Running for two: Meet the Boston Marathoner who announced her pregnancy at the race
Ana Yanez ran the 2025 Boston marathon at 18 weeks pregnant.
The 129th Boston Marathon was one for the history books: sunny weather, electric crowds, and more than 30,000 runners racing from Hopkinton to Copley. Among them was Ana Yanez of Denver, Colorado, who turned heads and warmed hearts as she crossed the finish line at 18 weeks pregnant.
The Boston Marathon, known for its prestige and challenge, felt extra special this year – not only for its near-perfect running conditions (temperatures in the low 60s) and the roar of half a million spectators – but for the stories that unfolded on the course. Yanez’s was one of them.
“Boston is just kind of the pinnacle of marathons,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to run Boston. I guess my husband kind of pushed that dream in my head when I watched his Boston Marathon two years ago.”
Qualifying for the marathon wasn’t easy. The 2025 Boston Marathon “cut-off” time was 6 minutes and 51 seconds. To be accepted into the 2025 race, athletes must have run at least 6:51 faster than their respective qualifying standards to get in. For women ages 18-34, the official qualifying time was 3 hours and 30 minutes to get in – and Yanez just made it.
“I was actually [at] the cut-off time. One second slower and I wouldn’t have made it,” she said.
But she did make it. And not only that, but she turned running Boston into something even bigger: a celebration of a new chapter. Rather than defer her entry, as the Boston Athletic Association allows pregnant athletes to do, Yanez decided to make the race her official pregnancy announcement.
“My friend used the Berlin Marathon as her pregnancy announcement, and afterward I thought, oh, that’s such a cute idea. So, I told my close friends and family ahead of time, but we used Boston as the official announcement.”
She shared the news of her pregnancy on her favorite social media platform, Strava, (the app allows users to track, share, and analyze their fitness activities using GPS data) and hit the course wearing a custom-made “Boston Baby” shirt, complete with an arrow pointing to her belly.
Yanez wasn’t the only pregnant athlete at the marathon, either. A nurse, runner, and mom-to-be shared her story ahead of the race, another crossed the finish line proudly holding an “I’m pregnant” sign overhead.
“It was such a cool experience, to be able to share that with my husband and our first baby,” she said.
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