On January 23rd, Marianne and Jed Millar started out their wedding day with a 13 mile run, as they complete the St. George half marathon just hours before saying I do. "Everyone thought we we're so crazy," Marianne said. "It was so us. I wouldn't change it for anything, running is something that is part of our relationship."
Marianne, a 31-year-old sponsored runner, and Jed, a 28-year-old ultra marathoner, took very different routes to becoming runners. Marianne has been running since she was a child, becoming a track star in high school and at BYU but didn't start distance running until she paced her dad in the Wasatch 100 her last year in college. After pacing for 10 miles she was hooked. Four-marathons later she was being sponsored by Snickers and Aquaphor.
Jed didn't start running until 2004, when a challenge from a fellow firefighter got him running marathons. Three years later he was running six to eight marathons a year and had just completed his first 100-miler. "It was peer pressure from friends," Jed said. "I hang out with a lot of type A personalities and anything that we are doing people like to push the limit on."
Marianne and Jed were introduced through a mutual friend. Marianne, who had been through lots of ups and downs dating, wasn't interested in being set up for another relationship, but for Jed it was like love at first sight. "It was a boy meets girl, boy falls in love, girl thinks boy is pathetic situation," Jed laughed. "I was amazed what a go getter she is and how thoughtful she is. From the get go I was totally twitterpaited."
For the couple, their time dating was centered around running. Most of their dates were runs and last year the two ran all six Utah marathons together.
The sneak peek into each other's personalities was one of the perks Marianne and Jed got from
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unning long distances together.
"He was running the Wasatch 100 and I met him for the last 25 miles and he kept asking me how I was doing and he'd already run 75 miles! How much he was willing to take care of me impressed me ," Marianne said. "Even his persistence and endurance, he's not one to give up easily and he's very much like that in our relationship. From the day he met me he said 'I'm going to marry that girl,' and he never gave up."
Marianne and Jed built their relationship on running and said it was only fitting to start their life together off with a run. The couple had t-shirts made showcasing their wedding later that day and held hands the entire race. "It was something we had built our relationship on and something we felt like we had really enjoyed together," Jed said. "Even if we weren't able to race we had planned on doing some sort of run that day."
The couple knows that long-distance running will help them in their long term relationship. "I think it's taught us that things are possible. When you realize you've done something that 99 percent of the world doesn't think is possible everything else in your life is possible," Jed said. "It gives us something that we can share in those types of experiences together. To be 40 miles into a 50 mile race, hurting like you can' t believe and to be able to look at someone and say I know what you're going through, that intimacy has strengthen our relationship like nothing else."
The couple plans on continuing their tradition of running now that they are married. In the near future Marianne and Jed will be running a half marathon on Jed's birthday in April, the Squaw peak marathon in June and Marianne's first Wasatch 100 in September.
Ultimately they would like to stay in Utah to raise their family, but are waiting to hear where Jed gets accepted into medical school. "We would ultimately like to end up here. This is where are families are," Marianne said. But no matter where the couple eventually settles down running will always be part of the equation. "It's something we like to do together," Marianne said. "And it gives us a nice chance to catch up and talk."
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