By Kalena Reynolds | Reporter

For Baylor cross country athletes Ryan and Ellie Hodge, their collegiate athletics careers have looked slightly different than most. The pair met after Ellie transferred to Baylor to continue her athletic career, and sparks flew immediately. Fast forward, and they are happily married with a newborn baby girl.

Ellie said the couple met in August 2021 and got married the next year. Two years after meeting each other, they have a daughter named Eden who was born in August.

Ryan and Ellie are both cross country and distance runners on the track and field team at Baylor. Upon finding out in December 2022 that they were expecting a child, they had long discussions with each other, their coaches and the track and field staff to decide whether or not they would continue competing.

“Of course, it was something your teammates have never experienced, and coaching staff-wise, they’ve had athletes before become pregnant, but not necessarily athletes who were desiring to come back,” Ellie said. “We ended up calling the trainers, and we were just like, ‘This is the situation, this is what’s happening,’ and he was just really supportive and was like, ‘Let’s set up a meeting after you’ve met with some of your doctors back in Waco, when you get back let’s set up a meeting with the coaching staff and people on compliance.'”

Ellie ultimately decided to “pinkshirt” during her last semester of eligibility for the indoor and outdoor track season. A pinkshirt refers to a female athlete who misses a season due to pregnancy. The pinkshirt is only applicable if they do not compete during that season.

“So last year, we were like, ‘OK, we’re calling it. I’m not going to race any indoor meets, any outdoor meet, and we’re just going to save my eligibility for next year,'” Ellie said.

Despite Ellie’s decision to pinkshirt for a semester, she continued training and lifting with her team until the last part of her pregnancy and began running again 12 days after giving birth. During this time, Ryan and Ellie sought guidance from other track athletes who were sharing their stories on social media of being pregnant and running simultaneously to gain insight into their journey.

“I was really blessed with my pregnancy — it was extremely hard work to keep running throughout it and keep lifting and diet-wise,” Ellie said. “But training-wise and everything, I was able to keep quite a bit of the same; I dropped some mileage down, and then it wasn’t until, like, week 31, where I really noticed a difference.”

Because Ryan and Ellie are both graduate students, their class schedules are more flexible. But when it comes to training, workouts and other team events, they rely on each other to care for their daughter. Ellie mentioned that neither she nor Ryan have family members who live close by, so their daughters’ care is solely in their own hands.

“With running, it’s kind of a lot of passing Eden off back and forth, and I normally go first or earlier in the morning; since I’m still competing across the country, I go to all practices,” Ryan said. “And then come back, and I’ll take Eden, or she’ll still be asleep, and then Ellie goes off for her run.”

Ryan and Ellie rely on communication with each other to align their schedules and homework time with parenting and caring for Eden. Ellie is in graduate school at the George W. Truett Theological Seminary, and Ryan is in graduate school at the Hankamer School of Business.

“We don’t necessarily have family here to help us, which is a unique experience; I think for your first child, a lot of people, when they’re ready, that children, they’re like moved back by family,” Ellie said. “It definitely requires us to have a lot of communication with each other and really challenges us to be, I think, better wife and husband, just because you have to rely so much on each other and each other’s help and really set aside a lot of help.”

Throughout the pregnancy, both Ryan and Ellie received support from their coaches to ensure their health and well-being for them and their baby. For their upcoming meets in the spring season, they plan to have family come down to watch Eden while they compete.

After delivering their child in August, Ellie is back in training for the upcoming season. Ryan is currently competing in his last season of cross country meets and both will begin competing in the spring semester for the track and field outdoor and indoor seasons.