July 2017. It was the first 5K Samantha worked as a newly minted PR representative for the Hartford Marathon Foundation and Charles's second year as a whip-smart Operations Manager for the same company. They were introduced, pleasantries were exchanged, and they continued on working. As the months passed, they saw each other at races and the occasional extra-curricular work activity. A friendship emerged. But, unbeknownst to one another, the attraction was always there. March 2018. Things became slightly more obvious at their first big work party. They briefly chatted with other coworkers, then together with a group of colleagues, then everyone else started to trickle away and it was just Samantha and Charles. Standing in the middle of a crowded party, they felt like the only people in the world (or, at least, in the wood-lined room at Hog River Brewing in Hartford, CT). Locked in conversation, hours passed. Years later, they'd both admit that they fell in love that night. October 2018. It was their biggest event of the year: the Eversource Hartford Marathon, a marquee Connecticut event with tens of thousands of attendees. Samantha decided that, if Charles didn't ask her out at this event, he must not be into her. Charles woke up that morning with a resolve to, in fact, ask Samantha out. The day was long, the hours passed, and the two had exchanged little more than a brief hug. The end of the day was approaching. Charles' nerves were getting the best of him and he couldn't get the words out. Samantha, thinking it was potentially a lost cause, decided she wasn't going to wait for Charles to ask for her number—he was too special to let go. So she did something she has never done before. Marching right up to him, she started some small talk, and suggested they "celebrate" another great marathon. And then she said, "you probably need my number." The rest isn't history, it was just the beginning.