On April 19th, Lisa Smith-Batchen and Sister Mary Beth began their journey to raise $1 million for AIDS orphans by receiving donations for running 50 miles in 50 states. 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. Though two people have previously run a marathon distance in each state, no one has ever taken on the challenge of completing an ultra in the same period of time. Sister Mary Beth, 61, belongs to the order of the Religious Teachers Filipini, an order dedicated to education. Sister Mary Beth will run alongside Lisa in her full habit: a black wool tunic over a white shirt and underskirt, black headpiece and a black woolen belt… and sneakers.
Today, Lisa and Sister Mary Beth conquered 50 miles in the state of Utah (the 40th state on the list). Lisa finished 2,000 miles today at Libery Park amongst locals who were participated in this event with her. Holly and I found Lisa this morning at 9:30am at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. She had already been running and walking since 5:30am. in each state, her courses are loops around parks or streets so she can easily find her support crew at the same location throughout the day.
Lisa walks and runs 50 miles while Sister Mary Beth walks 20 miles. They both go at their own pace, but you can see the support that they give each other. On one stop at the RV aid station, Sister Mary Beth said 'I need to check on Lisa to see if she is still breathing'. Holly replied, 'good idea to make sure that she is still moving'. To which Sister Mary Beth replied, 'she doesn't have to be moving, just breathing'. Holly laughed. What a privilege to be a part of this monumental quest to help the millions of orphan children throughout the world.
During her run, Lisa has expressed the extreme highs and lows.
She mentioned that other ultramarathoners tell her that she
will experience one more breakdown before she finishes. Lisa has been candid about the physical, emotional and spiritual toll of the amount of walking and running that she has done. This is coming from the only American woman to have ever won Marathon de Sables. To her name, she has many other standout accomplishments in endurance sports, including multiple victories at the Badwater Ultramarathon. If Lisa is hurting, this type of attempt would have stopped any other person a long time ago. She jokingly said today that people tell her how good she looks, when she is just hanging on to make it through. She did get to see her two kids and husband yesterday, which must have been a great boost. I ran/walked about 27 miles today, and Holly ran/walked 20 miles. Since we were both recovering from stress fractures, neither one of us had been putting in many miles. And it was a very hot day in Salt Lake City. At the end of the day, I collapsed in the grass near Lisa's RV in sheer exhaustion, and Holly took off her shoes to discover big blisters on the back of her heels. Given how worn out we were, it's awe inspiring to think of what Lisa is going through day after day. Lisa is blessed with this gift to suffer through long endurance events, because her heart is in the right place. She doesn't do it for herself. She runs to help children.
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