Half-Marathon Mom Breastfeeds While Finishing the Race

— -- It's no secret that moms are the queens of multitasking but one Utah mom decided to test that skill while running a half-marathon.

While Anna Young was running the REVEL Big Cottonwood half-marathon on Sept. 9, she knew that she'd eventually have to take a break to breastfeed. Five months ago, she gave birth to her first child, a daughter.

"I had to leave really early in the morning for the race," Young told ABC News, adding that the runners were taken by bus up the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, to the start of the downhill course.

Knowing her daughter wouldn't be able to meet her on the course to breastfeed, the mom carried a hand-held pump in her backpack. Young estimated, based on her training, that she'd have to stop and pump around Mile 6.

"But when I was actually running the race, I was going a lot faster than I anticipated," Young, 27, continued, adding that she decided to wait until Mile 8 to pump.

Instead of sitting off to the side, or under a canopy on the course, she decided to walk and pump.

"In the moment, I just decided to keep going with the race since it had been a really good atmosphere, and I just wanted to keep going," the mother explained.

Young also noticed a photographer on the course, but she didn't expect him to take a photo of her breastfeeding.

"I was just really surprised and I just thought it was kind of a neat photo," she added.

The mom decided to post the now viral photo to the Facebook group called "Occupy Breastfeeding," telling the support group that it and another nonprofit that promotes breastfeeding, La Leche League International, "motivated" her to "find a way to run my race and take care of my daughter," she wrote in the caption.

Young said the moment was even more special for her because she and her daughter struggled with breastfeeding initially due to her daughter having tongue and lip tie issues, which can affect an infant's ability to latch onto the mother.

"It was hard," the new mom admitted. "I had a hard time bonding with her. ...I couldn’t understand because I’m her mother. [I kept asking myself] 'Why are we not compatible? This is something that's supposed to be natural but just because it’s natural, doesn't mean it's necessarily easy."

Young said she found information and support through online groups such as La Leche League and Occupy Breastfeeding that helped the two solve their problems.

"It’s something she’s never done before and I’ve never done before," she explained. "When you get it right, it’s a piece of cake. We can breastfeed anywhere now."