Runner met with surprise proposal at 5K Christmas run finish line

Faye Timby had a very romantic surprise after she and her partner, Damian Taylor, completed a festive Parkrun on Christmas Day.

She was overcome with emotion when Damian – who she met 18 months ago while they were taking part in a half marathon – got down on one knee and popped the question.

Faye, a casting director, said: ‘I had no idea it was going to happen, I was completely blind-sided in the best way possible.

‘I was in complete shock, I didn’t know what to do with myself.

‘It was really personal and really special as we met at a half marathon.

‘It feels like we’ve come full circle to be embarking on the next part of our race together.’

Faye, 32, and Damian, 43, live together in Blackheath, London, and co-parent Damian’s two daughters, aged 12 and eight.

Damian, a third-year mature student of physiotherapy at King’s College London, said he hid the ring away a zipper pocket of his running shorts.

He finished the run 10 minutes before Faye, and admitted that the nerves started getting to him.

He said: ‘I was not nervous about it, but I was nervous about losing the ring during the race around Southampton Common.

‘When I saw her coming towards the finish line, I started to think “oh, this is really happening now”.

‘I thought that as we met at a run it would be nice to move our relationship to the next stage while at a run.’

The couple’s best friends took also part in the Christmas Day run, so they were there to see the proposal in person.

Faye and Damian are now planning to complete a marathon together in Brighton, East Sussex, next year.

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