Marathon ends with marriage proposal

Times Photo Submitte

By Cal Braid
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A Taber couple flew to Massachusetts to run the Boston Marathon, crossed the finish line, and got engaged on that very spot. Chris Chabot and Susan Reimer ran the 42.2 kilometre marathon on April 21 with staggered starts  – Chabot began running 30 minutes before Reimer – from Hopkinton to Boylston St. in Boston, Mass.

In mid-April, the Times published a story that detailed how the couple came together and worked in tandem to fulfil their ambition as runners. Reimer is a longtime runner, but Chabot’s fitness journey took shape at the onset of the pandemic and throughout its duration.

 When Chabot met Reimer, he grew fitter, went farther, and ran faster to keep up with his girlfriend. When the two qualified for this year’s Marathon, he said he was “over the moon.”

 “We both ran very well,” Chabot said after the couple returned from Boston. “She ran a time of 3:36:15 and I ran a time of 3:03:43. We are both proud of those times.”

 He had a 30-minute head start, and when he finished a little more than three hours later he lingered at the finish line with a grand finale trick up his sleeve.

 “I was allowed to wait around the finish line,” he said, “because I proposed to her once she crossed.”

 “It was an amazing moment for both of us. Having met because of running and using the Strava running app, I felt it was a perfect place to ask for her hand in marriage,” he said.

  He asked her two children, Tyson and Allison Reimer, beforehand and said both were extremely excited for the pair, as was Chabot’s daughter Presley.

 “Fortunately there was a lovely gentleman standing there with me post-race that was honoured to get the proposal on video for us so we could have that keepsake forever,” he explained.

 During their “whirlwind week in Boston,” the couple took in a Red Sox game which the home team won in the tenth inning, went to the top of the Prudential Building for the amazing views of Boston, stopped in at Cheers for lunch the day after the race, and went to Paul Revere’s house.

 “The entire trip was a dream,” Chabot said.

 In addition, he told us, “The day the paper came out with your original article on us, I had an interview at the firehall that same evening. The Chief called me that night with the news that I earned the promotion to Lieutenant. I am extremely proud to be a part of the Taber Fire Department, and having this promotion was a great way to start an incredible week.”

 “I think now I might have to just sleep for a few days after all the excitement,” he concluded.