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After crossing the finish line at her local Parkrun, Melissa Waldron, then 29, spotted a familiar face.
It was only the second time the primary school teacher, from Renfrewshire, Scotland, had taken part in the 5km run, so when Ryan, a member of her running group, invited her for a cool down session, she happily joined him.
The pair hadn’t chatted much before, but say they instantly hit it off, and decided to start training together more regularly.
For the next 11 months they scheduled weekly runs together – which became socially distanced after lockdown hit in 2020. But as time went on their conversations progressed from chats about pacing and personal bests, to more personal topics.
Melissa, now 33, said: ‘We were both newly single. We could relate to the way was feeling about no longer having that person in your life.
‘From there we started making jokes about both of us getting back out there. It was very light-hearted, but it got me thinking about him more when we weren’t together.’
Slowly, Melissa says she knew her feelings were growing for Ryan.
‘About 11 months down the line it sort of became the elephant in the room that there was something more between us,’ she says.
After one of their regular runs in June 2020, Ryan, 43, mentioned to Melissa that he was making his children mac ‘n’ cheese for dinner. She confessed she’d never tried it before – much to his shock.
A few days later he invited her over to try some of his legendary macaroni, on what would become their very first date. It was the first time the pair had ever seen each other in regular clothes, as opposed to exercise gear.
‘It was strange!’ laughs Melissa. ‘But he had jeans and a nice top on, and he smelt lovely.’
Melissa arrived to find Ryan had gone all out for the occasion — getting a hair cut, buying flowers, lighting candles, and making sure he had her favourite drink.
Join the country’s biggest running club (even if you’re a walker)
Joining parkrun is free – it doesn’t matter if you’re a keen runner, a jogger, a walker, a social stroller or are keen to volunteer and cheer from the sidelines.
Did we mention it’s free (tick) and you only need to do it once (tick tick).
Over dinner they finally breached the elephant in the room, with Ryan asking Melissa what she was looking for in a partner. She, in turn, confessed that she was looking for someone like him.
‘He asked what I meant by “someone like him” and I told him to read between the lines.
‘A few days later, he officially asked me to be his girlfriend and that was that,’ Melissa explained.
After almost a year the pair were finally together, and they didn’t want to waste anymore time.
By the time Covid restrictions had eased, and Parkrun had resumed again in July 2021, the couple were engaged and planning their wedding — with Parkrun having played a starring role in the proposal.
‘Ryan sent me on a treasure hunt one day after work and his youngest daughter helped him arrange the whole thing,’ Melissa recalls. ‘The first clue sent me to a bookcase in our house, then to the restaurant where we had one of our first dates, and I ended up where our local Parkrun is held.
Ryan, a scientist, got down on one knee and it was there that she agreed to become his wife.
Since that special moment the couple have tried to incorporate Parkrun into their lives whenever and wherever they can — they included it in their wedding vows (vowing to never try a new Parkrun without the other), named their wedding tables after Parkrun locations, and even completed a 5K while on their honeymoon.
‘We realised we hadn’t really done many Parkruns together, so we decided to go and try different ones so that we could use the location names for the names of tables at our wedding reception,’ Melissa explained.
But this proved to be the start of a slippery slope for the husband and wife.
‘We only needed 10 table names, but once we started going to all these runs, we just never stopped.’
So far they’ve done 51 of the 67 Parkruns in Scotland, and have nearly finished the Parkrun alphabet — a challenge that involves a different Parkrun for each letter.
Live your best life with Metro’s parkrun partnership
This year Metro has partnered with the iconic charity parkrun to bring you a thriving new content series.
In a coming together of two game-changing powerhouses, Metro has been chosen as the first official media partner for parkrun as it celebrates its 20th birthday in 2024.
It’s not just for the runners, though – it’s for everyone.
Come with us as we embark on a series of boundary-pushing wellbeing content designed to elevate and champion, but also to support mental health and societal cohesion. Whether you run, walk, jog or strut…
Read the stories of those who have found their calling, their community or had their lives changed through the simple act of lacing up their trainers (not that you have to do parkrun in trainers…as we’ll show you later on).
Get ready to be empowered, inspired, and energised!
Register for parkrun here. The best part is that it’s free and you only need to register once.
‘We only have Z left and we’re ticking that one off in March in Holland,’ Melissa adds, as the pair plan to tackle Zuiderpark parkrun, in Den Haag (The Hague).
A number of people have told the couple they think they’re ‘crazy’ for travelling all over the place for a run they could do anywhere, but they haven’t let these comments put them off.
‘We’ve definitely got the Parkrun bug; it’s a massive part of who we are as a couple. We never miss a Parkrun now, we plan our holidays around it and everything.’
The couple now pick holiday destinations based on Parkruns they want to try. Previous trips have included visits to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in Northumberland, and Aviemore, Scotland.
In 2022 the pair were thrilled to learn that their family was growing and they were expecting their first child together, a little girl named Savanna.
Pregnancy did nothing to dampen Melissa’s desire to do Parkrun, with the mum reaching a major milestone and completing her 100th one at 29 weeks pregnant.
In solidarity with his wife, Ryan ran alongside her on the trail with a watermelon strapped to his belly and a sign on his back which read: ‘Watermelon on board’.
Melissa kept on running the 5K up until her 35th week, when things became more difficult, so she switched to walking the route instead.
She then took four months off after welcoming Savanna, but is now back and couldn’t be happier to be doing Parkrun again.
And she’s hopeful that their seven-month-old daughter will one day follow in their footsteps and become just as obsessed, so they can make it a family tradition.
‘We’ve done a few runs with Savanna, pushing her along in a running buggy, and she absolutely loves it, although the first time we went she ended up absolutely covered head to toe in mud in the pram.
‘But she waves her arms around and squeals like she’s on a rollercoaster.’
The pair are already planning for the tot’s first Parkrun, despite it being a few years before she’s allowed to officially take part.
Children must be aged four or over to register for their own Parkrun barcode.
So what exactly is it about Parkrun that the couple love so much?
‘It makes you feel a part of something,’ Melissa says. ‘There’s a real sense of community and it’s a nice way to keep in touch with a range of different people.’
Ryan agrees, adding: ‘I love everything about it. It’s a free run that’s there for anybody, that you can do whenever you want and everybody there is just fantastic.
‘We’ve met so many of the volunteers and it’s so great that they are willing to give up their time to do this and it’s because Parkrun changes so many people’s lives.
‘You can see the real impact it has every week when you’re there, and there’s no question that it’s changed our lives — if we hadn’t met that day we would be in a different situation now.’
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.
MORE : I was reunited with my long lost family thanks to Parkrun
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