When Training Leads To Courting

It may be true that couples who run together, stay together.

In 2008, still limping from a half marathon, Jessica Horning wasn’t out looking for love.

But as she was picking up her groceries at a local Safeway, she bumped into Emilio Bottiglieri who had also run the same race as Horning.

“He was going to get a baguette and cheese,” Horning recalls of Bottiglieri. Though Horning thought he was cute, Bottiglieri didn’t ask her for her number and thought nothing of their exchange. However, unbeknownst to Horning Bottiglieri had copied down her bib # and when he returned to his home, he tracked her through a race Web site, eventually finding her on Facebook.

Three years later, the couple got engaged.

“We have something in common that makes us feel good,” Horning says. “We start our races together — and only once did we cross the finish line holding hands.”

The couple have run the Vancouver Marathon every year since.

Many runners take up the sport to meet fellow enthusiasts. The world-class ranks have some examples of this–like Shumi Gerbaba and Koen Yal of Ethiopia.

From: National Post