Entertainment

Babe runner

Supermodel Christy Turlington Burns’ feet are hideous right now. In case anyone is thinking about asking her to model then in the near future, don’t. “I’ve got a couple of black-and-bluse toenails.” Yes when it comes to turning into a road runner, even supermodels get ugly.

But it’s all in the name of women’s health.Turlington Burns, one of about 16,000 female runners in tomorrow’s ING New York City Marathon, is raising money and awarenesswith the run for her nonprofit,Every Mother Counts.

The supermodel entrepreneur-turnedpublic-health advocate founded the campaign last year to improve maternal and child health. After suffering complications from the birth of her daughter eight years ago, Turlington Burns, 42, went on a journey that led to her first film, “NoWoman, No Cry,” a documentary about the challenges four women around the world faced getting maternal care. Every month, 30,000 women die from childbirth-related causes.

STREET CLOSURES DUE TO NYC MARATHON

Now, after trekking across the world, Turlington Burns, who ismarried to filmmaker Ed Burns, has been running up and down the West Side Highway to train for her first marathon. “I don’t know if I’ll do this again, so I would love to be able to do as close to four [hours] as possible. But I don’t need to be a hero, either. I just want to feel good, and I’m sure I will.”

She talked to The Post about her regime.

Post: What’s been your routine?

Turlington Burns: I was running a little bit already from the end of June. And then when we got the opportunity to run in the marathon, I thought, “OK, I won’t commit to it yet, I’m going to see if I can run like 10 miles.” Then I started following the advice of one of the people on our team who has run about three or four marathons. And he’d say, “Why don’t you just do six, eight and 10 [miles], and then do 12 on Sunday?” So it was like that — there’s no real science to it.

So you didn’t use a trainer. What else helped you—and held you back?

My yoga has been great, but I don’t really sustain a heart rate for very long. Every now and again,Imight feel a little sore in a hip or a calf or something, but I’ve never had any sense of that inmy heart and my lungs. I was a smoker in my teens and early 20s, and my dad died from lung cancer, so every time I run, I just feel so grateful that I have the capacity to breathe. That actually feels so exhilarating and so cleansing, inaway.

Do you train on a treadmill?

No. I have a perma-tan from being outside so much, and it’s been so beautiful. I started out on Long Island running outside and have just stuck with it.

How has the training affected you physically and mentally?

There’s noway you could not lose weight.I look more like a runner. I’m just a lot leaner everywhere, and my legs are certainly more toned than ever before. I would say it’s moremy upper body that looks very lean, which is a little bit different than normal.

What inspired you?

From early on, when I was trying to get past fivemiles, I had a little mantra to myself which was: “I can do this, I can do this.” I’ve gone by every single organized race in the city for the last three months, and it’s inspiring to see howmany people are out therewalking and running with their strollers orwheelchairs.

One of the problems with accessing good maternal care is distance.
How do you fix that gap?

That’s why this is such a perfect fit. Distance is such a huge barrier for women, even in this country.We have 70 hospitals that are closing down in this state, which is making average distances two and three hours forwomen [trying] to get to the hospital when they’re pregnant. And if you have a complication like the one I had, you can die in an hour and a half to two hours.

Does Ed [Burns, her director husband] watch your kids, Grace, 8, and Finn, 5,
when you run?

He does. [Lately he’s been] gone during the week and home on the weekends, so it was perfect. I’d do one long run on the weekend, and it was ideal because [the family] didn’t want me anyway. It was like, “OK, we got dad back for 48 hours.”

And I assume they’ll watch you?

Depending on the climate. I’m hoping, because I’ve heard frompeople running that it’s really fun to be able to see your kids. Maybe I have to place them at mile 22, when I’ll need them the most.

That’s when you’ll be hitting the wall?

I think so. Actually, the last six miles are going to be tricky. I’m hoping that Ed overrides any kind of coldness or complaining [with] a little encouragement.

You were hoping to raise $50,000?

We hoped to raise $50,000, and we raised $75,000. So that’s exciting. It would be an emotional experience to go through the marathon anyway, but [I’m] thinking about all of those women around the world that I’ve met and seen walking and walking and walking while they’re pregnant. We’re running for them.

sfrench@nypost.com