Roger that! Damn, remember when this country was so great that Mary was often on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine? I get chills thinking about all of this. Kenny Moore was more of a writing god among the true believers than a running god. Get his book Best Efforts if you can find it. Think about it... do we have a track athlete whose "going home devastated" could cause national news as did Mary in LA in 1984? Lots of pressure on her and she was tough as nails (which is why I like a few of the gals mentioned like Anna Hall).
I used to watch Mary at OT and USA nationals back in the day. The announcer (Bob Hersh?) would exclaim "This is Mary Decker" as she kicked ass down the homestretch. My best personal memory of her was at the start of the Peachtree 10K in Atlanta early-mid 80's. There was a small wooded area and if you were lucky enough to be "seeded" near the starting line, you could make that last minute whiz there. I had to go and here comes Mary running out of the woods! Must have been bad luck as that was the year she fell down at the start and was never in contention.