{"id":12915,"date":"2018-01-15T17:34:07","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T22:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=12915"},"modified":"2018-01-15T17:34:07","modified_gmt":"2018-01-15T22:34:07","slug":"extraordinary-tells-true-story-struggles-ultra-marathon-david-horton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/extraordinary-tells-true-story-struggles-ultra-marathon-david-horton.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cExtraordinary\u201d Tells the True Story and Struggles of Ultra-Marathon David Horton"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"wedding-rings-on-bible01-lg\"<\/a>For the first time, a student film from Liberty University appeared in theaters nationwide. The movie, \u201cExtraordinary,\u201d is based on the real life and real struggles of the ultra-marathon runner David Horton. The film centers on the toll Horton\u2019s running took on both his body and his family before his final race in 1995.<\/p>\n

Shortly before the 1995 Trans-America Footrace, David\u2019s wife, Nancy, asked him what he would do if he were forced to pick between the race and her. According to Nancy, he never answered the question. \u201cThat told me all I needed to know at that point,\u201d Nancy said.<\/p>\n

For David, running was more than just a hobby. In 1979, he ran his first ultra-marathon, a classification awarded to any race longer than the traditional 26.219 miles marathon. He compared the experience to a drug addict getting their first fix. \u201cIt\u2019s sort of like putting your finger on a hot stove. It burns,\u201d David said. \u201cBut, you keep it there. If you want to do well, you keep it there. And, so, I learned to put my finger on the stove and keep it on the stove.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leland Klassen, who played David in \u201cExtraordinary,\u201d said that David is \u201cdriven. Even now, still so driven,\u201d said Klassen. \u201cIt\u2019s that elite athlete kind of mentality. That \u2018I\u2019ve got to be the best.\u2019 It\u2019s just a driven mentality that some folks just don\u2019t have. [There\u2019s] a select few that do, and David Horton is one of those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

David\u2019s running accomplishments certainly support Kassen\u2019s comment. David\u2019s ultra-marathon career lasted over 30 years. During that time, he ran more than 150 races and set the world speed records for the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. David also became one of only 14 runners to complete the Barkley Marathon in Tennessee and finished third in the 1995 Trans-American footrace. David has logged enough miles to circle the Earth more than four and a half times.<\/p>\n

Nancy, however, said that the world is unaware of what those victories cost David and his family. \u201cHe\u2019s not telling you that after those big, long events, like the Trans-Am, the Appalachian Trail, he has nightmares for weeks,\u201d Nancy said. \u201cIt\u2019s wear and tear on his body.\u201d This wear and tear culminated in David wearing away the cartilage and meniscus in his right knee to the extent that he needed a full knee replacement. \u00a0It also damaged his marriage to the point that Nancy, who had been raised to stick with a marriage no matter what, considered walking away.<\/p>\n

When Nancy read the script for \u201cExtraordinary,\u201d she told director Scotty Curlee not to shy away from the difficult chapters of her marriage. \u201cAt one point we were having so many problems, I was ready to walk out the door,\u201d Nancy said. \u201cBut, God knew better and He changed my heart.\u201d The couple has since celebrated their 45th anniversary.<\/p>\n

\u201cExtraordinary\u201d will be available to own in January 2018 and will attempt to capture what makes the Horton\u2019s marriage strong. According to Nancy, the secret is that \u201cI guess we love each other.\u201d David\u2019s response? \u201cThere\u2019s no guess.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first time, a student film from Liberty University appeared in theaters nationwide. The movie, \u201cExtraordinary,\u201d is based on the real life and real struggles of the ultra-marathon runner David Horton. The film centers on the toll Horton\u2019s running took on both his body and his family before his final race in 1995. Shortly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":616,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3388,3],"tags":[1027],"class_list":["post-12915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith-based","category-movies","tag-christian-movies"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cExtraordinary\u201d Tells the True Story and Struggles of Ultra-Marathon David Horton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cExtraordinary\u201d is based on the life of ultra-marathon runner David Horton and focuses on the toll his running took on both his body and his marriage.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/extraordinary-tells-true-story-struggles-ultra-marathon-david-horton.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cExtraordinary\u201d Tells the True Story and Struggles of Ultra-Marathon David Horton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cExtraordinary\u201d is based on the life of ultra-marathon runner David Horton and focuses on the toll his running took on both his body and his marriage.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/extraordinary-tells-true-story-struggles-ultra-marathon-david-horton.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-15T22:34:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/files\/2018\/01\/wedding-rings-on-bible01-lg-300x182.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephanie Hertzenberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cExtraordinary\u201d Tells the True Story and Struggles of Ultra-Marathon David Horton","description":"\u201cExtraordinary\u201d is based on the life of ultra-marathon runner David Horton and focuses on the toll his running took on both his body and his marriage.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/extraordinary-tells-true-story-struggles-ultra-marathon-david-horton.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cExtraordinary\u201d Tells the True Story and Struggles of Ultra-Marathon David Horton","og_description":"\u201cExtraordinary\u201d is based on the life of ultra-marathon runner David Horton and focuses on the toll his running took on both his body and his marriage.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/extraordinary-tells-true-story-struggles-ultra-marathon-david-horton.html","og_site_name":"Idol Chatter","article_published_time":"2018-01-15T22:34:07+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/files\/2018\/01\/wedding-rings-on-bible01-lg-300x182.jpg"}],"author":"Stephanie Hertzenberg","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/extraordinary-tells-true-story-struggles-ultra-marathon-david-horton.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/extraordinary-tells-true-story-struggles-ultra-marathon-david-horton.html","name":"\u201cExtraordinary\u201d Tells the True Story and Struggles of Ultra-Marathon David Horton","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/extraordinary-tells-true-story-struggles-ultra-marathon-david-horton.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/extraordinary-tells-true-story-struggles-ultra-marathon-david-horton.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/files\/2018\/01\/wedding-rings-on-bible01-lg-300x182.jpg","datePublished":"2018-01-15T22:34:07+00:00","dateModified":"2018-01-15T22:34:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/2accd57241ae3de281b15e255b66b126"},"description":"\u201cExtraordinary\u201d is based on the life of ultra-marathon runner David Horton and focuses on the toll his running took on both his body and his marriage.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/extraordinary-tells-true-story-struggles-ultra-marathon-david-horton.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/extraordinary-tells-true-story-struggles-ultra-marathon-david-horton.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/extraordinary-tells-true-story-struggles-ultra-marathon-david-horton.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/files\/2018\/01\/wedding-rings-on-bible01-lg-300x182.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/files\/2018\/01\/wedding-rings-on-bible01-lg-300x182.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/01\/extraordinary-tells-true-story-struggles-ultra-marathon-david-horton.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u201cExtraordinary\u201d Tells the True Story and Struggles of Ultra-Marathon David Horton"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/","name":"Idol Chatter","description":"Beliefnet Entertainment blog, TV blog, Movie blog, Religion in entertainment blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/2accd57241ae3de281b15e255b66b126","name":"Stephanie Hertzenberg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/080\/080e3b9c5b3764a74a7323d03c0bfb80x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/080\/080e3b9c5b3764a74a7323d03c0bfb80x96.jpg","caption":"Stephanie Hertzenberg"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/authors\/s\/stephanie-hertzenberg.aspx"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/author\/shertzenberg"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/616"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12915"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12917,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12915\/revisions\/12917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}