The Miles Still Mine — Lauren Ross, Runner & New Mom

The Shift — Vol. 02

A runner and registered dietitian on returning to the roads — and everything that has shifted along the way.

Lauren Ross on her porch holding her baby

Lauren Ross, RD

Runner, registered dietitian, new mom

The first run back is supposed to be a moment. A milestone. The kind of thing you plan.

Hers was nine weeks postpartum, on an unseasonably sunny March afternoon, after getting the green light from her pelvic floor PT that very day. She came home, changed into her Sweat & Milk Maeve bra, fed the baby — and then a friend showed up with the meal train dinner. So they sat on the porch. Had a beer. Let the afternoon stretch out the way good afternoons do. By the time she finally laced up, she had to feed the baby one more time. And then she ran. Five minutes of walking, one minute of jogging, five times through. Five total minutes of actual running. "It felt exciting," she says, "and both like coming home and completely new at the same time."

On whether she feared losing running

"There are so many unknowns in pregnancy and childbirth, and part of the process is accepting that you could lose running for any number of reasons. Your body can be completely wrecked by the process, or you could find that on the other side you just don't care the same way. Part of deciding to start a family was accepting that it could change my relationship with running in a big way — and being okay with that."

There's a particular kind of courage in that. Not the courage of pushing through, but the courage of letting go before you know what you're losing.

The Return Nobody Talks About

The stories we hear about running postpartum tend to fall into two categories. The miraculous comeback — back racing faster than ever, seemingly weeks after birth. Or the cautionary tale — recovery stretching far longer than anyone expected. What gets left out is the middle ground. The boring, measured, unglamorous return that is probably far more common than either story.

On what her return actually looked like

"I worked closely with a pelvic floor PT and started on a run/walk progression at around 9 weeks postpartum. It was very slow. Each session began with 5 minutes walking, 1 minute running. It's rare that I've heard people talk about what is probably more common: a very boring, measured return to run."

She is, among other things, a registered dietitian. She understands bodies the way most of us never will — their mechanics, their needs, their capacity. And still, this return surprised her. "I've found myself to be way more cautious than I have been from injuries previously. It's not going to be linear. Things might not be perfect as you progress. That's okay."

The Body That Did All of This

She expected to feel worse. After everything — the pregnancy, the birth, the nursing, the sleepless months — she braced for a body that had been diminished by the process. She was wrong.

On what her body means to her now

"I really expected my body to be worse off after the year it's had. I'm incredibly appreciative of everything it's endured and the ways it has changed. I have never been more diligent about PT exercises and doing all the little things — because I almost feel like I'm tempting fate with how long I was able to run into my pregnancy and how resilient my body has been on the return."

Then, simply: "THANK YOU, body." There is something quietly disarming about a registered dietitian — someone whose career is built on understanding the body's mechanics — expressing simple, uncomplicated gratitude for what hers has done. Not as a professional. As a mother.

"My level of day-to-day joy is much higher. I'm interested to see where this combination of inputs gets me."

— Lauren Ross, on running postpartum

Still Training. No Finish Line Yet.

We asked what she thinks about when she crosses a finish line now. She hasn't crossed one yet. She's been running workouts for about a month. No races. No finish lines. Just the week-to-week progress of a body finding its way back to something it loves.

On where her head is right now

"I'm not where I was, but I'm so grateful to be able to test my current limits and feel that physical challenge again. I know what I've been capable of in the past and feel that I have the capacity to get back there — but comparing to before is a futile activity. I'm appreciating the process, and reveling in the week-to-week progress that is much more dramatic than it has been in recent years."

The finish line will come. She's not rushing toward it. She's curious about it — and that curiosity, she'd probably tell you, is a kind of strength too.

On what her kit needs to do now

"Function over everything. Shorts with pockets so I can carry my phone in case the baby wakes up and needs to be fed. A sports bra I can use to pump or feed. Shoes that are comfortable and fast. That's what I really need."

The phone is in her pocket. The bra does two jobs. She moves forward. That's enough. That's everything.