A Jersey City firefighter proposed to his girlfriend as she was 10 miles away from finishing her New York City Marathon run this weekend, and the internet can’t stop chastising this man’s unforgivable gaffe.
According to New York 4, St. Barnabas Hospital nurse Kaitlyn Curran was in mile 16 of her run when her boyfriend Dennis Galvin popped over the spectator railing, got down on one knee, and asked her to marry him. Around her, other spectators and runners cheered the couple on, some stopping to take pictures of them before running along, others just rubbernecked over Galvin’s proposal.
However, the internet didn’t see the proposal as sweetly as the people cooing at Galvin’s smooth move.
https://twitter.com/JessicaValenti/status/1059849281736187905
https://twitter.com/HKesvani/status/1059806143848026112
https://twitter.com/Scaachi/status/1059850919171555328
He couldn't propose to her at the finish line?
— BLOOP! (@susiemcdonnell) November 5, 2018
Across Twitter, Many accused the man of being selfish, having stopped his girlfriend in the middle of her life-accomplishing run just to make the moment about himself.
THERE'S A FUCKING FINISH LINE.
— celia (@_celia_bedelia_) November 6, 2018
Men of the world – do not do this. This isn't heartwarming. This wasn't about this dude but he HAD to make it about him. This is just a man who needed to be the center of attention. Let her run. Let her finish. https://t.co/OQ5Nuspsei
https://twitter.com/TaylorLorenz/status/1059801895257161728
Others questions the ramifications that his popped question would have on the woman’s run itself—could she make it the next 10 miles? How poorly would her run time be affected by his stunt, both in having to stop for the proposal and in now being distracted from her initial task at hand?
Re this NYC marathon proposal that's going around, there ARE times when I think a marathon proposal would be fine. 1. if they're really suffering and need an emotional lift. 2. At the end. That one mostly looked like an unsatisfactory, rushed proposal that hurt her time.
— Helen O'Hara (@HelenLOHara) November 6, 2018
How did the stop affect her muscles, probably already worn from the first 16 miles??
https://twitter.com/HKesvani/status/1059806387222519811
Women can never just finish first, can we? 🙄
— Kelly (@Kelly_QPR) November 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/KristaChirps/status/1059777359648358403
If you've ever trained for a marathon, the amount of time that goes into, is a lot. To be interrupted for a damn proposal is insane. https://t.co/bW6ocBqwuQ
— Joel Macke (@NotJoelMacke) November 6, 2018
He couldn’t even take her sweatshirt, wrapped around her waist, for the last leg of the run? And we’re supposed to believe that he loves her? Hmm.
AND he didn't even take her sweatshirt that she clearly didn't want or need!
— Marge Diamonds (@MargeDiamonds) November 6, 2018
I'd have given the ring back at the finish line.
Another video from a different angle of the proposal showed the woman asking aloud how she was now, still 10 miles away from her finish line and having been proposed to, expected to finish the race. According to CBS News, Galvin chose mile 16, near the Queensboro Bridge, to propose because it was the first Manhattan stop of the race (which still doesn’t explain the significance since they live and met in Jersey City).
SHE SAID YES: A woman who was running in Sunday’s New York City Marathon was at mile 16 when her longtime boyfriend hopped over the barrier and dropped to one knee. She ended the day with a medal around her neck and a ring on her finger. https://t.co/8xbZ6P24RM pic.twitter.com/YizdEJYOhc
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) November 5, 2018
Curran trained a year for this marathon, and managed to finish in four hours and 24 minutes. Alas, despite the criticism, it’s also Curran marrying this well-intentioned (albeit misguided) man, not the internet.
Future marathon proposers, however, beware.