A Scots couple tied the knot after falling in love at a weekly 5k run. Ryan Waldron plucked up the courage to speak to his now-wife Melissa at Linwood parkrun in July 2019 after they had seen each other in passing at their running club.
After inviting her for a cooldown lap afterwards, the duo bonded over their love of exercise and quickly became firm friends. Dad-of-two Ryan helped teacher Melissa bag a coveted course personal best - despite her having to stop to tie her shoelace on the Renfrewshire course.
When they finally admitted they had feelings for each other around a year later, the relationship developed quickly as Ryan, 41, set about planning a romantic marriage proposal. Melissa, 32, followed a treasure hunt with clues before finding herself standing on the running course where Ryan dropped to one knee at the exact spot where she had stopped to fix her shoe just two years before.
They tied the knot at Lochside House Hotel in August this year - even vowing to never complete a parkrun without each other. Melissa, who is expecting the couple’s first baby in May next year, said: “Parkrun has definitely changed our lives. We both weren’t looking for anyone or expecting it but it brought us together.
“Now it’s such a big part of our lives - we even did the Christmas Day run last year. Ryan and I were at the same running club before but we didn’t really know each other.
“I went along to the first ever Linwood parkrun in July 2019 and that was where he said hello to me before the run started as we were lining up at the start line. And then when we were done, he came over to say well done and ask how I had got on.
“He asked if I fancied a cool down lap and I was like ‘why would I want to run more but okay’ but I said it was fine and we got chatting about running. It just became a ritual every Saturday. It got to a point that even after the cool down, we would just stand and chat for ages.
"About a month later, he paced me round the course so I could get a personal best - which I’ve never been able to come anywhere close to breaking again. Within the first kilometre I had to stop and tie my shoelace because I just couldn’t ignore it. He was properly stressed out but I ran to the side and sorted it. Our feelings for each other were like the elephant in the room.
“I didn’t want to admit it because I was worried about ruining our friendship. After a dinner at his house, I eventually admitted that I was looking for someone exactly like him and it was just a whirlwind from there.”
Little did Melissa know that just two years later, industrial engineer Ryan would be the one bending down on the parkrun course at ON-X Linwood. She explained: “I followed all the clues and riddles he had left me until I arrived at the parkrun course where I saw Alice (Ryan’s daughter) waiting for me.
“She had the best poker face ever. When I asked her why she was there, she just kept telling me to open the letter she was holding and was just not giving anything away.
““The final clue told me to go to the spot where I had stopped to tie my lace and that’s where he was waiting for me. That’s where he got down on one knee and proposed to me. I obviously said yes straight away. The whole proposal didn’t cost him a penny but it meant the world with all the time, thought and planning that went into it. That’s what I love about it. It was so personal to us.”
The couple, who got married on a Tuesday so they didn’t miss their weekly Saturday run, even named their tables after other 5k courses from across Scotland. And despite getting ready to welcome the couple’s first child next year, Melissa, who has completed 85 parkruns, still hopes to reach her 100 parkrun milestone before giving birth.
Ryan added: “The initial attraction must have been there for me because I asked her to go for a cooldown. But we had such a connection.
“We just chatted away for the whole time we were running together. We got together and it just exploded really. It has just been fantastic and crazy.”
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