*We can confirm, run clubs are the new dating app*

But first, let’s take a step back.

HOW WE GOT TO DENVER:

Hayden grew up in North Carolina but had always felt a call to move out west. After spending six years living in Tampa, he moved to Denver in July of 2023. Aniko, who ironically was born and raised just outside of Tampa, had graduated from her master’s program and taken a series of speech therapy travel contracts which landed her in Denver back in fall of 2022.

HOW WE CROSSED PATHS:

When Hayden arrived in Denver in July 2023, he began attending various groups around town to meet people and begin building a network of friends. Similarly, at that same time, Aniko was seeking to make new friends with a shared love of being active. One of the groups we discovered separately was called Cooldown run club, which meets every Tuesday night.

Fast forward a few months to Halloween night October 31, 2023 – the one-year anniversary of Aniko moving to Denver. Not yet knowing each other, both Hayden and Aniko felt a pull to go out and do something festive but, given that it was a Tuesday night, there weren’t many options… except for Cooldown run club.

HOW IT WENT DOWN:

Hayden showed up costume-less (lame) with his friend Lucas (who he met through Tampa-native, Michael Scott M.D.) who was dressed as Lord Farquaad from Shrek. Aniko was also dressed up, as a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey player with a painted-on black eye and a painted, fake missing tooth – there was so much conversation material for Hayden to work with! After the casual two-mile run, the over 100 run club attendees corralled back to McGregor Square in downtown Denver for some post-run mingling. Lucas was the first to spot a group of three girls, one of which was Aniko, and he approached them. Seeing that Lucas had gotten the ball rolling, Hayden quickly joined the conversation. He introduced himself to the first girl in the group, moved to the second which was Aniko, immediately locked in and completely forgot to say hey to the third girl. The initial meet and greet was short but impactful – as the groups dispersed to move inside, Aniko’s two friends turned to her and said “Aniko, that guy is into you!” … they were right.

Later in the evening, thanks to a friendly nudge from Trooper (Lucas’s dog), Aniko and Hayden found their way back to each other and proceeded to have a 45-minute conversation about life, family, fitness, faith, music - we covered a lot! It was an immediate connection that left both smiling ear to ear. After getting Aniko’s number, Hayden texted her later that night and took her on a first date three days later that lasted five hours.

HOW IT FEELS NOW:

Looking back there are just too many coincidences in how we met to be random – we truly believe it is a story written by God. With all our common interests, outlook on life, and vision of the future, we think the Lord fine-tuned our relationship from our early childhood. Here are a few other bazaar overlaps we discovered:

1) Hayden’s groomsman, Bobby Rohrlack, began dating Timea’s (Aniko’s older sister) friend Jenna from graduate school around the same time we met - and they just got engaged!!

2) One of Aniko’s roommates, Mallory Bing, randomly hiked the Italian Dolomites with Daniel Anderson’s (Hayden’s best man) wife Courtney Anderson while she was on a family vacation

3) We both have the same email format with the same service provider: firstnamelastname@yahoo.com

4) We both live for morning lattes, CrossFit, being in nature, small mountain towns, spontaneous adventures, building community, and especially DOING HARD THINGS!

Our love story has driven us closer to God because we have seen the work of His hand in our individual lives and our collective story. Sometimes things in life don’t make sense – sometimes you have to move to Denver to find a Tampa girl.