Married in Mud at the Spartan Race

They Had a Lot in Common

Jen and I met through Match.com. I was outside of her distance “radius” but she took a chance and winked at me. I was about to cancel my Match account because it hadn’t been all it was cracked up to be. After a couple emails, we ended up meeting on her grandmother’s birthday. We immediately connected as we realized we have similar backgrounds. Both of our grandparents played huge roles in our lives. We both grew up in small, dead end towns (her, ME; myself, PA). We both excelled in school and were leaders in our tech area. We both faced death when we were younger. I had staph septicemia when I was 16 and she almost died when she was 25 from misdiagnosed acute intermittent porphyria. We also both moved to VA in hopes of securing a better future for ourselves (jobs!). However what secured it, in my opinion, was when I did a flying split in her living room that night.

Our interests overlapped tremendously. Having both grown up in rural areas of the country, we shared interest in the outdoors. We also share a love for the gym. I was always into sports and fitness, but it wasn’t until I had a number of major health issues my junior year in high school that I took it to the next level. Jen on the other hand had been given 2 weeks to live. Her sight was all but lost and she withered down to around 90 lbs. A doctor had seen her chart and happened to connect the dots. She was told she’d never be able to do the things she always enjoyed. She fought for it and now she’s the strongest woman I know. My respect for her eventually blossomed into love.

Planning for the Tough Mudder

Shortly after we starting dating we realized that, before we met, we both had signed up for a Tough Mudder at Wintergreen. We had both planned on running it alone. It was early in our dating but we decided to make a weekend out of it. The 10 mile course was grueling. She ran on Saturday and finished around 3:32. I ran on Sunday and finished around 3:52. She beat me! I was sold that she was special.

About 2 months after that, she met my kids, Kate, Sophie, and Mason. They were 4, 4 (twins!) and 1 respectively. She was amazing with them and they took to her without hesitation. I know she was worried a bit and there were some bumps, but she always tried her best and I love her for that. When the kids started to call her mom on their own, Kate made it clear that it was “because she acts like a mom”.

I proposed Dec of 2013. The kids had wanted us to get married right away (and always on a “Tuesday”.. ?). We have plans to find “our” house next year so we didn’t want to have a big wedding till then. Also one of Jen’s best friends has been having serious health issues. They both had talked for years about Jen finding the right guy to marry and how Kelly would be there for her. With Kelly’s health and the fact that we both agreed we should be married before we bought a house, 2014 it was. We just weren’t sure “how”.

Married in Mud

I had signed up for the Aug 23rd Spartan Race in Wintergreen with some friends. About 3 weeks out we were talking and she brought up the idea of getting married at Wintergreen. I loved it! It was where we had our first weekend together and it was there that I realized she was truly special. There would be no worrying about the color of the napkins not quite matching a tablecloth or centerpiece. No worrying about who should be sitting next to each other at the reception tables. No worrying about the format of the invites. No worrying about all the little things that a traditional wedding requires. To us, that was noise. We wanted it to be about us. The Spartan Race was our way of showing to each other that in spite of whatever obstacles we face, we will be there for each other and that we are stronger combined than on our own.

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Written by Steve Fisher, the Groom

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