You’re in love. Madly, passionately, over-the-moon in love. What’s the cure for this euphoric state? Run up and down staircases at a wild pace on 7 or 8 May 2016, and if you obey the rules, don’t fall and avoid injuring others in your race to win the 2016 Diamond Dash Vertical Challenge, you could go home sweaty, exhausted and even more euphoric if you’re the highest achiever and win the grand prize of a 1.5-carat diamond!

Sure, you could give that diamond to your mum or have it set into a ring for yourself, but you’re never going to get a better chance to nab the stone that could wind up in an engagement ring setting for the love of your life. You know what we mean. This first ever event is expected to be well-attended by couples with big plans for that diamond.

Case in point: Adam and Eve (not their real names). He’s going to spring a big surprise on her at the Diamond Dash, and he offered to share his secret plan with us if we promise not to use their real names. Promise kept!

How it Began

These two upwardly-mobile Singaporeans are part of the ethnic melting pot that gives this nation its character. They met at a run staged to introduce singles, and by the time Adam and Eve arrived at the finish line, neither minded being at the back of the pack because they couldn’t stop chatting each other up during the 5k.

Two showers later, the pair met again for dinner and you can guess what happened after that, since they’re the subject of this story!

Both members of this dynamic duo worked hard to finish university and both went on to graduate school. At the time they met, their careers were just taking off, so their dual passion for running became the beautiful ribbon that tied them together amid impossible deadlines, hectic travel schedules and other such demands.

Fast forward several years. Eve began issuing not-so-subtle hints. “You know, my family loves you.”

“My family loves you, too,” Adam replied absentmindedly, paying more attention to the new running shoes he was trying on than to her.

Eve let out a dramatic sigh and rolled her eyes.

What she didn’t realise at the time is that Adam got the message loud and clear, and to this day, he recalls deciding that the Diamond Dash would make a serendipitous place to pop the question. He began to launch a clever plan to propose to Eve at the pinnacle of the race location: Klapson’s-The Boutique Hotel.

When he suggested they run on both the singles day (the 7th) and couples day (the 8th), she thought it might be too much, but he begged and she acquiesced. In his eyes, as the race progressed from singles to couples, the two would symbolically transition from boyfriend/girlfriend to engaged couple. Is Adam the quintessential romantic? You be the judge.

Eve, of course, knew nothing about the plan as the two registered for the race. And so the plot thickened. Adam’s first task? The jewellery store, of course.

He told us that while he has high hopes of winning that 1.5-carat diamond next month, the sensible side of his personality required insurance, so off he went on a ring-shopping expedition. Done and done.

Now, how could he arrange it so both of them were at the top flight of stairs at the same time? After all, runners will be randomly assigned to 80-person waves setting off at the bottom of the hotel stairwell every 20 minutes. He’s still working on that!

Remember: Adam’s job is to continue ruminating about how to get them to the top together while not blurting out this secret in advance of the big day.

As this story is written, Adam isn’t getting much sleep because he’s watching the days pass as he plots and plans. If he could write the perfect scenario, it would be this: He is assigned to an 80-person wave that gives him 20 minutes to get to the top, pulls the ring out of his shorts pocket as her wave reaches the top floor and the magic moment strikes.

In his imagination, he gets down on one knee the moment he sees her while doing his best to avoid the rush of runners out to beat their competitors! What else does his fantasy include? Fellow runners breaking into applause when he proposes, winning that second diamond or happily collecting one of the complimentary prizes for a Klapson’s staycation so they can celebrate their future in the most luxurious of accommodations.

Eve will, of course, be wearing a new piece of gear on her ring finger when the couple returns to the hotel on the 8th for their second run, which is the Diamond Dash official couple’s day.

Why tell you this story? Because it adds a wonderfully romantic element to your personal reasons for signing up for this lively, new spring event. The Diamond Dash is affordable, challenging and a great addition to Singapore’s vertical climb scene.

We can’t guarantee that you’ll be around when Adam and Eve get engaged, but if this modern-day fairy tale prompts your own proposal scenario, that summit is big enough to host many proposals over the two race days, so join the party by staging yours up in the clouds, too!

If you could add an element to Adam’s crazy and wild proposal idea, what would that be? Think out of the box...the diamond ring box, that is!