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Last week I talked to Mary Wineberg, lead-off leg of the 2008 Olympic gold medal-winning 4x400m relay team. In 2009, she and her husband had their first child, Brooklyn Marie, who is now 9 months old. Mary is already back in shape and setting “post-baby PR’s” one after the other. She competed this weekend in Puerto Rico, where she placed 6^th in the 400m, and will celebrate her first Mother’s Day upon her return.

I asked Mary some questions about being a mom and returning to her former level of competition: the struggles and the joys. 

When was the first time you traveled without your daughter?

It was to the USA Track & Field Annual Meeting (in December 2009). I traveled there and she came the next day. It felt very awkward! I left this little thing behind, she wasn’t with me!

Being an athlete, we have to be selfish in that we have to worry about getting enough sleep, eating right and finding time to train. How do you balance that now that you have a daughter?

It is so different. I was just so used to getting in the car and going to practice and thinking about Mary, and now my mind set is all about Brooklyn, whatever she needs, I have to give that to her first, and then come my needs.

In terms of training, it worked out well the first three months - she would just come to the track with me and sit in her pumpkin seat and have her music noisemaker toy and if she started to whimper, I would run over and give her the pacifier or hold her. As she got older, it got harder because she got more mobile, so we decided to use daycare. It works out well. I can go to the track, focus 100% on getting my training in, and then hurry up to daycare to pick her up.

What does your husband do?

He is a track and field coach at the University of Cincinnati and he is my training partner and coach. When Brooklyn was at practice, we were both stopping to tend to her and now we can focus 100%.

How is being a mother an advantage?

Coming back after birth, I’m nowhere close to where I want to be. But I now have reason to push harder. I think, “I want to show what this mother can do. I can be a world class athlete again.” It’s motivation.

What do you think “having it all” means?

For me it would be getting back to my former level, then bettering myself and reaching my goals of making another Olympic team and winning another medal. I’m 30, and some people say I should be done, but to me, I don’t look 30 and my body doesn’t feel 30, so I just want to keep going. To have it all for me is to keep running, keep getting better and get some sponsorship back. 

Is sponsorship something you had to give up in order to have a baby?

I didn’t know it was something I was going to have to give up, but unfortunately, my sponsors - I was hoping they would be supportive but at that time the economy was going down and they were not able to renew my contract after I informed them I was pregnant. So I’m currently a mother who is training and working so hard to prove to the world again that I can get back, even on my own.

More about Mary:

• Check out Mary’s website at http://www.marywineberg.com 
• She is also on twitter at @wineberg400

Thanks to Mary for taking time out of her busy schedule to talk to me. Happy Mother’s Day to Mary and all the mothers out there!

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