A little bit about the couple

How did they meet, you ask?

Long long ago, Gary began training Kelly's parents at Champagne Fitness.

Kelly's dad strongly encouraged her to join him for a session at Gary's studio. She declined, citing that she didn't need a personal trainer and she would go for a run instead.

After repeated invitations, she finally acquiesced.

It took only a few sessions before the social media flirting began between then. But Gary was too shy to jump right into an evening dinner date, so he planned out some steps to get him there...literally.

When was their first date?

Days later Gary casually invited Kelly to run the Larkspur Steps. She, not realizing it was a date, promptly said yes. He, not thinking she would, scrambled to cancel many sessions of clients to give them ample time together.

The following date was lunch at Woodlands Cafe. She was nervous. (What does one order when out to lunch with a personal trainer?!) She went with the quiche. And for him: The sausage scramble and a full stack of banana-walnut pancakes to "split."

First kiss?

St. Patrick's Day, 2011.

What came next?

Read on.

All photography by Colleen Donaldson.

Preface

In their fourth year of dating Kelly liked to sporadically ask Gary about how and when he was going to propose.  Gary's reply was always, "You'll have no idea.  It's not going to be on a special holiday like Valentine's Day, Christmas or Supermoon eclipse. I'm more likely to do it on a random Tuesday morning when you least expect it."

The Story

In early December 2014, Gary and Kelly were running the Larkspur Steps as they frequently do together. On that morning Gary proposed a challenge. They were to train through the holidays for a timed test. Test day would be in six weeks, just after the new year.

(At least) once a week Gary cajoled Kelly out of bed at 6:30 am and they headed to the steps.

On the morning of January 13, 2015 they met at the bottom of the stairs just after Gary was finished with his 6am client. It was a chilly morning and both had a stomach full of butterflies.  They did a much-needed warm-up lap, setting up a handful of rocks at the top, used to count the number of flights run.  They walked down to the the bottom, started their watches, and sprinted off.

Gary moved into the lead after a few flights. As they passed each other, Kelly on the way up and Gary halfway back down, Gary said, "I forgot to move a rock, can you move it for me?" Sure, Kelly responded. She approached the top step,  reached down to move a rock, and found a very different "rock" in its place.  Stunned, she backed away and turned to look for Gary at the bottom of the steps.  To her surprise, Gary had followed her up and was down on one knee right behind her.  He asked her to marry him. Kelly blubbered uncontrollably. After she choked out a yes, Gary kissed her and dove into the bushes to retrieve glasses and a mini bottle of Champagne he'd planted very early that morning.

They sipped their bubbly together on the top step, celebrating the momentous occasion, which also happened to be Kelly's 10,000th day alive...and a Tuesday morning.

Then they shared a stack of banana pancakes at Woodland's Cafe, just as they did on their first date, 1,428 days before.