PREGNANT KASTOR WILL MISS ING NYC MARATHON
By David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved (Used by permission)

American marathon record holder and Olympic bronze medallist, Deena Kastor, is expecting her first child next March and will miss the 2010 ING New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 7. The announcement was made jointly today by Kastor and the New York Road Runners.

"I was looking forward to returning to New York this fall to attempt to fulfill my longtime dream of winning there," Kastor said through a prepared statement. "Since my marathon debut in 2001, winning the ING New York City Marathon has been on my list of running goals."

Kastor, 37, had been training steadily for New York over the summer, but noticed that she was feeling unusually tired. On the advice of her coach, Terrence Mahon, she took a routine blood test earlier this month and found out that she was pregnant. She quickly notified New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg, and cut back her training.

"Andrew's and my life has changed greatly over the past couple weeks as we found out I am three months pregnant," she continued. "We always postponed starting a family, but to hear this news was really exciting and we never imagined it would be so rewarding even long before the baby is born. I am especially grateful to have felt fantastic except for feeling a bit sluggish in workouts and tired during the day. As soon as we heard the news, I stopped hard workouts. I am running easy days with my Mammoth Track Club teammates, but have chosen to forgo any hard efforts in order that every bit of my energy goes into making sure the baby will be healthy and strong. I don?t look pregnant yet, but I hear it seems to happen overnight."

Kastor made her marathon debut in New York in 2001 less than two months after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 (she could see the smoke rising from Ground Zero as she rode the bus to the starting line). She finished seventh overall in 2:26:58, winning the USA marathon title and setting what was then an American debut record. She ran the race again in 2004 after winning her Olympic Marathon bronze medal in Athens, but was forced to drop out at 25 km. She also ran in 2006 and finished sixth in 2:27:54.

"Deena is like family to us at NYRR," said Wittenberg. "We are ecstatic for her and Andrew. There will always be another ING New York City Marathon. There's no better reason to miss our race than pregnancy!"

PHOTO: Deena Kastor after finishing second at the 2010 NYC Half-Marathon (photo courtesy of New York Road Runners)

NOTE: Race Results Weekly provides professional athletes consulting to the New York Road Runners --Ed.