"She actually allowed us to change our wedding date three times, because I always had something else coming up. In the end we got there."
Mr Storey will join more than 2000 others in the University of Auckland spring graduation ceremonies.
His time studying was an "interesting challenge", with days starting at 4.30am.
"I'd sneak into the gym early morning, go to uni, finish coaching in the evening and arrive back around 7.30pm, I was kind of burning the candle at both ends, so it was a pretty hard slog.
"Even while I was over in India for the Commonwealth Games and over in London for the Olympics, in between training sessions or competition days I was bloody typing away furiously trying to do my PhD."
Mr Storey said he was given a warning at the beginning of his PhD by an acquaintance who had just finished his own.
"Unfortunately he went through two relationship break-ups over the course of it, so he was giving me the heads up, and that got me a little bit worried. But Serena, she was amazing."
And while graduating will be a sweet reward, it will not bring with it too much downtime.
Mr Storey is coaching six athletes aiming for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next year, and another clutch of promising juniors.
He also works in research at the Millennium Institute of Sport and Health in Mairangi Bay, supervising master's and PhD students.
