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When Emma Kessler laced up her running shoes for the Rockin' Riverfest Half Marathon in St. Charles, Missouri, she thought she would be running alone.
Leading up to race day, Kessler became nervous about running her first half marathon, so she spent months asking her boyfriend, Jason Burns, to run with her. Each time, he told her no.
What she didn't know was that Burns, a competitive powerlifter, had been keeping a secret.
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"Ever since we met, she has been to every one of my competitions and supported me no matter how far away they were or how much they cost," Burns said. "I didn't really think it's fair if I sit on the side of the course and only see her for 30 seconds during her two-hour event, so I decided that it didn't matter how I felt on the day, if she was going to run, I was going to run with her."
For more than two months, Burns quietly trained with a plan to surprise Kessler on race day.
"I knew she'd be relieved knowing she didn't have to run alone because I watched her anxiety about the race increase every week that we got closer to actual race day," Burns said.
When they arrived at the race, Burns told Kessler he had a surprise. He opened the trunk of his car, revealing his running shoes.
Kessler immediately burst into tears.
"My favorite part of the experience of surprising her was just watching all her anxiety about running completely disappear," Burns said. "Watching her go from someone completely scared about whether or not they'd be able to do this extremely hard feat and basically turning into a kid on Christmas getting the one present they've always wanted."
The couple ran the entire race side by side and crossed the finish line together.
Watch the video above to see Burns surprise Kessler before the pair completed the race together.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Runner moved to tears by boyfriend's race-day surprise
