consultation with medical professionals, who found no contraindications to exercise at 22 weeks.
Hauger-Tuckery faced physiological difficulties during the race that required medical stops: at mile five, she developed a pinched nerve in her right gluteal muscle, which required her to seek help from physiotherapists. A second stop occurred at mile 11 due to a calf muscle spasm. Despite this, the race's intermediate results were 1:23:10 for the first half of the distance and 1:20:48 for the second.
“The first half [of the race] was complete chaos. I had to run to the medical tent because I couldn't even lift my right leg properly. But the second half went flawlessly, like I was in tune with my body. I felt really good,” she commented.
As the marathon runner herself noted, throughout her career she realized that a prolonged absence of competitive practice would be a more difficult test for her than running in her 5th trimester of pregnancy.
“This is a completely different level of difficulty than anything I've ever done before – harder than European medals or other achievements. But at the same time it's more meaningful. It's given me more purpose than ever before. It would be strange for me to just stop training and not have any goals, because running is what I know and what inspires me,” the athlete noted.
Hauger-Tuckery finished 65th among women, running the second half faster than the first (1:20:48 vs. 1:23:10). This marathon was Callie's last major race for the foreseeable future. She will now focus on recovery, as her son is due in late August 2026.