North Texas runner with ALS aims for 100 marathons with support from family & friends

By Bo Evans

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    NORTH TEXAS, Texas (KTVT) — It’s a gray morning at Grapevine Lake, but people are showing up to run laps around the marina.

That includes Troy Pruett.

“He is a determined person,” said Laura Pruett, Troy’s wife.

Troy is in training for the BMW Dallas Marathon. It will be his 97th marathon. His goal is to finish 100.

There’s just one catch.

“The beginning was tough. Like, you get the diagnosis and life is over,” said Troy.

In 2021, Troy started to lose the use of his legs, then his speech. He was diagnosed with ALS last year.

“We were told, you know, two years survival, maybe,” said Laura. “It was devastating. We had only been married not quite ten years when he was diagnosed.”

At first, the diagnosis crushed them. But after a while, Laura says Troy got back to what brought them together: running.

“He had already set the goal of 100 marathon runs before his diagnosis,” said Laura.

He can’t run on his own now, so friends from his running club push him – all while he wears his Grinch costume.

“You’d have to be nuts to do a hundred. And I’m just a nutty guy,” said Troy.

A guy so nutty that he waited until the finish line of an Ironman race to ask Laura an important question.

“He actually proposed to me at the end of his Ironman finish line back in 2012,” said Laura.

He ran, biked, and swam with the ring in his pocket.

At the BMW Dallas Marathon, Laura will be waiting at the finish line to kiss him, just like she has at every finish line since they met.

“We just have this tradition. He always stops and gives me a kiss somewhere along the way, and then, especially at the finish line,” said Laura.

As he wheels towards 100 total marathons, he has a simple message for anyone dealing with a life-changing illness.

“Choose hope. Live with hope,” said Troy.

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