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At 23 weeks pregnant, woman outruns 7,900 others to win half marathon

Anna Rohrer was a little slower this year, but still fast enough to retain her title.
Women's Mini-Marathon - Anna Rohrer.JPG
Posted at 1:35 PM, May 05, 2024
and last updated 2024-05-05 14:35:18-04

A woman expecting to give birth in August topped a field of 7,900 other female runners to win Saturday's Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini Marathon.

Anna Rohrer covered the 13.1-mile distance in 75 minutes and 16 seconds. She was more than a minute ahead of any other females in Saturday's race. 2024 marked her second time in a row winning the race.

She won the 2023 race with a time of 71 minutes and 31 seconds.

Reacting to Saturday's performance, she said she showed that "women have superpowers."

"I can't say I was expecting to win yesterday, but the Lord must have willed it! 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," Rohrer wrote on Instagram. "While this was far off of my PR, it will go down as one of my favorite races because it was an opportunity to really share some of the gifts I've been given. I'll always love running and competing, but it can't even compare to the gift of motherhood."

With nearly 16,000 total competitors, the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini Marathon is among the largest half marathons in the U.S.

On April 20, she said on Instagram that even with being over 20 weeks pregnant, it was the best her body has felt in over a year.

Rohrer has moved to long-distance running after winning Atlantic Coast Conference titles in the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter distances as a member of Notre Dame's track team.

She completed the 2023 Boston Marathon in two hours, 32 minutes and 52 seconds, which gave her a 22nd-place finish. She was the top female non-elite runner in the 2023 Boston Marathon.