I’ve seen a lot of recent moms competing in masters track. But here’s a first. W40 multi-eventer Susan Wiemer yesterday hopped a plane for France with more on board than spikes and implements, reports Steve Solloway of the Portand Press Herald in Maine. Steve writes: “As she trained for next week’s World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in France, Susan Wiemer wondered if her rigorous training had affected her asthma. Or if she caught the flu. Her imagination, when she let it loose for a few seconds, had more dire conclusions. . . . She bought a pregnancy test. She was looking at the results when her husband, Scott, walked in the door of their Freeport home.” The news: They’re having a baby this summer.

Here’s the story, in case the link goes bad:

World-class athlete, world-class mom
Its no surprise Susan Wiemer is heading to the world masters track championships. The surprise is that she’s pregnant.
STEVE SOLLOWAY
March 12, 2008
The shortness of breath during her workouts was worrisome. So was the nausea that returned again and again.
As she trained for next week’s World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in France, Susan Wiemer wondered if her rigorous training had affected her asthma. Or if she caught the flu. Her imagination, when she let it loose for a few seconds, had more dire conclusions.
“Either I’m dying or something else is going on,” said Wiemer, a 42-year-old mother of a young adult son and a teen-age daughter. She bought a pregnancy test. She was looking at the results when her husband, Scott, walked in the door of their Freeport home.
He asked what she was holding.
Proof that they were having a baby later this summer.
Susan Wiemer, owner of the American age-group record in the heptathlon, will board her trans-Atlantic flight Thursday. When she walks onto the track at the Maison des sports in Clermont-Ferrand for the opening ceremonies Monday, she will be 18 weeks into her pregnancy. She’s won even before she competes in her first event.
Wiemer went down a similar road some 23 years before. She was Sue Ertha then, a star runner who had just graduated from Maranacook School in Readfield. For various reasons, including a first pregnancy, she never had a college career.
She never lost the desire to compete, either. Her comeback started in the corporate track scene in Portland and eventually took her to the national masters competition last summer when she set her record. Her entry into international competition next week will be her first. And not her last.
“It’s like flipping pancakes the first time. The next time is better. I’ll have the baby and get right back into training.”
The time she lost as a young woman drives her. Time spent training with Christine Reaser inspires her.
Seventeen years ago, Reaser ran a half-marathon when she was six months pregnant. In 2002 and 2003 she was the first Maine woman in the Beach to Beacon 10K.
“It’s not a shock to your body, if that’s what you’ve been doing all along,” said Reaser, who also is competing at the world indoor games. “It probably would be more of a shock if you stop running.”
Reaser and Wiemer have trained for months on the indoor track at the University of Southern Maine, renewing an interrupted friendship. In high school they were roommates on trips with their AAU track team. Wiemer was the sprinter and jumper, and Reaser, then Christine Snow from Old Orchard Beach, was the talented distance runner.
Reaser leaves today. Her mother, Georgette, is a native of France and there’s family to visit. Wiemer will join her a day later.
Wiemer leaves with the encouragement of friends and family and the thumbs-up of her doctor. A physical fitness trainer, she also leaves with money raised by clients at a fun run, a benefit dinner and a raffle. Wiemer and Reaser may wear uniforms with USA across their chests but their expenses are out-of-pocket.
Not long ago her pastor at Emmaus Lutheran Church in Falmouth called to ask if she and Scott would mind if her name was added to the prayer list at Sunday service.
Wiemer laughs. Along with pounds she’s added 24 seconds to her 800 meters training time. That was a message. She scratched herself from the difficult 400-meter dash. She will compete in the pentathlon and shot put, and run a leg of the 800 relay.
Once so lean, she can’t fit into her jeans. She wore larger shirts to her workouts. Others may still see a trim athlete but she looks at what she calls her “bad beer belly.”
She and her husband brought five children to their marriage. Years ago they wanted a child from their union but it didn’t happen. Now, to their surprise, it will.
“It’s like having our own grandkid,” said Wiemer, considering their children range in age from 24 to 16. “We’re happy.
“If I beat anyone (at the world championships) it will be a moral victory.”
The baby is their medal and their gift.

In late January, friends of Susan’s held a benefit 5K run (in the snow, I gather) to help raise money for her Clermont-Ferrand expenses. This AOL video shows her and some other runners. Good for all of you, and kick butt in France, Susan (but take care!)