Oct 30th, 2010 I set out to do the Tulsa Run for the first time which is a 15k race. I had completed only two other races previously. I could not find anyone that was willing to run the race with me so I was on my own. I checked my bag in and was ready to run! I felt good the whole time I was running. I had trained hard. I finished the race in 1 hour and 17 minutes!
Afterwards, I was waiting around for the results to be posted. It seemed like it was forever. I didn’t know how long it took normally to get results out. I was hanging out and people watching. I am standing by the ATM machine when I overhear these two guys who were talking about what they think they did this year compared to their previous results. It sounded like they had done this before. I looked over to see this guy leaned up against the ATM. I first notice his tan line on his legs. I then thought, “He has those short running shorts on. He must be a serious runner. Man, look at those leg muscles. He for sure has to be serious about running.”
I decided to ask them how results usually work and how long it takes. The three of us started chatting. The other guy, Brian, introduced himself and Ryan himself. I remember thinking, “Oh, that will be easy to remember. They are close to the same.” Once the results were posted we talked about how we did and watched the awards. It was time to head home. Ryan and I departed with a “See ya around.” As I was walking to my car I passed Bryan who said to look him up on Facebook and told me his last name. Soon after I got home I found Bryan on Facebook, but I couldn’t remember Ryan’s name. I was thinking it started with a B because I remember thinking the names were the same. I looked through the list of friends to find another B name that I recognized. No luck.
Then, I got the bright idea of looking up his results online to find out his name. I knew where he was from, what age group he was in, and what his finishing time was. With that information I was able to find him! I can’t really describe what I was feeling, but for some reason I wanted to send him a friend request. So that is what I did! I hit the little “Request Friend” button with no message or comment. I figured he would remember who I was and if not he would not except the friendship which probably meant he was not too interested.
Soon after the request was sent it was verified. Later that day we spent several hours talking online. Ryan was asking a lot of questions. I felt like it was a screening of sorts. As he asked questions I looked at his Facebook profile to find out more about him. The next day we met up on Riverside and chatted for several more hours. After that I was hooked! And that is how Ryan and I started our relationship!
A little less than a year later Ryan proposed while we were in Switzerland. We decided to plan our wedding in 7 weeks so that we could run the same race we met at then have our running themed wedding in the afternoon.
Ryan and I both agree where we met, but our perspectives on it are a bit different. Every time I read Ryan’s take on the day it cracks me up. You can check out Ryan’s perspective to get a good laugh too!
[…] You can also read Cassie’s perspective here. […]