Our Story

Some time in the spring of 2020, Craig started following Rachel on Instagram. He was entertained by her "turf talk" as a client at Cut 7 and the "hate mail" she got from her clients at [solidcore]. She didn't notice he had followed her.

However late in the summer, Rachel organized a digital event to drive voter turnout for the Biden-Harris campaign named “Biceps for Biden" just as Craig was working on a series of similar voter turnout events called “Sweat Talk Vote.” Craig reached out to say Rachel’s looked great and they exchanged friendly DMs - where it always goes down - and Rachel began to “follow” Craig in return on the ‘gram.

A few weeks of intermittent messaging went by when Craig reached out to a mutual friend to ask what Rachel’s “story” was. He was met with an accurate description that still stands to this day: “She hates men.”

"Perfect." he responded. "Just my type!"

They continued to chat over instagram until Craig asked if Rachel would be interested in hanging out. She was non-committal, but ambivalent and suggested he sign up for one of her classes. Having taken one miserable [solidcore] class before, Craig was unenthusiastic but a good sport and hopped onto the notorious waitlist for an arms & abs class provided they went to brunch after.

Rachel kept an eye on the waitlist and knew there would be friends in the class in the event she met Craig and didn’t want to hang out. She was ready to make an excuse and bail after class, briefing her friends preemptively. They agreed - but also acknowledged that Craig was very cute.

When he showed up to class, Craig was as advertised - albeit a little quieter than those who know him would expect. He survived class and was warm and friendly, polite and as cute as his Instagram suggested.

While Craig was out of the room getting ready for brunch, Rachel promptly told her friends to act normal and leave ASAP. She was happily going to brunch after all.

They found a spot, swapped stories about living in different places - Germany for her and Dallas/Virginia/South Carolina/Kansas for him. When brunch was over they decided to continue on a walk that turned into 3 hours sitting and talking in Logan Circle. They planned to see each other again on Thursday, but by Tuesday they decided they couldn't wait and met on Wednesday instead for a walk around the tidal basin and lunch from Call Your Mother.

Thursday turned into dinner, followed by what are your plans for this weekend. And the next weekend. And the week after that.

Somewhere between banangrams, workouts, post-coaching Tuesday night cookie dates, walks around the lake in Reston, and spending quarantine amounts of time with one another, Craig asked Rachel if she wanted “a boyfriend." Rachel immediately said no, absolutely not. He realized his lack of specificity, and asked again if she wanted him and she said yes without hesitation.

Eleven months to the day later, Craig and Rachel were set to move in together. They recruited their friends and Craig’s sister to help and Rachel couldn’t fathom why everyone was so happy. They all knew what she would find out when the move ended: Craig was ready to ask her to marry him. He did. She made noises only dogs could hear, and then said yes before needing to sit on the floor with all of the feelings.

Since those first days and weeks together, Rachel has introduced Craig to the singer Maggie Rogers, his core, bear crawls as a racing opportunity, and a profound love of very big dogs.

Craig has in turn introduced Rachel to loving professional sport, successful deadlifts, rest days and life with regular dessert. Together they’ve built a fitness community, started new jobs, and moved into a new home - one they hope to continue to fill with love, laughter and many more happy memories together.