At any given long-distance race, one can witness a surprise engagement or three, which serve some purposes: (1) The actual engagement; (2) A handy way to be photographed by on-site, pro photographers; (3) A method to distract oneself from the actual task at hand. That last one? Potentially rude, especially if one’s girlfriend, say, just ran up the side of Pike’s Peak. She’s relishing her accomplishment, and then she sees her guy standing there with some rock that cost too much money. The result could be disastrous, what with the altitude sickness.
In this case, a fella (Joe Duarte) proposed to his lady (Katie Mascenik) at mile 17 of the the New York City marathon. See, that’s some hardcore gambling. If Katie said “no way,” then Joe would have never finished the marathon (or perhaps he’d have finished even faster). A relative was in on the proposal plan and stood by to take a photo, but unfortunately, another bystander blocked the way with their iPhone. So, the intended photo was actually a picture of some stranger taking a photo of the magical moment. This presents an obvious dilemma, but perhaps social media will come to the rescue.
Katie presented this photo on her Facebook page, with a simple plea: “How I wish I had asked the girl for her picture. She has the perfect picture of our engagement.” The photo has now gone viral, but the hunt continues.