We met for the first time in 2019 at the Pickerington Classic Cross Country Meet. I was standing at our check in tent and asked a fellow coach, "who is that man with the long hair?"Little did I know, Zach was asking the same question to his fellow coach. At our next home XC meet, we were conveniently asked to ride the back gator and clean up at the end of the meet. We ended up spending the entire day together and Zach awkwardly asked for my phone number. We chatted and texted here and there since that day, mostly seeing each other at XC practices and meets. During COVID, we planned to run a road race together in Akron, but it ultimately fell through when the race was canceled.

Flash forward to 2021: Zach randomly shoots me a text asking if I wanted to grab drinks at Pins Mechanical Co. Me, naturally thinking that this is just a friend thing, agrees to go and "catch up". After destroying Zach in all the games we played, he walked me to my car and hugged me goodbye. I realized around then it wasn't just a "friend thing" and it was a date!

From there we took things slow just getting to know each other. I had hip surgery in November and was recovering in Cleveland. Zach and I texted the entire time and bonded over running, video games, and Bojack Horseman. When I returned to Columbus, we rang in the New Year together.

We've continued to get to know each since then and spend many days running and playing games (where Zach has gotten his revenge). We cannot wait to see what our future together brings!