She Did It!
Lisa Smith Batchen Ran 50 Miles Per Day in 50 States
June 26 Update: Lisa is still recovering and getting
past all of the feelings of two months on the road doing 50 miles nearly every
day, only to sleep a couple of hours, arise at 4:30 AM, and do it all over
again. Finally she is finished. Here is what she had to say about her
journey.
"Hello
wonderful friends! I am still having a hard time putting many things into
words. It will take a few more days. I am still coming back from the lack of
sleep. I still wake up at 4:30 am and find myself running in my sleep! My heart
yearns to continue running but my soul could not be with more peace, love and
amazing joy being HOME!!! My family
is here, my children are so wonderful. I still can't find the words to thank so
many people ALL over America for all you have done for us. Our mission was
complete and many children will have a much better life because of all of you.
Below is the prayer that was read at the finish line of Run Hope. Pastor Ian
Noyes wrote and read it to the crowd and it brought myself and so many to
tears. I am left with unspoken words for now but can't wait to share our
journey with you.
God Bless and love you all"
Lisa Smith-Batchen
http://www.runhope.com/ YOU CAN
STILL AND CAN ALWAYS MAKE A DONATION!!! PLEASE CONTINUE TO HELP THE CHILDREN OF
THE WORLD
**Gracious
God, there are none whose lives and hearts you do not see.
With love and compassion, you stand alongside the vulnerable and the
broken...and you have made us to do the same - to join our lives to your
purposes that healing and justice might more and more characterize the world
you have made. Tonight we give you thanks for a team of people who have
answered your call to address the needs of vulnerable children throughout our
nation and the world. We thank you especially for Lisa who has with every mile
born their loss and pain in her own body. We thank you for her commitment to
share in your heart for orphans. We thank you for her tenacity, her endurance,
and her reliance upon you for strength and comfort throughout these past two months.
And
we thank you for the witness of this team to run hope through America.
For
Sister Mary Beth..., for Mike and Julie Smith... and Mike Evans - for their
tireless efforts to support, encourage, and facilitate this amazing
achievement, for the countless and often thankless ways that they and others
worked behind the scenes to make this possible.
We thank you for the hundreds who ran with Lisa to raise awareness about
vulnerable and orphaned children, and we thank you for the thousands more who
have been touched by Lisa’s passion and commitment. We pray now for fruit to be
brought forth from these seeds that you have sown in human hearts. We pray that
you would continue to be at work in us tonight to join this effort to bring
hope to children who know little of home and less of family. Gracious God and
Father be a Father to these children and awaken us to how we might also play a
role in your work to heal and redeem and comfort.
Lord,
we thank you for Jay and for Annabella and Gabby, who released Lisa for this purpose
these past two months. We pray their time together now would be all the sweeter
for this season of absence. Deepen their relationships we pray and bless them.
Heal Lisa’s foot and mend her body. Grant her sleep and rest from weariness. May
she find peace in knowing that you take pleasure in her, your daughter, who has
spent herself for your glory.
We
celebrate Lisa tonight, but we also celebrate you who have gifted her so, and
we pray that you would help each of us discover your call upon our lives. Help
us to know your steadfast love and your purpose for each one here that we too
might grow in compassion and give ourselves also to love one another with great
abandon. Indeed, with you all things are possible and you promise that those...
who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
What an example you have given us tonight of one who has lived this hope.
Be glorified tonight we pray. Amen.
June 19: Today is the day Lisa finishes her
quest. She is in Idaho running her last
50 miles today. In a few hours her quest
will be over. She will have run 2500 miles
in 2 months, covering 50 miles in each state.
There have been many struggles along the way. She has gone through highs and lows. She has experienced pain in many forms, but
she never quit. She stuck with the plan
of 50 miles per day for 4 days, then a day to recover and travel, repeat as
required until she finished all 50 states.
In fact the rush to the finish included six days of running in a
row. I guess Superman has met his match
in Lisa Smith Batchen, the woman of steel.
June
13 Update: 6 States to Go! Lisa
is nearing the finish line, figuratively speaking at least. She ran Hawaii yesterday for state number
44. She should be in Alaska by now,
preparing for a final blitzkrieg run to the finish line, 6 states in 6 days,
starting Monday in Alaska and ending Saturday in Idaho. Six days in a row will be very difficult,
typically Lisa only gets 3 to 4 hours of sleep per night on the consecutive
days. However, Lisa feels that the
gravitational pull of the finish line will help her make it through the final
days.
Have you ever seen anyone quit in the
last mile of a marathon? Probably
not. Once you know that finish line is
close adrenaline helps you run to the finish.
This final run of six states will hopefully be the same way.
One effort that may have gone
unmentioned at times is that Sister Marybeth, age 61, has been running part of
the way with Lisa. That is Sister
Marybeth in the habit in this picture.
That is also the way she runs, in the habit. Her order does not allow going out in public
in anything else. (You can imagine how
that feels on a 95 degree day). She has
been running 20 miles each day with Lisa.
By the time they finish, Sister Marybeth will have run 1,000 miles. That in itself is a pretty incredible
feat. She has been with Lisa from the
beginning and is a very good friend.
While Lisa is not a nun, she is a woman of strong faith.
Something else that makes this even
more difficult than it is already is that their team is not heavily
funded. Instead of a plush bus to sleep
in at night while they travel, they have a rickety RV that "shakes,
rattles, and rolls" with every bump in the road according
to Lisa. Most night Lisa does not fall
asleep until they arrive in the next state, which can be after midnight on many
days. Then she has to get up at 4:30 AM
to start another day which includes 50 miles of running in about 12 hours. Without her plan to take every fifth day off,
she never would have made it.
If anyone lives near Victor, Idaho
they are planning one heck of a party Saturday night when Lisa finishes! That will be so very well deserved when Lisa
gets there, having run 2500 miles in all 50 states in 62 days. That is an average of over 40 miles per day
for 2 months, though she actually ran it 50, 50, 50, 50, 0, then repeat.
Don't forget, Lisa and her team are
doing this to raise money for charity.
Specifically, they are trying to help orphans, both here and
abroad. To do your part, go to http://www.runhope.com/contact.
May 30 Update: Today is state 34. Lisa is running in Fargo, North Dakota. It rained for a while this morning but the
weather is moving out. Lisa reports that
the weather has been great lately.
Fargo, for example is expecting a low of 47 and a high of 70 today, a
far cry from what she experienced in this part of the country. However, the next few days are taking her
south, a few hundred miles per day, through South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and
then New Mexico. I spoke with Marianne
about a couple of the legs being too long of a drive. She had recognized that and moved the Kansas
city from Wichita to Dodge City in order to split up the driving. She also reported that Lisa will fly from
Salt Lake City to Phoenix, which would have been a 10-1/2 hour drive, making it
a challenge to even arrive on time, but probably with little or no sleep. The logistics must be quite a challenge,
trying to get a crew from state to state every day, have a course ready, and
somehow get Lisa the sleep and care she needs to keep going.
Lisa said Friday was a great
day. Hopefully today and all of the rest
of the days will be too. If so, it will
be quite a celebration June 19th in Victor, Idaho after Lisa runs her last 50
miles on a very familiar 0.85 mile pedestrian path she has run many times
before, surrounded by family and friends.
What a journey it has been
already. Lisa has experienced
temperatures approaching 100 degrees in Dallas and much of the southeast and
run in snow in New Hampshire. They have
probably put at least 10,000 miles on the RV, zigzagging from state to
state. She has gone through incredible
highs and lows. She has felt
excruciating pain at times and experienced deep despair, but she has never
faltered. She won't let herself. She is running to help orphans and made a
commitment to finish. Somehow she keeps
going, a mile at a time.
Please go to http://www.runhope.com/ and do your
part. Give what you can. Lisa is doing this for the orphans, not for
herself. She hopes to raise $1,000,000
for charity. That sounds like a lot, but
it is possible if we help. Lisa has raised a total of about 4.5 million dollars
for charities with other running fund raisers over the years. If a thousand people in each state gave $20,
she would get there. In fact, if you
give $80, you will receive a Trinity Cross necklace like the one Lisa has worn
this entire trip.
May
27 Update: Today was
a rare rest day for Lisa, well I should say rest and travel. She is in Wisconsin now, planning to run in
Green Bay tomorrow. That will be state
32 and 1600 miles behind her; only 900 to go.
Have you ever been on a run and said something like "8 down, only 2
to go". How does "Only 900 to
go" sound? That should help at
least a little to put this in perspective.
This lady is doing 2500 miles in 2 months, at a rate of about 300 miles
per week. That is so far over the top it
is hard to imagine. We hear about top
marathoners training 100 miles per week.
That would be 2 days for Lisa at her current rate. Her pace is a little slower in order to
survive this, but the mileage is the same.
Lisa e-mailed me last night to say
she had completed state 31. She also
said this morning that she wanted me to share our e-mails. The one below is a little brief on her part,
but she always seems to reply and is always grateful for kind words. We also corresponded a few times before she
started. She had more to say then, but
she is down to 4 hours of sleep a night on the road, so I am grateful for even
a few words in a reply. She is well
aware that I am covering her progress on this site and tries to keep me up to
date.
I actually sent the e-mail below when
she was at her lowest, several days ago, but she just replied yesterday:
Thank you so very much
31 states completed. By the Grace of God we go
Blessings to you
Lisa
Frank Norris wrote:
> Lisa,
>
> Your blog last night brought a tear to my eye. I can tell that you
> are at a low point and need something more. I am not sure I know what
> to say except that I shared your words with our readers and many
> people are praying for you and thinking about you. I pray that you
> find the strength to keep going and somehow get past the recent pain
> and hardship. I wish I could come run a day in your place to give you a rest, but I can't. It is your journey.
> No one but you can do it.
>
> If you get down, think about the kids. I am not sure how the fund
> raising is going, but I would just like to say that I am going to make
> a personal donation and also push that more and more with our readers.
> Also, the fund raising will go on long after the run is over. If they
> do an article in Runner's World that touches a couple of million
> readers. There will also be more mainstream press when you finish.
> Walk the whole way if you must, but don't stop Lisa.
>
> God bless and good luck.
>
> Frank
There have been many other emails. Perhaps I will share more of them. Some were more upbeat. In some she had more to say, but she is
always thankful for encouragement and always pushing forward and willing to go
out there the next day. She cares very
much about the orphans she is trying to help.
Please, help the cause at: www.runhope.com
May 24 Update: Today is Indiana. Tomorrow is Ohio, which will be state number
30. Lisa reports that she has sore feet and
a lot of fatigue, but she seems to be getting through it. As reported in the last update there have
been ups and downs and she has just come out of a severe low in the last couple
of days.
Chicago yesterday was apparently a
big up. There were lots of people and a
very upbeat atmosphere. She ran very
well. In fact she reports that she ran
mile 48 in 7:40. That is fast but
consistent with her real capabilities.
She has run 6:40 for 50 miles, which is 8:00 pace average, even with
eating, drinking, and aid station breaks.
Of course that time was run in a single race, not as part of running 50
miles every day like she is now. She
instead is targeting 12 hours or so each day in this quest, which is a mix of
running and walking.
Lisa stated it as, "Chicago was
Magic! Such incredibly positive energy! I had a substantial break through with
a faster walking and running pace; we smoked the last 10 miles and clocked a
7:40 mile 48. My feet are feeling better and my emotions are in great
form!"
May 22 Update:
Lisa has completed 27 states and 1350 miles. Not sure how many of you are ultrarunners,
but running extreme distances people experience intense highs and lows. One minute you feel great, the next minute
you feel like you are ready to die. Here
is what Lisa had to say about hers.
"It’s day 27 and it’s been quiet
today. As requested, people have given me some space for the past couple of
days allowing me to breathe and get out of my despair on my own.
Today’s a new day and I’ve come back
from the darkest dark that I’ve ever experienced in my life. I never gave up
the faith and hope, but at times like these you can’t help but question it.
I’ve run marathon after ultra
marathon, like the Badwater Double and the Marathon des Sables, but
nothing has been as challenging as this. What makes it worthwhile is
remembering all the people that can benefit from this – just a little bit of
sacrifice on my part and others will have food in their bellies and options for
life. It’s a small price to pay.
It’s been an emotional rollercoaster
so far, and I doubt that it will get any easier – although one does hope. One minute
you feel like a peaceful warrior moving through space and as soon as you start
feeling great about it all, you get smacked down to the ground again.
Thank God for Sister Mary. If she
prays for my feet with Holy water, my feet are going to feel better! So, I have
to keep my faith with her around; we agreed that I am allowed to ask questions
if I want, they’ll always be answered!
Why are the wisest people around me
right now children? I get the most inspirational, real, heartfelt and connected
words from children. Two little sisters showed up with a sign in Kentucky the
other day, saying something like, “Go Lisa!” Everyone knows that that day was a
very challenging day for me. I was feeling horrible, things weren’t going well
and I was on the brink of a breakdown. I thought, God, if you really want me to
do this you have to pull me out of the darkness some way, somehow.
A little while later the six year old
came over to me while I was crying off in a corner somewhere. She said, “What’s
wrong?”
Of course normally I wouldn’t show my
emotions, especially to a six year old. But I responded with a question, “What
do you do when you feel so down and out that you feel like you just can’t keep
going?” She answered back, “Well, you made a commitment to help the kids,
right?” “Yes” I said. To which she responded, “Then, I think you’ll be a little
tired, but I know you can do it.”
I went up to the girl later and told
her, “You have no idea how much you inspired me today… Thank you!”
Moving out of despair is not always
easy. Our minds can become clouded, our bodies fatigued, our emotions will say
NO to every offer of help. But, after the other day I’ve made a commitment to
myself to be open to receiving help and advice, especially from children!
One word, good or bad, can change the
path of your moment, week, month, year or life. Don’t ever assume that your
words don’t mean anything. The smallest ripple in the sea can create a tidal
wave. Greet people with a hug, a smile, say I love you, inspire them to have a
better moment somehow".
Lisa, you have inspired us and we are
truly thankful for you. www.runhope.com
May 20 Update: It was forecast to provide
thunderstorms today in St. Louis, but Lisa may have missed the weather. We checked the weather but haven't gotten a
report from her crew yet. Lisa is past
the halfway point now and still moving forward.
A cute update: yesterday in Kentucky just before Lisa ran past the Good
Shepherd School they knew she was coming and set off a fire drill. The children were outside lining the streets
and cheered for her as shown to the right.
Sister Mary Beth had spoken to the children about her run and the cause
she is running for.
By
the way, we got an update from Joe Edgecombe of Draggin' Tail Runners. He was the state leader for Florida and
organized the run in Panama City. He
offered the following about raising funds, "I challenged all runners that
pick up road money or do money runs to donate this to Lisa's cause. It is found
money and won't cut into our pockets. Pennies from Heaven for Lisa's Children!
I have pledged my road money. I normally find about $50 or more per year while
running. Challenge other clubs or runners to donate their "road"
money!" Others of you could just
donate what you can afford or do fund raisers!
Challenge: All of you running clubs out there, talk to
your members and keep track of how much money your club raises for Lisa's
kids. Whoever raises the most, we will
be happy to do a feature story on you and your members. We will also match that club's donations up
to a preset limit. We aren't telling you
what the limit is because we don't want you to stop there! These kids need your help.
www.runhope.com
May 19 Update:
Lisa is half way now. We would
just like to share with you what Lisa had to say last night. It is from the heart to all of you:
"It
took 14 states to get into a rhythm and by the 20th state, in Louisiana, I
thought I was in great shape. All my aches and pains went away, and it was a
significant milestone that my family, team and I celebrated. I guess I was
wrong…Over the weekend I got hit with fatigue and pain – both emotional and
physical. Now I have to dig deep into the well of my personal process that I
thought had dried up a while ago, thinking I had everything figured out. So, I
have to ask myself, “What else is there for me to learn?”
Sister
Mary Beth says that this journey, for me, is like the last year of a nun’s
novitiate. She says that it’s this year that tests you the most, and the year
that shows how attached you are to your ego. “Ego? I don’t have any ego about
this,” I said. But after thinking about it, I know she’s right…
People
come out for a day, maybe they’re marathon runners that have done 20 or 30
miles, and they are so excited that they get to do their first 50-mile run with
me.
My
feet are killing me, the balls of my feet especially, my legs, and my hips.
With people around I feel like I have to perform – I’m a professional athlete
after all. If you’re up ahead of me, I have to keep up with you, if you’re
behind me I need you to stay behind. I want people beside me if we’re running
together. And, I don’t want them to see the pain that I’m feeling inside.
Someone
said, “50 miles? How hard can it be?” People forget, this is not a 50-mile run,
this is a 2500-mile run broken down into 50-mile segments. They also forget
that I’m doing this almost every day. They get to go home, relax, watch a
movie, be with their families and recover the next day. I miss my children a
lot, and after a hard twelve-hour day of running when I need them most, I get
to try and relax in a bumpy, uncomfortable RV without them.
So, because of all of this I need to be left alone… just for today. I know that I have to take this breath by breath, one foot in front of the other… just keep moving forward, with Love.
My friends from Trinity Cross, Brian and Coleen Rossi, came out to Dallas on Sunday. What a day that was! When he showed up in his wheelchair and reached out to put his arms around me for a hug he said, “I can feel your pain”. I said, “Brian, my legs hurt.” He said, “Mine do too.”
This 13 year-old kid has been through
so much more than most adults, he really does understand. He says, “I don’t
know why God chose me for this, but he did; and to do this Run, he chose you.”
So many children and people in the world are suffering, and they do it with dignity and grace. I feel like I’m not doing that well today, or yesterday. I’m not suffering with grace, I feel tortured. But, Sister Mary Beth is the divine force behind our effort. She’s amazing, and I’m so lucky to have her by my side. I truly don’t know what I would do if she wasn’t here.
Our goal is a great one, $1,000,000 to save lives, feed children, and make their lives better! I am most certainly grateful that people show up to run, it makes our effort come alive! But, PLEASE lovely supporters… remember this is a fundraiser! If you show up, please give something for the cause.
And… for the record: I never realized it was going to be this hard.
My orthopedist says that I can’t run today, or tomorrow… so I’m walking and jogging a little.
Thank you to all the people that support RHTA, please come and joint the race one day in your city if you can. Give what you can and show your support, help us to achieve a goal that will change the lives of thousands".
Lisa
May 18 Update: Lisa tells me it was very hot in
Dallas Sunday, much hotter than the 85 it was forecast to be. That made running difficult. However, today she is running in Memphis,
Tennessee and it is supposed to top out at 77.
In fact her crew reports that it is nice and cool, which is a welcome
change. She was at 24 miles so far today
at last report (lunchtime) and reported to be in good spirits, though fighting
fatigue and some foot pain. Tomorrow is
Frankfort, Kentucky and will mark the halfway point of her journey. The forecast is a high f 65 and low of 49 in
Kentucky, which is a far cry from the weather she faced throughout the
southeast.
May 15 Update: Lisa is running in Dallas Texas
today, where it is forecast to be 85 degrees.
That is still hot to be running midday, though a little cooler than she
has seen lately. However, she is about
to get a break as she moves northward, first to Tennessee and then headed up
through the Midwest.
One
of her crew provided the following account, "To get the 50 mile distance
each day we have a state leader who is marking a course for us. Most are an out
and back or a loop. For the first several states Lisa did not even have a watch
she only ran and walked on her best effort and we all marked the laps. It became clear that Lisa was running
extra miles most days because even running to get the bathroom 1/4 mile in
Central Park should count. Every step counts! In Maryland Lisa ran 52 miles and
it was 97 and very humid. The courses have been Googled and calculated the best
people can and Lisa now wears her own brand new Garmin
310 that holds a charge for 20 hours. The Garmin is
very accurate as far as we can tell with the distance, mileage and pace of each
mile. This is not a race, this is not a world record attempt. To bring Guinness
world book on board costs a great deal of money. At the end of the day Lisa's Garmin says 50 miles and when it says 50 miles......then
we celebrate".
Lisa herself e-mailed me Friday and seems to be in good spirits. She has almost reached the halfway point and has gotten past the very hardest part, the hot and humid southeast, where she faced 90 degrees day after day, with a peak of 97 (36 Celsius). Tuesday in Tennessee should feel like a nice change with a forecast high of 77 (25 Celsius) after starting out at 59 in the morning.
Something
fascinating is that her crew says she started this attempt in "not too
good shape" on purpose. If she had
started well trained she thought she would be over-trained by now. Instead, she is just start to get in peak
shape. I guess 300 miles a week tends to
do that. LOL
May 12 Update: Lisa ran in Mississippi yesterday and
Louisiana today. That makes 20 states
and 1,000 miles running, plus about 6 or 7 thousand miles of driving for her crew
to tour her around the country. At last
report she had done about one TV interview for every day of running, ranging
from local channels to a live interview on CNN.
She is shown at left being interviewed with her nephew and cousin after
finishing 50 miles in Alabama on Monday.
Lisa
seems to be doing very well and holding up after all of the miles, though she
does appear to be a little leaner after 1,000 miles in just over 3 weeks. She is now 40% of the way there. Some ultra-runners run 50 miles for their
fiftieth birthday. Lisa, however, is not
your average ultra-runner. She is doing
50 miles a day to celebrate her fiftieth birthday. However, she is not doing it for
herself. She is doing it to try to raise
$1,000,000 for charities that benefit orphans.
When
asked why, she said, "I run, that’s what I do. If each of us did one thing to make the world
a better place, together we could find solutions to many of the problems that
plague orphans. I encourage people everywhere to do what they can by giving $5,
$50 or $500 to change these young people’s lives. With the love and support
they need and deserve, orphans can thrive.”
Lisa
has a very personal connection to orphans, too: she and her husband have two
adopted children. “If my kids hadn’t been adopted, they’d be orphans.”
If
you would like to help go to: www.runhope.com
May 8 Update: Well, 16 States down. That's 800 miles since April 19. Lisa is reported to be doing well in spite of
the heat she is experiencing in the southeast.
Yesterday was Atlanta. Today was
a rest and travel day. Tomorrow is
Panama City, Florida. Joe Edgecomb of
Draggin' Tails Runners has set up a course for Lisa and I am sure will be there
to get her started at 5:30 AM tomorrow.
To quote one of Lisa's crew "Like many celebrities, Lisa likes to
party hearty. And Sister Mary Beth? Don't even ask. If I had known about how
she parties I would have put a line item in our production budget just for bail
and hotel damage fees". Apparently,
they are having a good time after grinding out 50 miles in 90 degree
heat day after day. Luckily, tomorrow is
supposed to be the start of a couple of cooler days. Running at 80 degrees is not ideal, but it
sure beats 90 degrees. Of course, Lisa
has run Badwater several times, which is often 125 degrees, so she probably is
not going to wilt in the heat. The one
thing that makes heat in the southeast more extreme, though, is humidity. Anyone that runs here is familiar with that.
The
photo to the right is Lisa taking a couple of minutes off her feet at mile 40
yesterday in Atlanta.
May 5 Update: Well, 14 down and 36 more to go. Lisa ran in North Carolina today, where she
was greeted by numerous fans. Several runners
showed up to run with her at 5:30 AM, her usual early morning start. As of mile 38, four runners were reported to
still be with her. Lisa is shown in the
picture to the left with adopted children who came out to wish her well. They were orphans at one time, like so many
children that Lisa is trying to help.
These are the lucky ones who found homes.
As one of Lisa's crew put it, if
1,000,000 people would each give a dollar they would reach their goal of
raising one million dollars. The math
also works if 100,000 people each give ten dollars. If you would like to contribute you can go to
www.runhope.com,
the official website for the run. They
tell you how to donate on-line or by sending a check. Either way, they greatly appreciate your
help.
May
4 Update: Well, 13
states down and 37 to go. Lisa is
reported to be doing well and to be adapting to this life on her feet and on
the road. She keeps plugging along,
knocking off Virginia today. Tomorrow is
Raleigh, North Carolina, followed by Columbia, South Carolina Thursday and
Atlanta, Georgia Friday. Saturday is
rest and travel, then Sunday is Panama City, Florida. We are all praying for cooler weather
Lisa! (It is supposed to rain here
tonight as a front comes through with slightly cooler temperatures - 84 instead
of 90).
May
3 Update: Lisa has
now run 12 states, a total of 600 miles.
That puts her about a quarter of the way home. Her crew reports that she is doing well, but
has very sore feet and has a great deal of difficulty getting enough sleep on
her consecutive run days. Fortunately
today is a rest and travel day, so hopefully she will get a chance to rest and
start tomorrow fresh. In Vermont she got
10 inches of snow on the day she ran there.
That all changed as she moved South.
It was over 90 in Maryland as she was running and walking all day. The heat, of course, adds to the
difficulty. Lisa is shown here taking a
short break on a hot day. Unfortunately,
it won't get any better for the next week and a half as she makes her way from
Virginia to Texas, running through all of the southeast states. After that, however she will be heading north
through the mid-west and may get a bit of relief. The southwest, obviously will tend to be hot
for a couple of days in early June, but at least it will be much lower
humidity, so sweating or pouring water on yourself actually cools you
down. Best of luck Lisa!
April
30 Update: Yesterday
Lisa completed 50 miles in Pennsylvania after a rest and travel day. Today she is well on way toward 50 miles in
Delaware and will be up to 500 completed at the end of the day. Lisa was reported to be running well and her
pace was quoted as being quick. Lisa
says that she heard it gets easier after the tenth day. I guess she will see if that is true. So far she is holding out well, in spite of
running 500 miles in a week and a half.
April
27 Update: Today
Lisa is running in Vermont. Early in the
day it was raining, then it changed to snow!
In spite of the weather, Lisa was reported to be running well and to
have a smile on her face. Not bad for
someone with 400 miles on her legs in just over a week. (We are impressed, having run a 50 miler and
barely being able to walk after). After
she knocks out 50 today she will have a day off to recover a little before a
string of 4 more days of 50 miles starting with Pennsylvania and ending in West
Virginia, working her way South down the Atlantic seaboard. The next block after that will be Virginia
through Georgia, followed by Florida through Louisiana. Her feat is basically 9 consecutive 300 mile
weeks, less one day and a few miles, plus several thousand miles of travel, not
to mention the interviews and fans reducing her recovery time. Lisa is one tough lady. If you want to help out the cause she is
running for, go to www.runhope.com. Remember, she is doing this to help out
orphans, not just because she thought it would be fun to run 2500 miles,
although if you saw "Running on the Sun", you may have the impression
that she really does think that ultrarunning is fun.
Actually, ultrarunning is fun early
in the race, before the pain sets in.
However, that leaves you wondering if the elite like Lisa don't feel pain
in the same way or if they are just such complete runners that the pain does
not set in the same way. The rest of us
suffer late in the race. If Lisa does,
she doesn't really show it.
April
26 Update: Lisa is
running in New Hampshire today and is reported to be doing very well, even
though she did have a bit of pain in her right shin yesterday. Hopefully the leg is better and she can keep
going. Today is state 7 of 50.
April 24 Update: Lisa is running miles 201 - 250
today in Boston, after her typical 5:30 AM start. Her crew report that she is feeling great and
not having any real difficulties so far.
However, her story is starting to capture the attention of the national media. In fact, the constant interviews and
reporters asking questions are starting to add to the difficulty of her
task. She reports that media attention
is wonderful, but it is exhausting.
Reporters are following her as she runs and requesting interviews after
she finishes her 50 miles for the day.
She has granted many interviews, among them a spot on CNN. Click Here to see her interview Friday with
CNN, which was filmed in Boston, where she is running today.
Apparently she is also being treated
as a celebrity wherever she goes.
Personal Motivation Coach Connie Carpenter had her picked up in a limo
after she finished 50 miles in New York on Tuesday and taken away for an ice
bath and a good night's sleep. Her
friends report that Lisa has it pretty cushy right now, well except for that 2,500
mile thing. Yeah, I guess there is that
part making it a little less than cushy.
April
22 Update: We
believe Lisa completed miles 151 - 200 in Rhode Island today but haven't heard
officially. Word is that she is running
very strongly and smiling all the way.
Tomorrow is a rest and travel day before running in Boston Saturday.
April
20 Update: Lisa
finished New Jersey yesterday and as of 1 PM today was at mile 35 in New
York. Keep it up Lisa! If you want to make a donation to support the
cause: http://www.runhope.com/donate.html
Original
Story - April 11:
From April 19th to June 19th, 2010, Lisa Smith Batchen, one of the world's
premier ultra-runners, will be the first person to attempt to run 50 miles in
each of the 50 states in an event called Running Hope Through America (www.runhope.com).
Though two people have previously run a marathon distance in each state, no one
has ever taken on the challenge of completing a series of ultras in the same
period of time. She is attempting this
feat in order to raise money for charities for children orphaned by AIDS.
Her schedule is to run 50 miles in
each of 4 different states on 4 consecutive days and then rest 1 day, repeat as
required. She continues this pattern for
all 50 states except for an extra day off to travel between Hawaii and
Alaska. The result is 2,500 miles in 62
days, covering all 50 states.
If you read the book "50 States
in 50 Days" by Dean Karnazas, where he tells of running a marathon in
every state on consecutive days, you may at least catch a glimpse of what an
incredible undertaking this is. He was
running about 3 to 4 hours per day, but the travel and activities around it
limited him to about 4 hours of sleep each night. Lisa will be running approximately 12 to 14
hours per day. Then she has to travel to
the next state to do it all over again.
Without every 5th day off, we suspect she would be in the hospital in a
week with this schedule, in spite of being one of the toughest ultra runners in
the world. Most of us would have trouble
completing the first day, but imagine jumping on a bus to ride all night so you
can do it again a few hundred miles away, or in some cases having to deal with
airports and flights.
Accompanying Smith-Batchen on the run will be a small
support crew including her good friend and running partner, Sister Mary Beth
Lloyd. Sister Mary Beth, 61, belongs to the order of the Religious
Teachers Filipini, an order dedicated to education. Members of this order
are not allowed to dress in clothes other than a habit. Therefore, Sister
Mary Beth will do as she has always done-- run alongside Smith-Batchen in her
full habit: a black wool tunic over a white shirt and underskirt, black headpiece
and a black woolen belt. And sneakers.
All funds raised through the event will be donated to
help orphans in the United States and abroad. The Dreamchasers Foundation will
disperse 100% of donations between three organizations: The Orphan Foundation of America,
AIDS Orphans Rising, and The Caring House Project. Donations can be made on the project website
(link at top of story).
Lisa starts in New Jersey on April 19th and will wind her way across the country. She will be running in Panama City May 9th. For a complete schedule see below. To join her on a run, you can click on the "Join" link in the schedule below. She is looking for local runners to run with her for a day, or you can just show up and cheer.
Joe Edgecomb of Draggin'
Tail Runner, a running club in Panama City, brought this story to our
attention. He was contacted in order to
arrange a course in the Panama City area.
(If we do not have a link in the schedule below for route, you may want
to go to Lisa's site to look for updates).
# |
DATE |
STATE |
CITY |
TOTAL MILEAGE |
JOIN THE RUN |
|
1 |
MON, APRIL 19 |
NEW JERSEY |
50 |
|||
2 |
TUES, APRIL 20 |
NEW YORK |
100 |
|||
3 |
WED, APRIL 21 |
CONNECTICUT |
150 |
|||
4 |
THURS, APRIL 22 |
RHODE ISLAND |
200 |
|||
FRI, APRIL 23 |
REST & TRAVEL |
|||||
5 |
SAT, APRIL 24 |
MASSACHUSETTS |
250 |
|||
6 |
SUN, APRIL 25 |
MAINE |
KENNEBUNK |
300 |
||
7 |
MON, APRIL 26 |
NEW HAMPSHIRE |
350 |
|||
8 |
TUES, APRIL 27 |
VERMONT |
PITTSFIELD |
400 |
||
WED, APRIL 28 |
REST & TRAVEL |
|||||
9 |
THURS, APRIL 29 |
PENNSYLVANIA |
450 |
|||
10 |
FRI, APRIL 30 |
DELAWARE |
NEWARK |
500 |
||
11 |
SAT, MAY 1 |
MARYLAND |
ROCKVILLE TO DC |
550 |
||
12 |
SUN, MAY 2 |
WEST VIRGINIA |
MARTINSBURG |
600 |
||
|
MON, MAY 3 |
|
REST & TRAVEL |
|
|
|
13 |
TUES, MAY 4 |
VIRGINIA |
RESTON |
650 |
||
14 |
WED, MAY 5 |
NORTH CAROLINA |
CHAPEL HILL |
700 |
||
15 |
THURS, MAY 6 |
SOUTH CAROLINA |
750 |
|||
16 |
FRI, MAY 7 |
GEORGIA |
ATLANTA |
800 |
||
|
SAT, MAY 8 |
|
REST & TRAVEL |
|
|
|
17 |
SUN, MAY 9 |
FLORIDA |
850 |
|||
18 |
MON, MAY 10 |
ALABAMA |
900 |
|||
19 |
TUES, MAY 11 |
MISISSIPPI |
VICKSBURG |
950 |
||
20 |
WED, MAY 12 |
LOUISIANA |
RESTON |
1000 |
||
|
THURS, MAY 13 |
|
REST & TRAVEL |
|
|
|
21 |
FRI, MAY 14 |
ARKANSAS |
LITTLE ROCK |
1050 |
||
22 |
SAT, MAY 15 |
OKLAHOMA |
TULSA |
1100 |
||
23 |
SUN, MAY 16 |
TEXAS |
DALLAS |
1150 |
||
MON, MAY 17 |
|
REST & TRAVEL |
|
|
||
24 |
TUES, MAY 18 |
TENNESEE |
MEMPHIS |
1200 |
||
25 |
WED, MAY 19 |
KENTUCKY |
FRANKFORT |
1250 |
||
26 |
THURS, MAY 20 |
MISSOURI |
ST. LOUIS |
1300 |
||
27 |
FRI, MAY 21 |
IOWA |
DES MOINES |
1350 |
||
SAT, MAY 22 |
REST & TRAVEL |
|||||
28 |
SUN, MAY 23 |
ILLINOIS |
1400 |
|||
29 |
MON, MAY 24 |
INDIANA |
1450 |
|||
30 |
TUES, MAY 25 |
OHIO |
1500 |
|||
31 |
WED, MAY 26 |
MICHIGAN |
1550 |
|||
THURS, MAY 27 |
REST & TRAVEL |
|||||
32 |
FRI, MAY 28 |
WISCONSIN |
1600 |
|||
33 |
SAT, MAY 29 |
MINNESOTA |
1650 |
|||
34 |
SUN, MAY 30 |
NORTH DAKOTA |
1700 |
|||
35 |
MON, MAY 31 |
SOUTH DAKOTA |
SIOUX FALLS |
1750 |
||
TUES, JUNE 1 |
REST & TRAVEL |
|||||
36 |
WED, JUNE 2 |
NEBRASKA |
LINCOLN |
1800 |
||
37 |
THURS, JUNE 3 |
KANSAS |
DODGE CITY |
1850 |
||
38 |
FRI, JUNE 4 |
NEW MEXICO |
ALBUQUERQUE |
1900 |
||
39 |
SAT, JUNE 5 |
COLORADO |
1950 |
|||
SUN, JUNE 6 |
REST & TRAVEL |
|||||
40 |
MON, JUNE 7 |
UTAH |
SALT LAKE CITY |
2000 |
||
41 |
TUES, JUNE 8 |
ARIZONA |
PHOENIX |
2050 |
||
42 |
WED, JUNE 9 |
NEVADA |
LAS VEGAS |
2100 |
||
43 |
THURS, JUNE 10 |
CALIFORNIA |
IRVINE |
2150 |
||
FRI, JUNE 11 |
FLIGHT (LOS ANGELES -> OAHU) |
|||||
44 |
SAT, JUNE 12 |
HAWAII |
HONOLULU |
2200 |
||
SUN, JUNE 13 |
FLIGHT (OAHU -> ALASKA) |
|||||
45 |
MON, JUNE 14 |
ALASKA |
ANCHORAGE |
FLIGHT TO WA |
2250 |
|
46 |
TUES, JUNE 15 |
WASHINGTON |
2300 |
|||
47 |
WED, JUNE 16 |
OREGON |
PORTLAND |
2350 |
||
48 |
THURS, JUNE 17 |
MONTANA |
MISSOULA |
2400 |
||
49 |
FRI, JUNE 18 |
WYOMING |
JACKSON |
2450 |
||
50 |
SAT, JUNE 19 |
IDAHO |
VICTOR |
2500 |
||
About Lisa Smith
Batchen:
Lisa's very first ultramarathon was the legendary Badwater Ultramarathon
in 1995 where she earned 2nd place in the women's division. She set the women's
record two years later with a finishing time of 37 hours and 01 minute. Eleven
years after her Badwater debut, she decided to double the race. She is one of
the few females to have run the "Badwater
Double" -- also known as the "Death Valley 300".
By the time adventure racing exploded onto the scene in
America in the form of the reality show "Eco Challenge"
Lisa was already an accomplished endurance athlete and it was no surprise that
she was asked to participate in the Eco-Challenge in New England in 1996,
followed by the Eco-Challenges in British Columbia and Australia.
In
1999, Lisa achieved something no American has yet duplicated: winning at the infamous
"Marathon des Sables", a 10 day stage race in
the deserts of Northern Africa. She took the prize for the women's division,
and still stands as the only American to have ever earned an MDS trophy. As an
added bonus, she met Jay Batchen who was part of a crew filming the event for
an Outdoor Life Network documentary. Less than a
year later they were married.
But
Lisa is known for more than her racing-- she is an unflagging fundraiser and
advocate for children who have lost both mother and father to AIDS. Her 2006
Badwater Double raised $294,000 for AIDS Orphans Rising. She also introduced
other ultramarathoning legends such as Ray Zahab and Marshall Ulrich
to the work of AIDS Orphans Rising, and they too began to use their talents to
fundraise. In 2002, Lisa and Marshall were invited by Pope John Paul II to
visit the Vatican so he could thank them personally for their work helping the
charity.
Stories
about Lisa's athletic achievements have appeared on the covers of The NY Times, The LA Times, The
Washington Post, Running Times Magazine and more. Additionally, she
has appeared in Runner’s World, Sports Illustrated for Women, ESPN
Magazine, Outside
Magazine, Ultrarunning
and numerous other national and international publications. Television coverage
includes segments on ESPN, Discovery Channel, ABC’s Wide World of Sports, NBC’s
Nightly News with Tom Brokaw and Good Morning America. She was a main character
in a feature length film on the Badwater Ultramarathon, entitled Running On the Sun. She has also appeared in two Outdoor Life Network specials on the Marathon des Sables.
Lisa
currently lives in Driggs, Idaho in the Teton Valley where she runs Dreamchaser
Outdoor Adventure Events with her husband, Jay. They have two daughters,
Annabella and Gabby.
Copyright 2010 by Florida East Coast Runners. Reproduction or reprinting without written
permission is illegal.
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