Mark Smoothi and Alyssa Coe. Photo: Supplied
It's valentine's day; so we have got a long distance love affair for you - but maybe not the kind you are thinking.
On Saturday, sporty couple Mark Smoothi and Alyssa Coe will renew their wedding vows during the challenge Wānaka Half, a triathlon that includes an almost 2km swim, 90km bike and a run of more than 21kms.
Why you may ask... well, almost 10 years ago they got married during a Wānaka challenge event that was twice that distance.
The pair took a break half-way through the marathon to say their wedding vows.
He wore a top hat and bow tie while she wore a tulle skirt over her togs.
Mark Smoothi told Checkpoint the way their training intertwines with their relationship was fantastic.
"We meet later in life, I was 50 and my wife was 39, and to meet someone with that mutual interest certainly makes it so much easier."
Smoothi and Coe's love is truly connected with their training - they got proposed at an iron-man distance event, got married in an iron-distance event and went to Germany for their honey moon... and did an iron-distance event.
The couple will finish their Wānaka race before renewing their vows with friends and family; partly because it will be closer to the time of day they got married.
Smoothi said New Zealand always had a special place in their hearts.
"We love coming to New Zealand because everybody gets us, back home they'd be thinking yah crazy, you can't do that, over here it's like yeah, sure, no problem.
"We fell in love with this place, but not as much as I fell in love with my beautiful wife."
In another 10 years the pair are thinking of doing a race half the distance to celebrate another decade of marriage. Photo: Supplied
However Smoothi said now the pair had a daughter, their training looked a little different.
"Now that we have a little young one that popped into our lives - she's eight years of age now - we've had to have a bit of a back-track on some of our training.
"We just take it in turns so there's always someone at home with our daughter."
Coe said it did not take much convincing to get her onboard with the marriage idea.
"I was just like 'sure, why not'."
In fact, she said there were multiple similarities between being married and the extreme races.
"They both go for a really long time, and you have ups and downs, and you get delirious at times," she said.
In another 10 years the pair are thinking of doing the olympic distance race - half the distance of the race they will do on Saturday - to celebrate another decade of marriage.
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