A Labor Of Love

Amber Miller put all marathon runners to shame when she
completed the Chicago Marathon while she was 39 weeks
pregnant. Somewhere London Marathon runner Rob Sloan
is currently hiding his head in shame after taking a bus to
finish his marathon.

Let it be known that I am by no means a marathon runner. My daily exercise routine usually consists of a 100 yard walk to the mailbox to check the mail.

So I can't say I blame Rob Sloan for taking a bus during the London Marathon.

Apparently exhausted after 20 miles, the 31-year-old former army mechanic flagged down a bus and took a jaunt through the woods to finish third with a time of 2 hours, 51 minutes. The time beat his personal best by 21 minutes.

When asked about the race afterward he said the marathon was "unbelievably tough" and that speculations that he cheated were "laughable." As it turns out, race organizers had the last laugh when they stripped Sloan of his medal.

But while Sloan was criticized by fellow competitors for tainting "Britain's most beautiful marathon," no doubt he's going to catch even more flack from his buddies because of what happened in the Chicago Marathon.

Amber Miller — and to some degree June Miller — completed the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. Nothing to special about that, right? Wrong.

Amber Miller was 39 weeks pregnant with June, but still managed to complete the race in 6 hours, 25 minutes. Sure it was a little slower than Sloan, but at least she did it without the assistance of a motorized vehicle.

Miller fought off labor contractions near the end of the race to finish. Seven hours later, she gave birth to June — a healthy 7-pound, 13-ounce baby girl — proving to the world that she's about as close as they come to Superwoman.

Or perhaps with Chicago traffic, her bus just had a hard time getting to the finish line.