Dustin and Alex met when Dustin was a senior in high school, and she was a junior. Alex joined the winter track team for her first track season, and Dustin was beginning his fourth winter season. Dustin heard about Alex for the first time when she qualified for states in her very first race, a feat that was surprising to her, and intriguing to him. Lucky for him, Alex's coach asked her to begin training with the men's sprint team shortly thereafter. She trained with Dustin almost daily, and despite his constant encouragement during workouts, it grew increasingly more irritating for Alex to be the last person finishing the workouts (she might be overly competitive). She now returns the encouragement when forcing Dustin to attend daily 6:00 AM workouts, even if it means renting a Citibike and riding for 15 minutes in freezing temperatures. Returning to the story, it didn't take long for Dustin to ask Alex to sit next to him on the bus rides to and from track meets, and the rest is a decade-long, competitive history of seeing who is stronger, faster, and overall more athletic.

Since meeting in high school, Dustin and Alex have lived in separate cities for eight of the 12+ years they've been together. Dustin went off to attend Villanova University just outside of Philadelphia, PA in the Fall of 2009, as Alex started her last year of high school in Oakton, VA. After graduating high school in 2010 (and getting a full preview of college life at a few of Dustin's fraternity events), Alex then attended Duke University in Durham, NC. Dustin naturally became the token boyfriend at many Duke Women's Soccer events, even attending a few select training sessions when Alex was injured (perhaps to her coaches' dismay, but necessary given the 6+ hour trip to get from Philadelphia to Durham). From there, Dustin took a job with the Navy in Philadelphia, PA as Alex finished her last year of college. Alex then took a job in New York, NY, just to keep the long distance relationship pattern going. Three years and countless NJ Transit train rides later, Dustin made the big move to New York City, and the two moved in together in DUMBO, Brooklyn in the Fall of 2017. They recently moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

After their standard Saturday morning workout class, Dustin took Alex to her favorite restaurant in Tribeca for brunch to celebrate her birthday. He was acting quite strangely, asking her things like what she was reading (he always knew what she was reading), and talking about "how much he loved their life in Brooklyn together" (among other exceedingly sentimental comments). Following the brunch, Alex was under the impression that they were going to meet their best friends Meredith Freund (a childhood friend) and Johnny Weber (Dustin's best friend from Villanova) at a nearby pier before heading to a bar. Upon arriving at the end of the pier, and with no Johnny or Meredith in sight, Dustin popped the question. Meredith was simultaneously hiding in the bushes (after a long, sweaty run down the pier...), and captured the moment perfectly. Dustin was relieved to no longer have to hide the ring ("it was like having a dead body in the floor"), which may have contributed to the previously described strange behavior.