“The USATF Foundation Maternity Grant has been game-changing in my first year as a mother-athlete. The grant enabled me to invest in myself (guilt-free!) as I worked my way back to running through pelvic floor physical therapy, which I started 4 weeks postpartum and continue to utilize today. I also used the grant towards more traditional physical therapy and doctor consults, which have been even more necessary and important in the context of everything that my body has been through in the last year. I’m immensely grateful to the USATF Foundation for supporting mothers like me, whose babies make our continued pursuit of athletic goals a bit more challenging but immeasurably richer, too.”
Becky (Wade) Firth
“Thank you for reaching out! Our little family is going great! My son (Kai) just reached 5 months and is rolling over, giving us lots of smiles and starting to try to crawl! I just booked my tickets for my first race since having him, I will be racing the US Club Cross Country Championships in December in San Francisco! The return to training has gone better than expected and my fitness has returned quicker than I anticipated. This grant has been awesome in allowing me to get some extra physical therapy during my return to running journey. I was able to do a virtual pelvic floor program with a specialist and also see a pelvic floor physical therapist locally to help strengthen all my muscles postpartum. Additionally, this grant will allow my husband and son to travel with me to some indoor races so that I don’t have to leave him for an extended period of time!”
Marisa Howard
“I’m so grateful for the USATF Foundation and their support. This Foundation literally pours into us athletes and for them to see a need in new mothers who are elite athletes and address it with this grant is amazing and appreciated beyond words. Thank you for choosing me as a recipient for the Maternity Grant.”
Christina Clemons
“Thanks for checking in! So far, the maternity comeback is going well, I raced 4 times so far (5th race this weekend) and have been at close to full training load for about 8 weeks thanks to our nanny who started back in August. My husband works during the day so the childcare lets me train in the morning, I wouldn’t be able to do it without the childcare as we don’t have family close by, and the grant helps offset the cost, (30 dollars an hour for baby care. We do 15 hours a week). I also intended to use it for physical therapy in the first 3 months post-partum, but the service was mostly donated to me, however I’d say those two things are the biggest change makers in supporting my comeback so far.”
Molly Huddle
