There was nowhere to run for this couple

The photograph shows Priscilla and Tim Bayley, both avid runners, looking as if they'd been together forever. With their healthy wide smiles, it looks like an engagement announcement. "But it was taken within seconds of when we first met," explains Priscilla, a 28-year-oldmarketing client manager for Sports Basement.

"It was bizarre," says Tim, also 28, who is originally from Brighton, England. It was June 2006 and the two were attending a party after the NCAA track championships in Sacramento.

Priscilla, a former track star herself and graduate of UC Davis, had suffered through a devastating year. After graduation, she fell ill from a rare autoimmune disease that made it hard to walk and entirely impossible to run. Luckily, she had responded to a "miracle treatment" and the night she met Tim was the first time she'd been out in nearly a year. The two caught each other's eye in the crowd, and when Tim made his way over, a friend had pulled out a camera. "You'll look good in this picture," Priscilla said as an opener, drawing him into the frame. Both knew, they say, right then and there, that they would be together.

"I'm not usually like that," Priscilla says, defensively. "I'm very picky!" This time, however, it was different; she didn't know a thing about Tim, even if he had run that day. (He had, and had taken second place in the 800.) Tim was attending graduate school in New York, but by the end of the night the two had made plans to see each other out until Christmas.

A year of cross-country visits led them once again to the championships in Sacramento. Tim, having just graduated, had come west on a one-way ticket. Together and ready to make a home, they discovered a love for Lafayette, where they have a cute apartment behind the library. "We love running in the hills," says Tim, a personal trainer, who offers an early morning boot camp and private training when he is not traveling to international races. Both also find gratification in coaching college-bound teens.

Last June, the couple married at a friend's house, and the practical pair arranged much of the festivity themselves. "We're fairly poor," Tim says, in a cute South England accent, with a bit of a laugh. Priscilla baked 150 cupcakes herself, but because the night before the event was steamy, the raspberries on top started to mold by morning. Tim, knowing his intended would freak at such a situation, secretly replaced the fruit before she knew.

At the end of the month, they'll be celebrating their one-year anniversary at the British National Championships where Tim is competing. Right now, however, Priscilla wants an iced coffee. The distance runner, Priscilla, is out the door while the sprinter, Tim, is still looking for socks.

"It's amazing how slow he is considering how fast he can run," says Priscilla.

Louise Rafkin has contributed to the New York Times. Couple suggestions? Send a story to onthecouch@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page N - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle