BabyCenter series “So this happened” shares personal stories about the rewarding, complicated, or downright messy parts of the pregnancy and parenting journey, from people in the trenches.

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Katie Florio as told by Caroline Picard

Childbirth is often compared to running a marathon. Mine was a bit short — maybe because I was actually training for one when I was pregnant.

I’ve been a runner since the fourth grade. I ran in college at Penn State and continued after graduation, fitting in two runs a day while working as a financial advisor at Goldman Sachs. My husband and I knew we wanted to have children, but I also had a longtime goal of qualifying for the US Olympic Marathon Team. The annoying thing is that your first years of running are also your first years of giving birth.

So I did something a little crazy: I qualified for the trials in December 2022, got pregnant and had a baby in 2023, and then ran to the trials in February 2024 as a new mom. Crazy, right? Little did I know it was just the beginning. Not only would I complete a marathon four months after giving birth, but I would do another one nine months later – and win.

I ran throughout my pregnancy and almost immediately after giving birth

Let’s back up for a moment: running while pregnant was difficult. My mileage dropped and my pace obviously got a lot slower, but I kept at it. I worked with my gynecologist, trainer, pelvic floor physical therapist, and sports medicine specialist before and after to stay in shape. I continued to run until I was 35 weeks pregnant – it just became too uncomfortable and I felt like I was waddling instead of running. After I stopped, I got in the pool and swam laps to keep up my cardio.

When I had my son Nick in October 2023, he popped right out. I was incredibly lucky – I was able to get pregnant quickly, and had a relatively easy pregnancy and delivery. But I would still have to run a marathon when I was four months postpartum to compete in the Olympic races.

Running as a mom can have its perks. You don’t even have time to think about skipping training.

Four and a half weeks after having Nico, I got the go-ahead from my gynecologist to start running again. It was difficult. Between breastfeeding and waking up at night, the newborn period definitely took its toll on my body.

My husband Paul has been very supportive, making my training possible. He took care of all our meals and made sure I stayed fed and fueled. He even rode his bike next to me while I ran, playing music and passing me water to keep my energy up. My maternity leave was also long enough – five months – that I could just focus on looking after Nico and training.

On those early postpartum runs, I would run with both the music and the baby monitor cranked all the way up. Once I heard Nico cry, it must have been a few seconds, and I immediately called my husband asking him to check on the baby. Looking back now, I know he was just fine, but I was definitely worried about leaving him. Parenting is a pretty selfless task, and running can seem like a selfish hobby. At the same time, I know it’s important for Nico to grow up seeing me succeed in other things as well.

Running as a new mom brought me so much joy – and I was stronger than ever

Almost four months to the day, I held the starting line at the team races in Orlando, Florida. I knew I wasn’t going to qualify for the Olympics or beat many of the incredibly fast women on the field, but I was so grateful to be there. I was laughing the whole race, and afterwards I got so many messages from spectators and volunteers who could tell how much fun I was having. Other than that, I ran pretty well. My time was 2:49, 6:29 pace – just 14 minutes off my pre-pregnancy qualifying time.

After the trial, I wanted to keep running. I signed up for a ten-mile race and then a half-marathon and PR-ed (that is, ran a personal best) in both. Training for each race, I got stronger and stronger.

Running as a mom can have its perks. Mom friends in my running group like to joke that there’s no time to even think about skipping a run. Just like before having children, you might dread a hard workout and might put it off for a few hours or a few days. Now you can either finish it or it won’t happen at all, so it forces you to do it.

There was also a mindset shift for me where I was so happy to be back running. Plus we sleep trained Nick and that helped a lot because I finally started sleeping better too.

Knowing that I was in really good shape, I decided to sign up for the Philadelphia Marathon and set a new goal: I wanted to win a medal.

Winning the marathon exceeded all my goals

The Philadelphia Marathon is my local race: I grew up outside the city and live downtown less than a mile from the starting line. I’ve run it twice before and really wanted to see how I’d do now that I’m faster than ever.

I set myself goals A, B and C. At the very least, I’d like to PR. If I could finish in the top five, that would be even better. But what I really wanted was to earn a place in the top three.

I was 13 months postpartum on race day, and the weather was perfect for a marathon: high 40s with 0% chance of rain. For the first six or seven miles, I ran in a pack with five or six other women, one of whom was my teammate at Penn State. It was really fun to run with her, and I was lucky because the race organizers asked my coach to follow the elite women. He ran with us for about nine miles, keeping us steady.

The whole first part of the race I tried to stay patient and catch the crowd. I remember thinking, “I feel good and I definitely think I can medal today.”

From miles 10 to 15 or so, the lead group was down to just the three of us. Then it was just me and another woman. I knew he had a much faster PR than me, and I wasn’t really sure what to do. Then a man I know from the Philly running community walked past us and said, “Katie, if you want to win this, you have to make a move now.”

Just because you have kids doesn’t mean your running career—or any other part of you—is over.

I was hurt at that moment. It’s not easy to tell yourself “just run faster” when you’re 20+ miles into a 26.2 mile race, but I knew I had to do it. Otherwise, the other women would beat me in a head-to-head sprint near the finish line.

At mile 23, I ran my fastest mile of the race in just five minutes and 40 seconds. I felt that the other runner was not following me, but I had no idea how far behind she was. That’s something I learned about running in the fourth grade: don’t turn around.

The last mile of the race is something I will remember for the rest of my life. The track was packed with people cheering, playing music and throwing confetti. I could hear them shouting my name and I kept repeating the mantra in my head: my city, my victory.

When I crossed the finish line I immediately saw Paul – he had snuck in to see me finish. His hug afterwards was the best. I was in complete disbelief that I had won. I couldn’t wait to see Nick – I thought about him all the time during training, through all the hard times. In the future, I bet he’ll be pretty proud that his mom won the Philadelphia Marathon.

After the race, things got crazy

After winning the race, I had what I like to call my “48 hours of glory”. People were shocked that I did it so soon after giving birth.

That night, a local news station asked me to come into the studio the next morning. The next day, more interview requests came in The Today Show he asked me, Paul and Nico to come to New York so we could appear on the show. They even gave Nico a The Today Show-branded overalls to wear.

I haven’t checked my Instagram account in a while, but when I did, I saw that the Philadelphia Eagles invited us to come to the game. We had to stand on the field for warm-ups, and then in the first quarter they showed us and my marathon victory on the Jumbotron.

So many women have since told me that winning inspired them. A friend decided to sign up for the marathon after having a baby in August. It’s exciting to see other people realize that just because you have kids doesn’t mean your running career—or any other part of you—is over. You can still get faster, stronger, better. And I like to believe that and myself.

I want to keep running. In the long term, I would like to participate in Olympic experiences again. Maybe I’ll be in better shape and I could finish in the top 25. At the same time, I know I want to have more children. While it’s definitely hard to balance my goals of being a runner and being a mom, now that I’ve won a marathon with my son, I know that anything is possible.