We’re getting married!

It started, as the best stories often do, with a little bit of fate and a friend who simply refused to give up. Chris had known Vanessa for years, and for almost as long, he had been quietly convinced that she and Mikey were meant to meet. The timing was never right until December 2022, when Vanessa's birthday party, Chris behind the decks, and one spontaneous text changed everything. She invited Mikey. He showed up. They spent the whole night talking and that was that. By June 10, 2023, he asked her to be his girlfriend. She said yes. What followed was a love story that has never once sat still, built on adventure, laughter, finish lines, and more passport stamps than either of them can count. They are, in every sense of the word, a team. When they moved in together in July 2024, they started 75 Hard on August 1st (because of course they did). No easing in. Just commitment, side by side, from day one. What started as a challenge grew into a shared identity built around pushing each other and showing up, always. Mikey ran marathons. Vanessa went from barely running a mile to crossing half marathon and marathon finish lines of her own. They have cheered each other on across continents and they are just getting started. And then there is Perla, the mini dachshund who came into Vanessa's life first and quickly decided Mikey needed to earn his place. He did. She is the third and most important member of this family, and she will absolutely be the first to remind you of it. The proposal came in the Dolomites, on top of the Seceda ridge in Italy, with the Alps stretching out in every direction. It was perfect. They celebrated in Ibiza, and flew into New York City by helicopter...because why not. On December 11, 2026, five days after Vanessa runs the Valencia Marathon, they will get married at a breathtaking hilltop church in Altea, Spain, which is a tiny, magical town on the Mediterranean coast that stole their hearts the first time they visited together. They had watched a wedding there once, looked at each other, and quietly filed it away. Now it's theirs. But first Miami. It feels incredibly meaningful to be celebrating this next chapter in the very same place where it all started and they wouldn't have it any other way. They are so excited for what's ahead, for a future filled with more adventures, more finish lines, more memories, and more moments that remind them exactly why they chose each other. And Perla, still very much in charge of all of it.