Good intentions spelled out, and more

Good intentions spelled out

A Tennessee man proposed to his girlfriend by spelling out his intentions on a grand scale last week. Clifton Smith used white bed sheets to write “WILL YOU MARRY ME?” in 15-foot letters in a field behind Rachel Weakley’s family farm, and enlisted his future father-in-law to mow a heart shape around it. Smith then convinced Weakley to take a plane ride with him as “research” for a sustainability project—only to pull out an engagement ring when she spotted his romantic message. “She fell for it hook, line, and sinker,” he said.

In Denmark, a marathon a day

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A marathon a day keeps the doctor away, one Danish woman has found. Annette Fredskov, of Naestved, Denmark, ran 26.2 miles every day for a year, despite having multiple sclerosis. She marked the anniversary of her daily feat with a double marathon two weeks ago, running over 52 miles in just over 10 hours. Since July 2012, she has run almost 10,000 miles and worn through 20 pairs of running shoes. Fredskov says her long-distance running has helped keep the symptoms of her disease at bay. “Marathons are the best thing that have happened for my body and soul,” she said.

A football coach's gift

When Grant Reed was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2011, the 12-year-old Ohio State supporter nicknamed his cancer after the team every Buckeye fan longs to beat—Michigan. Soon after Reed finished chemotherapy last month, he got a telephone call from University of Michigan football coach Brady Hoke. He wanted Reed to know there were no hard feelings about the nickname, and offered his family four tickets to this fall’s Ohio State–Michigan game. “It’s getting hard to keep my dislike for them,” said Reed’s father, Troy, “because they’ve been so classy and unbelievable to us.”