FARGO — If it weren't for a friend convincing Bonnie Jules to do a 50K marathon in Brighton, Colo., in 2017, she would have never met Edward Broadnax. On Saturday, before the Sanford Fargo Marathon, the two got married on a stage in front of the starting line.
"I really owe her friend," Broadnax said.
That marathon in Colorado was the first 50K Jules, 46, had ever done, as she had only done half-marathons to that point. Jules was talking to Broadnax's friend at the beginning of the race when Broadnax, 52, came out of nowhere. He was a more experienced runner, so he slowed his pace, as he began to talk to Jules.
Jules told Broadnax that he didn't need to stay with her for the whole race. He did.
And the two ran as husband and wife on Saturday.
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"A lot of the runners here in the various clubs would tell you that they probably would not have run as far or as fast or thought to travel as much as they do without his enabling," Jule said. "He's just a wonderful guy. He'd do anything for you anytime. It's really hard to meet people like that nowadays because everyone has some facade you have to peel back. What you see is what you get with Ed."
Originally from El Paso, Texas, Broadnax ran his third full marathon in Fargo Saturday.
"It makes sense. We met at 50K race, let's find out what the best marathon and let's get married at that one," Broadnax said. "I was thinking Fargo is flat and the people are hella friendly. I ran it twice and ran good times, so I was like let's get married at Fargo."
The only hiccup for the wedding came when the two found out the pastor who was supposed to do the ceremony got stuck in traffic. That's where Story Church pastor Wade Coffey came to the rescue. He was told six minutes before the ceremony that they needed him.
"I've never done that before, but I gotta go where God needs me," Coffey said.
Dressed in a T-shirt with a tuxedo on it and black mouse ears Saturday, Broadnax looked into the eyes of Jules, who he refers to as his sweetheart. Jules, dressed in a white shirt that said "Bride," white mouse ears and a white tutu, looked right back at him. At 6:39 a.m., standing on a stage in front of all the runners, Broadnax kissed the bride.
Jules turned and tossed her bouquet of flowers to the crowd of runners. Originally from Jacksonville, Fla., Jules then ran the full marathon in Fargo for the second time.
"That's going to be a story we can tell over and over because I don't think people would choose to get married and then take off and run a marathon," Jules said. "I think that's very unique."
