When Liv Paxton-Sprankle posted a TikTok about hosting a 5K on her wedding day and daring her guests to beat the bride—a former Division I collegiate runner who owns a 16:46 PR—it was kind of a joke. But then her TikTok did numbers, and she received an onslaught of negative comments. Detractors called her a bridezilla for “forcing” her friends and family to participate in a footrace, one that only an elite runner could win, no less.
“I would not be attending,” one miffed commenter wrote.
Another commenter said that she was a wedding planner, and wrote that, “If I got this invite from a bride and I said it was optional, I would be confused and scared.”
“I was like, ‘Okay, I feel like that's a you problem,’” Paxton-Sprankle said.
Not one to back down from a challenge, Paxton-Sprankle doubled down and decided to actually go through with hosting a (completely optional) Beat the Bride 5K the morning of her wedding on January 3rd.
Paxton-Sprankle, who ran cross-country and track for Winthrop University—where she was coached by her dad—and William and Mary, is still an avid runner, with six marathons under her belt. She’s clocked a 2:56 and 2:57, but is most proud of her 8th place finish at the 2024 San Francisco Marathon.
Her now-husband, Jacob Sprankle, is not a runner, and probably wouldn’t have opted to compete in a 3.1-mile race on his wedding day if it weren’t for his fleet-footed partner, but the couple met in high school, and have been together since Liv was clocking her fastest times as a college runner; he’s known for a long time that he was marrying into a turkey trot family. He’s a professional photographer who adores his “speed queen,” and often accompanies her to races, snapping action shots.
At 7:30 a.m. on the wedding day, Paxton-Sprankle’s godfather, who owns a race timing business, fired the starting gun and the couple, along with 25 of their guests, took off for two laps around the athletic campus of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Paxton-Sprankle had imagined a fairly bare bones race setup but, as a gift, her godfather surprised her with all the bells and whistles of a premium race experience—an inflatable finish line arch, custom keepsake bib numbers that said “Liv & Jacob,” live results, and a display clock.
In turn, Paxton-Sprankle treated her runners to breakfast and coffee, and offered Brooks beanies as prizes for the top three men and women. Anyone who successfully beat the bride was treated to a bottle of Costco Champagne. There were no registration fees, just an encouragement to donate to the Atrium Health Foundation Transplant Fund in honor of the groom, who received a liver transplant in 2019.
Going into the race, Paxton-Sprankle had a pretty solid sense of who her competition would be. Her friends Michael Craig (17:41, 1st place)—one of her father’s former college athletes—and Chris Vega (17:53, 2nd place)—a friend she met in college while working at Brevard Distance Runners Camp—were shoo-ins for the podium. It was her friendly rival, Sean Doherty, another running camp colleague, who would keep her on her toes.
“I knew my friends Chris and Michael would destroy me,” Paxton-Sprankle said, “and they did. I stuck with them for almost two miles and then they dropped, like, a 5:20 last mile.”
Paxton-Sprankle and Sean, however, ran together until around the last quarter mile, at which point she thought to herself, “He’s trying really hard. And also, I’ve gotta be a good sport. This is Beat the Bride, right?”
She told him, “Pass me now,” and he outsprinted his friend for an 18:23 third place finish, with the bride herself crossing the line in 18:34 for first place woman and fourth overall, sporting a white vest and base layer with a veil.
The groom trained for the occasion, and had trouble sleeping the night before because he was nervous about the race. He finished in 30:57, just missing his competition, mother-in-law Wendy Paxton, who’d gone into the 5K with a goal of beating the groom, since the bride was in a league of her own. Paxton-Sprankle waited at the finish line to congratulate Jacob, as he ran into her arms wearing a tuxedo t-shirt.
“He did a really good job,” Paxton-Sprankle said. “He was very proud that he was not last. He beat two people and I was really proud of him.”
The number of guests down to run—and cheer on—an early morning race in 29-degree weather the day of a wedding was testament to the robust running community Paxton-Sprankle and Jacob have built in the Charlotte area, plus some non-runner pals in the mix who were good sports. A few guests even ran PRs; one broke 20 minutes for the first time.
By 8:30 p.m., the newlyweds—and all the guests who opened the day with an all-out 5K effort—were pooped, and they cut the evening short to tuck themselves into bed. Their guests lined up early to clang their mini cowbell wedding favors, giving the pair a send-off worthy of a cross-country princess.
Becoming a first-time race director in addition to planning a wedding in the midst of marathon training and starting a new job came with a modicum of stress, Paxton-Sprankle admits, but she has no regrets.
“It was a wonderful start to the wedding day,” she said in a post-wedding TikTok. “It was literally the best day ever.”
Abby Carney is a writer and journalist in New York. A former D1 college runner and current amateur track athlete, she's written about culture and characters in running and outdoor sports for Runner's World, Like the Wind Magazine, The New York Times, and other outlets. She also writes about things that have nothing to do with running, and was previously the editor of a food magazine.
