Prince Harry surprised a pair of marathon runners over the weekend in the most down-to-earth way. The husband and wife team,  Mark and Chudney Espiritu, were set to run the London marathon this year which had to be postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Because of COVID-19, the London marathon was forced to carry-on entirely online. Participants were able to take part in the race, through the London marathons’ official app and are even set to receive their medals by mail. The Espiritu couple described it on their team’s Instagram page, “We were supposed to run the 40th London Marathon last April, then COVID happened. The marathon was moved to October 4, but COVID is still happening 🤦🏻‍♀️, so the actual race was changed to a virtual one” they explained. The couple went on to say, “Runners have the option to run this year’s virtual marathon & still keep a spot in 2021, 2022 or 2023 (pretty awesome work by the organizers).”

For Royal fans everywhere, the coolest part of all was the way Mark and Chudney Espiritu actually met Prince Harry. The couple writes, “London Marathon reached out to us since they are looking for LA runners.” They were asked to submit a story as to why they were participating in the race. The Espiritus’ explained that the two were celebrating their 40th birthday and were hoping to dedicate the race to Chudney Espiritu’s mother who is battling a brutal disease. Prince Harry must have been moved by the couple’s story as he decided to meet them, the two explain, “I got an email & we were told that the London Marathon ambassador will meet with us. That day was today & we found out that the ambassador was the Duke of Sussex! Prince Harry!!! 😱”

In the post, where the couple can be seen posing alongside Prince Harry was taken in Los Angeles but no specifics as to whether or not this was in their new neighborhood of Montecito. The couple described Prince Harry as “so laid-back and very down to earth.” They even described to their followers how Harry asked if they could sit on the floor to conduct the interview which actually just felt more like “a chat wth a friend.” The marathon couple also made it a point to say that all parties involved wore masks, hand-sanitizer, and practiced social distancing.

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