Cody Ko Opens Up About 'Unreal Moment' He Learned Wife Kelsey Was Pregnant: 'Didn't Feel Real' (Exclusive)
The couple shared the news in August that they are expecting their first baby together
Cody Ko may have been lacing up his running shoes this past weekend, but in a few months, he'll be swapping city streets for his son's nursery.
While speaking with PEOPLE about his collaboration with Brooks Running for the New York City Marathon, the YouTuber and podcast host, whose real name is Cody Kolodziejzyk, 32, opened up about what he's most excited about as he gets ready to welcome his first baby, a son, with wife Kelsey Kreppel, 29.
"I mean, I'm just excited to get a sense of his personality, honestly," Ko tells PEOPLE. "We were talking with some new friends that we made, and their kid is 10 months old or something like that. And they were like, 'Everything that kind of lost its luster in life, we're now rediscovering again through her eyes.'"
"So everything like the beach, the zoo, all these things...everything is becoming new again because it's new for her. So we're experiencing it for the first time as well. And I think that's amazing and I'm really excited for that as well."
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Related: YouTubers Cody Ko and Kelsey Kreppel Expecting First Baby, a Boy
As for the one place the YouTuber is most looking forward to taking his son, Ko says, "I was doing a big hike with my family a couple of months ago, and we summited this mountain and there was this little tiny one-year-old child that someone had put in a backpack and walked up there. I think taking him on hikes and taking him to the beach and getting him surfing from an early age, I'm really looking forward to that."
Over the weekend, Ko ran the 2023 New York City Marathon, partnering with Brooks Running to help him cross the finish line. "I think running one of the big six marathons has always been a dream of mine," he says. "My parents have done Boston. My brother-in-law did Boston."
"And so I had an opportunity to do this one with Brooks as a partner, which by the way is one of the coolest partnerships ever for me because when I started running, I had no idea about shoes or anything, and I asked my dad, 'What shoes do you use?' And he's like, 'I swear by Brooks.'"
"And so when they reached out for a partnership, it was a really cool, full circle moment. So the opportunity to run one of the most famous marathons in one of my favorite cities ever was awesome. And it'll be the last trip we take before we have a child," Ko reveals.
The YouTuber, who is a former D1 diver, says that his goal this past weekend was to get a PR during the marathon. "That's what I've been working towards. I've been taking it really seriously," Ko says. "And I mean, Brooks has been an awesome help. They sent me their Ghost Max shoes, which are really, really comfortable. They have max cushion, so when I'm running, I feel like they're protecting me from injury while still being light."
Saying that he "found happiness again" after completing his first Iron Man, Ko explains that he realized "this is something that's always going to be a part of my life."
"I think that's what I've realized now, is that it's not a phase, this is going to be a big part of me moving forward. And also, I want my son to see that this is a big part of my life as well."
Ko and his wife revealed to their fans in August that they are expecting their first baby together, sharing the news on Instagram in a joint post. Now, the Tiny Meat Gang podcast co-host is revealing to PEOPLE how Kelsey told him the exciting news.
"We were supposed to leave for Australia the next day for the Iron Man. And she was texting me more often than she would, being like, 'When are you coming home? When are you coming home?' Because I was like out doing the podcast or working or something and I was like, 'I'll be home eventually.'"
"And I was like, 'It's kind of weird.' I was like, 'Is there something going on?' And she was like, 'No, no just excited to see you.' And I was like, 'Ok, cool.' I got home and we were eating dinner and she was like, 'Should I bring, do you think I should pack this?' And she turned the pregnancy test to me and I was like, 'Oh my god,'" Ko shares.
"That was a pretty unreal moment for us. It didn't feel real. I think that's something we hear a lot with other people that find out they're pregnant because it doesn't feel real until you're like...even the first doctor's appointment when we actually saw the baby, that's when it's like, 'Oh my god, this is real.'"
"And even then it took a couple months or a month or something to really come to terms with it. I mean obviously, we were thrilled, but it's just such a crazy change in life," he tells PEOPLE.
Ko also shares that he and Kelsey don't plan on bringing their son into the spotlight. "No, we're not going to put them on the Internet at all," Ko says. "It feels weird that they're going to grow up and they are like, 'Oh I didn't want this to be...I didn't really want my life to be documented.' I just think some things are meant to be private."
"But in terms of content, I'm excited to talk about parenthood," he says. "I think that's something as our audience ages up with us, that's something that will become more relevant to them as well. So I'm excited to talk about the ups and downs of parenthood for sure."
And while they're pretty confident about the name they have picked out for their little one, Ko says that they aren't 100% sure. "We have one that we really like, but we're both like 98% decided on it," he explains. "But we want to meet them and make sure that it suits them."
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Read the original article on People.