A teacher in East China's Hangzhou says she has run up both praise and criticism online for taking part in a marathon while five months pregnant.
Photos show a glowing Shen Huijuan, a physical education teacher at Xiaoshan Guali No. 1 Middle School, running in the 1.2-kilometer Family Run portion of the Hangzhou International Marathon in November, zjol.com.cn reported.
Shen first began drawing attention online in November after running a regional 800-meter race while visibly pregnant.
But she said it was her participation in the Hangzhou marathon's Family Run with her husband and son that garnered criticism from school officials and university athletics professors alike.
"After all, this is quite different from traditional perspectives," said Shen.
Pregnant marathoners are rare in China, partly due to traditional medicine that prescribes little activity for expectant moms and inactivity following birth in a practice called "sitting the month."
But opinions are changing. "Everyone's body is different," said Zhou Yunxiao, a gynecologist at The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University.
While Zhou praises Shen for her attitude toward fitness, she also highlights her years of athletic training and recommends activity suitable to one's physical fitness level.
Shen also recommends light exercise for mothers without any athletic experience. "Just walking is a good choice of exercise," she said.
