As Sarah will always say, "Thank god JR was persistent!"

For, if it wasn't for him, their love story wouldn't have happened. JR and Sarah met about 9 years ago. JR was interning at CORE1 and Sarah had come in to train over winter break her junior year of college. Something caught Sarah's eye about JR from the first day of training, but she never thought it would amount to anything. And, she had no idea how he was feeling - so she chose to just take one training session at a time.

Fast forward a year and a half, the two ironically went on a spring break trip to the same place: Scottsdale, Arizona. Sarah was enjoying her last spring break of her senior year with her friends while JR went out to meet up with his buddy Alex (yes, the same Alex that is now JR's best man in the wedding). During the trip, the two met up and hung out, which seemed to propel some stronger feelings but all Sarah thought was "I don't know how I feel about him. He could never like me. And plus, I think he's dating someone." (Which, at the time, he was.)

When the two got home from that spring break trip, things were different. But, Sarah went off to graduate from Northwestern and ended up moving to the city where she took a teaching job. The two kept in touch; Sarah would try to stop by CORE1 to get a workout in when possible. In the summer when she had more time, the two saw each other more often. As the two were talking more often, JR took a leap of faith and asked Sarah out. With Sarah being in the city and JR in the suburbs, she just didn't know how much they would see each other. Bless JR's heart, he would make the trek into the city (which he hated more than anything) often to spend time with Sarah. The two tried dating for about a year, but then Sarah got cold feet. Dun. Dun. Dun. She broke up with him and said he was too much for her (in other words, to good to be true). JR was understanding (or so he tried to be). (To this day, he reminds Sarah often about how much she hurt him and was an idiot. And, she knows she deserves that). So, the two went their separate ways.

But, as Sarah would say, JR never really went away. After about two years of waiting patiently, JR got up the courage again to ask Sarah out. The two went on a date and more or less picked up where they left off. That summer, Sarah was headed to Greece for a 2 week long trip with her friends. Before she left, she drove up to Country Thunder to see JR. For whatever reason, she felt she needed to see him before she left the country. In Greece, Sarah missed JR...a lot. This was the turning point - she knew she had feelings for him and couldn't deny or help it. The two took it slow from there, but the rest is somewhat history.

Sarah will always be thankful that JR didn't give up on them; he was patient with her; and will easily go down as the most persistent, determined person she knows.