Dr. Alexia McClerkin, 36 

 Chiropractor 

The Sports and Wellness Doc 

When I first got pregnant with my second son in 2017, I was so excited because my planning worked. I thought to myself it would be a great idea if I did a 5K every month of my pregnancy. I had run 5Ks before and worked out my entire first pregnancy, no big deal right?

Well,  that 5K a month turned into ten 5Ks, two 10Ks, a half marathon, a quarter marathon and three triathlons. In the beginning I was running better times than when I was not pregnant; it become an addiction and some weekends I was doing back-to-back races on Saturdays and Sundays.

My newfound love for running was met with some high fives and some scrutiny as well. “Girl you need to sit down somewhere before you hurt yourself.” The more negative energy I received the more it fueled my fire. 

I ended up starting a non-profit while I was pregnant to educate women with low incomes on the importance of health and nutrition throughout their pregnancies to dispel the age old notion that women should not work out while pregnant.

I ran all the way up to my 38th week. When I was 37 weeks,  I also walked across the stage that Thursday with my bachelor’s [degree] in nursing, that Saturday I had a quarter marathon, and the next day I did a triathlon. I felt like super woman! I was. I delivered my 7 pound 12 ounce boy at 39 weeks in an hour and a half with no epidural; 6 weeks later I was training for a bikini competition.