NATIONAL CHAMPION, 28, RUNS 800M RACE WHILE 34 WEEKS PREGNANT

Many pregnant women do like to keep up with a gentle exercise routine while expecting, but it's doubtful that many would fancy doing an 800m running race.

However, a  five-time national champion did just that and ran it in just over two minutes - all while she was 34-weeks pregnant.

Alysia Montano, a former University of California star athlete, may have finished last in the race yesterday at the Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, California, but she said she felt 'really good'.

The 28-year-old runner, who received a standing ovation after completing the race in 2 minutes, 32.13 seconds, said: 'I’ve been running throughout my pregnancy and I felt really, really good during the whole process.'Her finishing time was 35 seconds slower than her personal best of 1:57.34, which she smashed back in 2010 in a race in Monaco.

That was according to the plan Montano laid out after consulting with her physician. Not only did doctors give Montano the OK to run but she says they encouraged her.

'That took away any fear of what the outside world might think about a woman running during her pregnancy,' Montano said. 

'What I found out mostly was that exercising during pregnancy is actually much better for the mom and the baby...I did all the things I normally do...I just happened to be pregnant. This is my normal this year.'

She's certainly not the first to pull on her jogging shoes while pregnant and she won't be the last.

Nell McAndrew famously came under fire when she revealed in 2012 that at 20 weeks pregnant with her second child, she was still running six miles a day. 

Like Olympic athletes including Paula Radcliffe and Jo Pavey, who ran moderately throughout their
pregnancies and went on to have healthy babies, Nell decreased the intensity as well as length of her runs to alleviate any risk to herself and her unborn child. 

Yet despite Nell taking all the precautions recommended by medical professionals, she has still faced outrage from people who have accused her of putting her baby at risk through exercise.

She told the MailOnline at the time: 'When I tell people I'm still exercising, they react as if I've told them I've been smoking or drinking alcohol while pregnant. But what I'm doing is actually good for me and my baby.'

Nell said she felt good being active and that by being fit, she feels she was better prepared for child birth.

'I feel like keeping fit is preparing me for the labour - which will be harder than running a marathon!' she said. 

Nell's belief that fitness aids labour is is backed up by studies that have found that babies
of women who exercise are better off when it comes to their birth because 'fetuses of exercising women may tolerate labour better than those of non-exercisers,' according to The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG).