We met at the University of Wyoming and became friends through some outdoor adventures and a few fun races with the triathlon club our freshman year. At the start of our sophomore year after summer break we decided to catch up while going for a walk around Laramie. What started as a quick walk in the park ended up being a four hour long expedition around all parts of town with our conversation ranging from summer adventures to crazy childhood stories. One long walk spurred another and after a few swing dancing dates and a couple morning runs together, we realized we wanted to spend as much time as we could with each other.

As many of you know, our relationship is built on the conversations we have while running. Whether we spend an entire day up in the mountains or make a quick morning out and back, we always end up talking about life, dreams, and plans (or what food we are going to eat when we make it home). As it turns out, running also played into Matt’s plan to propose! After we signed up for the Bighorn Mountain Trail Run, we endured training run after training run separated by a thousand or so miles because Matt was in North Carolina. Finally, the weekend of the race neared and Matt flew home to run and after we each completed our distance (yay!) Matt convinced me to go on a hike with him the very next morning. We slowly made our way up Steamboat Rock with sore knees and complaining calves. About halfway up we turned around to take in the view and I was hoping halfway up was far enough. As I turned to ask Matt what he thought about that idea he got down on one knee (I’m still not sure how after running 100 miles) and asked if we could spend the rest of our lives together. I, of course, said yes!