A profile in courage
Six days a week, she's up by 3:30 a.m., running eight hours, sometimes dragging 55 pounds of sand on her sled so she can train on "tired legs." Come Feb. 24, Van Deren will be ready to run those 350 forlorn miles.
As she does, she'll be thinking about a lot of things. About her oldest son, Mike, a U.S. Marine who will be deployed to Iraq in April. About how Robin is doing as a freshman in college. About Matt and his high school basketball games. About Scott, her knight in shining armor.
Maybe she'll even have time to reflect on how far she's come, how she feels "blessed and so fortunate" to be where she is. Maybe she'll get confused on the trail every now and then. Doesn't matter.
No, when you've slain the Beast, it doesn't matter if you're life is not a fairy tale. It only matters that you've earned the chance to live happily ever after.