Daddy Duty: Isabella follows in footsteps of her mother

The second Daddy Duty article I ever wrote, on May 29, 2014, had the headline: “Pregnant wife running worrisome.”

My wife, Charlotte, and I had been training for the Space Coast Half Marathon, which would be my first attempt at a half marathon, and her third one. A half marathon, by the way, is 13.1 miles.

On Oct. 30, 2013, after an 11-mile training run, Charlotte had some cramping. So when the cramps continued into the next day, she decided to take a pregnancy test.

The rest, as they say, is history.

To say I was nervous for my wife to run a half marathon that was just five weeks after finding out she was pregnant was an understatement. But after doing research and talking to doctors, we discovered that it wasn’t as dangerous as I had thought.

It might have been different if she just decided to do a half marathon then and there, but since she had already been training, the doctor said she'd be just fine.

On Nov. 30, 2013, we ran the Space Coast Half Marathon and jaunted across the finish line in 2 hours, 14 minutes, 9 seconds. We had run the entire thing.

The photo of us finishing looks like Charlotte is dragging me across the finish line. She has a huge smile on her face. I did not. You’d never know she was pregnant.

We each received a finisher medal for completing the half marathon, but Charlotte had always said she wanted two, since technically she and our unborn Isabella had crossed the finish line.

I never forgot her saying that.

This past December I reached out to my good friend Denise Piercy, the co-owner of Running Zone, which puts on the Space Coast Marathon and Half Marathon.

I told Denise Charlotte’s story and asked if there was any chance she’d have any extra half marathon finisher medals from 2013, and she smiled and said yes.

It made an awesome Christmas present that brought Charlotte to tears. If I had more patience, I could have saved it for the ultimate Mother's Day present. But she had waited long enough.

I have now completed six half marathons, including five consecutive Space Coast Half Marathons, and Charlotte has done seven half marathons and one full marathon.

It turns out, all our training has led to Isabella being quite the little runner.

We’ve always known she has a motor that won’t quit, but this past weekend, at the Eat My Crust 5K in Viera, she really showed us something. Isabella ran the quarter-mile kids race. She did great for a 3-year-old.

Isabella liked doing a loop on the Viera High track so much, she wanted to do it again. And again. And again. She ended up doing seven laps, by my count, for 1.75 miles. She would have kept going had we let her. It was impressive.

I think she could be doing her first 5K soon. Or perhaps something a little shorter, like the Tailgate 2-Miler in Viera on Aug. 19.

It only makes sense Isabella would be a good runner. Just four days before she was born, Charlotte was jogging around the neighborhood. I remember seeing her bobbling down the street. She made our neighbors nervous!

But it was all worth it. Isabella loves running, just like her Mommy and Daddy.

I'm glad we can set a good example for her.

Happy Mother’s Day to my beautiful wife – a fantastic runner  – and a world class Mom.

Contact Walters at twalters@floridatoday.com.