One's calm and one's hyper, but they run in step

Amy Flock wore white on her wedding day. She slid a blue garter around her thigh. She slipped a lucky penny in her shoe and her grandmother's pearls around her neck.

All very fitting and traditional.

But little else about Amy and Ryan Flock's Aug. 30 wedding day was typical.

The San Diego couple exchanged vows 30 minutes after completing a six-day, 108-mile adventure run in the Colorado Rockies. While Amy wore white, her skirt and shirt were flecked with brown dirt prints. She soaked her swollen left hand in ice for 15 minutes so she could squeeze on her wedding band.

Of the occasion, Amy says, “It was exhilarating. You know that saying that you don't want to go into your grave site well preserved? I'd rather be bruised and knocked around a bit. That's how I interpret life and our wedding. Nobody can ever take away this memory from us.”

That the Flocks opted for a non-traditional wedding is hardly stunning. Ryan and Amy live life, stretching, twisting, sometimes downright snapping their comfort zones.

They met while auditioning for “The Apprentice.” They exchanged phone numbers after standing in line for five hours that day but didn't begin dating until 18 months later when they bumped into each other at an Ocean Beach bar.

Amy, now 31, barely recognized Ryan, now 28.

He had lost nearly 40 pounds.

“I don't mean to be rude,” Amy said that May 2007 evening. “But what happened to you? You look amazing.”

Normally fit and athletic, Ryan had let his physique turn pear-shaped.

“I decided enough's enough,” Ryan said. “I started working out all the time, watching what I eat. Not partying, being stupid. I grew up, I guess.”

Further evidence the couple do things differently?

Amy proposed to Ryan.

They were vacationing in San Francisco in October 2007, bopping about North Beach early in the morning, lost as they walked about.

“I was a little freaked out,” Amy said. “I just remember Ryan being so calm and wonderful and beautiful. I knew all along (he was the one), but at that moment I said (to myself), 'This is my man. I love him. I want to be with him forever.' ”

“I want to marry you,” she told Ryan. “Will you marry me?”

“It was beautiful,” Ryan said. “It was genuine.”

Ryan works as a service manager for Firestone tires. Amy is a sales manager for a company that decorates trade shows and corporate events.

The couple ran a half marathon 13 months ago. Thinking it would help prepare them for last summer's Gore-Tex TransRockies Run, they stepped up to the marathon last June.

“They're apples and oranges,” Amy said of the marathon and 108-mile event. “But in our minds, it made sense. It definitely wasn't like running a marathon. A marathon's one day. This is a marathon for six days, at altitude.”

The couple's story is featured in the January issue of Runner's World.

As you'd expect, there were some tough stretches during the six-day adventure.

“I don't know so much that we got on each other's nerves as it was just the stress of doing a race,” Amy said. “You're living in a tent, don't have any space, it's freezing.”

“A few times, I held my tongue, let her get it out,” Ryan said.

Asked what he learned about his bride, Ryan added, “That's she's very graceful and courageous. She has a lot of pride and a lot of strength.”

Amy said the 108-mile race reinforced what she already knew about her husband.

“He is so calm, level-headed, rational,” she said. “Those are amazing qualities in a partner. You don't need two hyper, spazmadic persons. I'm that person. I need that complete opposite to make us a whole.”

Fifty family and friends traveled to Beaver Creek, Colo., for the wedding. Many brought white roses, which Amy turned into a bouquet. The groomsmen and bridesmaid wore black track suits.

What new adventures await the newlyweds?

They plan to take the triathlon plunge in 2009. They'd like to run the Great Wall Marathon one day. They'll return to Colorado in August for a repeat of the 108-mile ultra. Organizers have comped them an entry.

There's one other thing Amy learned about Ryan.

“He's in it for the long haul. He's not going to give up,” she said, discussing ultra-running and life. “That race definitely symbolized our life together and our marriage.”


Source: signonsandiego.com