I can't say this was the smartest thing I ever did, in fact it was probably the most stupid thing I ever did. Since Andrew was coming home from his mission, and he would be coming into Dallas Fort Worth airport before heading to SLC, I decided to surprise him at before mentioned airport and ride with him to SLC thus getting him all to myself for 3 hours....I thought wouldn't it be great to find a marathon near this airport...I started looking and found the Lyndon B. Johnson Grasslands Ultra marathon. I thought how hard could 50 miles be? HA HA HA! After 11 hours of running in sand up to my ankle, I can tell you it was hard. Sand was everywhere....In my shoes and socks which made me have to take off my shoes and dump every 10 minutes the last 12 miles of the run...The food I was eating was sandy from the wind, and to top it off it was 85 degrees! Utah had been around 30 degrees, so a big change in temp which made it even more miserable...I fell at about mile 36. Henry a CPA from Oklahoma who was following me said it was the best swan dive he ever saw, he also said sorry but I can't help you up...He was pooped! Because of the sweat, after falling I looked like Lot's wife but covered in sand! My heel was bleeding, and my toes had blisters...Lost 2 toenails and the use of my legs at mile 40. I couldn't get them to work! Scared me to death...I couldn't will them to run. After eating about 2 pounds of fruit snacks at the next rest area, the legs decided to work again. That's when I realized how important sugar consumption was. I had gospel conversations with Henry as he helped me in....He heard about Mason and his melanoma, Andrew and his mission to Argentina, my testimony of the truthfulness of this church...In return he gave me some great advice on how to run ultra's. He was a God sent to me. I ran about 2 minutes to every 5 walked in the end miles, but came in 2nd place overall woman...First place woman beat me in by only 1 hour. I would have photo's of the sandy horse trails I ran, (the blue, yellow, white and red horseshoes) but I left my camera in the Enterprise Rent A Car, and of course they couldn't find it....I don't think I ever want to run this race again, but I'm glad I had the courage to finish....I was blessed indeed...Just a side note...Henry warned me the day after it would feel like it did after running my first marathon....He was right!!!! It took me 3 days to walk right again....It was a real strain on my body...Usually I have no pain after a marathon!
Extra notes about Decatur and surrounding area: Church is strong in Texas...Decatur ward incredible, temple staff dedicated and many attending, Fort Worth my favorite city because of the many museums...Will never forget the wings statue in the museum of Modern Art, I felt as if those wings wrapped around my entire car the night I found out Andrew had missed his flight and was coming home via Atlanta on Friday...Missed Andrew altogether....The Lord's helped me envision his love for me through these wings....The cowboy art was incredible but the run of the bulls was silly in downtown Fort Worth....
