Competing in the Broad Street Run is exciting enough for any runner from our region. But for 28-year-old Alexandra Brangan, it’s what happened right after the race that still has her in shock.
Brangan, who was participating in her third Broad Street Run, crossed the finish line shortly before 11 a.m. She immediately began looking for her loved ones who had come to support her, including her boyfriend of nearly four years, 33-year-old Stephen Dowling.
“Obviously I was exhausted,” Brangan said. “I was looking for him and a crowd of people. When I found my family and friends. I walked up to him and I saw that everybody was standing there and there was more family there than I had thought was coming.”
That’s when Dowling popped the question.
“He just looked at me and said, ‘I love you, it’s happening,’” Brangan said. “He got down on his knee and then my jaw hit the floor. I was definitely in awe and shock.”
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Dowling, who met Brangan when they both worked at Ladder 15, admits that he had a little help coming up with the idea for the proposal.
“My mother called me up one day and thought of the idea,” Dowling said. “I was thinking of other places and my mother called me and said she thought this would be the best idea.”
Brangan says she would rate the proposal a “20 out of 10.”
“It was absolutely amazing,” she said.
Still, she isn't in any rush to start the wedding planning just yet.
“I just wanna enjoy the excitement,” Brangan said while laughing. “I’ll worry about the stress of planning later.”
