Lisa Smith Batchen's 810

Just 14 hours before Lisa hits that starting line for the Furnace Creek 508, the news officially came in. Thanks to everyone who has donated.

That's $500,000.00 of which 100% is going straight to help those kids who need so much to be able to succeed. Sister MaryBeth is right now in Brazil working right now to help AIDS Orphans. Let's see how much we can raise OVER this amount!

Now she's off to the Furnace Creek 508, also known as the Toughest 48 Hours in Sports. It's an apt title. The course has a total elevation gain of over 35,000', crosses ten mountain passes, and stretches from Santa Clarita (just north of Los Angeles), across the Mojave Desert, through Death Valley, to Twenty Nine Palms. Though she'll be officially running as the "Empress Penguin" we're sure "The Sphynx of the 508" will be featured when a book about the 508 comes around.

Joining her at the 508 will be the mega-mile man, Joe DeSena. Afflicted with the same disorder as Lisa, he seems unable to be content with the race director's decision of the starting line. So he's decided to do a little warm-up ride from New York to the Furnace Creek 508 start. Just under 2,800 miles, it took him 14 days. You can read about it on his friend Chris Mitchell's blog. He too is raising money for AIDS Orphans Rising, and you can donate at www.active.com/donate/USAjoe

To date, Lisa's 810 has brought in $435,000 since May 1st; our goal is $500,000. You can donate here.

JULY 17TH - STAGES 1 AND 2 OF LISA'S 810 ARE COMPLETE.

Lightning, snow, rain.... the weather at Mt. Whitney is pleasant this time of year.

Despite the weather, they made it. And Sister Marybeth experienced her first mountain climb. For her very first climb she chose the highest summit in the continental US. How's that for chutzpah! Well done!

Despite the frightening picture, Lisa is doing well. In her own words she said "whew... I am one cooked rooster." Which I never really considered Lisa to resemble, but I won't argue with the woman

And of course, where Lisa goes, so goes the quilt...

Speaking to Terry this morning he sounded the most relaxed and coherent I've heard him in a long time. He was at breakfast with George, but he said "we decided to let Lisa sleep in."

And that there, my friends, is just a small example of the crew's generosity. Okay, okay-- they were more generous than that. They really did go through an amazing amount of discomfort, to put it euphemistically, during all these days to help Lisa make this enormous challenge in the name of charity actually possible. As strong and strong-willed as Lisa is, no one could do this alone.

And of Lisa's strength and will, I am reminded most of something Mahatma Gandhi said:

All of my most secret inventions are cooking and simmering in here. Old Slugworth
would give his false teeth to get inside for just five minutes, so don't touch a thing!

Oh. Wait. No, that was Willy Wonka. Sorry about that. Here's the right one:

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

While Lisa does possess a great deal of the the former, she has an almost inconceivable amount of the latter-- enough to endure 312 miles of running through an environment most folks take care to avoid. And no doubt much of that will is powered by the knowledge that in her suffering, she is mitigating the suffering of others. And that's a darn noble thing.

Okay, you can start training for Furnace Creek 508 now, Lisa. But first, a milkshake.

JULY 16TH, 8:30 AM

BUCKLE! BUCKLE! BUCKLE! SHE GOT THE BUCKLE!

Unbelievable! With 4 miles to finish and 308 miles behind her, Lisa went all out running to be sure she finished Badwater under the 48 hour limit in order to get that damn buckle!

Everyone is just insanely proud of Lisa. Not surprised, but amazed.

A hearty, huge congratulations to that whole crew that made it possible. George, Leigh, Scott, Terry, Annemarie, Laurie and of course, Sister Mary Beth -- you have done a incredible job supporting Lisa through an amazing ordeal. Through bats, blisters and naked Navahos you gave the support that she needed.

Lisa- you continue to astonish us.

JULY 16TH, 7:00 AM

This just in! As of 7:00 AM PST, Lisa was 4 miles up Portal Road and running-- she's shooting for that belt buckle which means she has to come in under 48 hours-- GO, GO, GO!!!!

According to Leigh, it was a really rough day. The crew is beat (but undoubtedly still cheery) and Lisa has really gone through a lot -- but this surprises no one.

Leigh was with Lisa during her Badwater Double last year, and assures us that "all in all, she is in better shape then she was at this time last year."

As we speak, Lisa's out on the course, gittin' 'er done, as I've heard them say in Idaho.

Here's a snap of Leigh and Sister Marybeth giving the magic finger treatment to Lisa's leg as George treats her feet.

I'm not 100% certain of their exact location right now-- I'm trying to get that info. But Leigh promised that her next batch of photos would be of Lisa "climbing up Whitney Portal" -- so you know she's closing in.

Temperatures out there look to be averaging about 114 degrees.

JULY 15TH, 10:45 AM

STAGE TWO, DAY TWO -- Terry Madl called from the road to let us know that Lisa has come about 83 miles so far.

She and the crew went pretty much right through the night. Lisa got about 90 minutes of rest at 2:00 AM after her stomach started bothering her; apparently some cashews, which she is allergic to, found their way into her system.

So for the past six hours her stomach has been a consistent problem, but she keeps going, with Sister Marybeth constantly at her side.

"Sister Marybeth is terrific" Terry said. "She'll take long turns out on the road and it does Lisa just a world of good."

Both Terry and Lisa also contribute the "re-opening" of the course to Sister Marybeth's crewing. According to Terry, "There were severe thunderstorms, they were going to close the route because of flooding... And then Sister said a little prayer - and bang!! We're back on course! It was incredible!"

So basically, Lisa is in pretty good hands. Above is a photo courtesy of Leigh Corbin, of Lisa coming into Panamint along side of George Velasco. And as anyone who has ever run with George knows-- when you're with running with George, you're running with someone who cares. George Velasco will give you the shirt off his back, followed by his socks, his shoes, the last of his water and a vital organ should you need it, and he'll do it while telling you a story about the Army Days just to keep you distracted. You would have to try really, really hard to feel bad in George's company.

It's 7:00 AM in the photo, which means they're hitting Panamint still ahead of schedule.

JULY 14TH, 10:00 AM (PDT)- BADWATER BEGINS

Lisa hit the road with the third wave of runners (a.k.a. the Elite/Veteran wave) for her 9th consecutive Badwater Ultramarathon.

The course shall remain the same, so sayeth Badwater Race Director Chris Kostman at exactly 10:36 PM.

Due to severe flooding on 395, it was officially announced that they were going to "almost change" the course, but didn't. So cheers all around, L810 goes to Whitney!

Here's a shot of Lisa snapped by the race director himself, not long after Lisa's 10:00 AM start.

(Lookin' sharp in her Moeben sleeves)

JULY 13TH, 9:00-ish (PDT)

News from the front is that Lisa's in good spirits and chowing down on some night-before calories as I write this. She received everyone's comments from the blog via fax.

"All we have to do is keep doing what we've been doing," Leigh said, rather confusingly. I assume she means that if everything goes just as it has thus far, Lisa will be in good shape. Their plan is to be as consistent as possible -- it's worked well for the last 177 miles, so it should work well for the next 135.

"What's that? One hundred and seventy-seven miles??" the eagle-eyed reader amongst you might say. "Why, she was only supposed to have run one hundred and SIXTY-seven miles at this point!" Yes, well... things happen. And in this case, the thing that happened is that the course magically got longer despite all the planning and google-mapping. And it turned out to be ten miles longer than we had thought.

Perhaps the heat made the asphalt expand. And so maybe with all the heat the road just, you know, expanded 10 miles more. That must be it. I'm sure it is.

Great- now that that's solved, let's look at some pictures Leigh sent via email.

DAY ONE: Lisa and Sister Marybeth making their way out of Las Vegas.

DAY TWO: at "Quiet Springs Ranch." Chuck had a sign made for Sister Marybeth
with some cold drinks and a canopy that his ranch family had set up. Apparently,
I am the only one who does not know who Chuck is. Someday they will tell me. He seems nice.

DAY THREE: In a postcard-worthy moment, Sister Marybeth and Lisa hit the road.

So tomorrow Lisa will toe-up at the start of the Badwater Ultra Marathon. The Badwater website will include live updates, but all the good gossip will be on this website, here. Lisa is part of the 10:00 AM "3rd Wave" of starters, because that's the wave with all the cool kids.

JULY 12 TH, 1:18 AM (PDT)
LISA COMPLETES STAGE ONE!

After an incredible journey, crew leader Leigh Corbin had enough energy left to give us a full update.

"I am sitting in the crew van and it is almost 10 at night trying to get a signal. I am unable to get many pictures out becuse the signal is so weak. I happen to be listening to the rain pour down right now as I write.

Lisa is doing great. We finished stage one at 1:18 AM this morning. It was the first real night's sleep that we have had since we begun. My cell phone is no longer working so I can not send pictures that way.

Things were tough for Lisa as you would expect. Suffering is part of what Lisa does, and she dose it well. You would be hard pressed to find a woman as kind as Lisa. Even when in pain and struggling, she is always thinking of those around her. She is kind to everyone, even at 2 AM. Lisa has handled herself like the pro that she is. Strong beyond words. She says that she would not have made it if it had not been for Sister Mary Beth.

Lisa has had some strange challenges while out on the course. One night she was attacked by a bat that had gotten caught in her hair. Last night just as the sun was getting ready to set, she was having hallucinations and thought she saw Indians climbing the mountains with no robes. This sent her into a silly spell and she did not even realize that the crew had put her feet into an icey water bath to cool them off and help to reduce the swelling. This is always painful but was done before she even realized it.

She has absolutely enjoyed the route that had been created for her to run. It was very scenic and beautiful. Early this morning as she touched the Badwater plaque where the race will start on Monday morning; she had great relief. She had done it and with few problems physically.

Her feet are in great shape and her stomach held out till the end where it started to give her a hint of a problem. She feels very determined and knows that many prayers will get her through, that and having Sister Mary Beth by her side. That is an amazing duo!"

JULY 11TH, 7:20 AM (PDT)

Just got a call from Scott. Well, it turns out the course is a little longer than we thought, but perhaps a just a bit more. As you can see, Lisa's been running and trying to take care of her feet during the night.

Word on the street is that Sister Marybeth crews the way I nap -- with a natural-born talent for it. Here she is tending to Lisa. She's been a cook, a driver, a pacer and an overall trooper.

The crew anticipates that they'll be hitting Stovepipe Wells around midnight or 1:00 AM, and I'm sure they'll have more updates at that time.

SO LET'S HAVE SOME WORDS WAITING FOR LISA WHEN SHE GETS THERE! If you leave a comment on the blog, I'll print them all out and fax them to Stovepipe Wells. I can't tell you how much getting messages from family and friends does for the spirits. So limber up your fingers folks, and let's swamp this blog until the entire internet's just one big smokin' mess.

Updates as I get 'em.

JULY 10TH, 8:00 AM (PDT)

When I asked Terry how Lisa was doing, his answer was "I can't believe it-- she's fresh as a daisy!"

Lisa got on the phone, and had another take on it. While she was feeling good and didn't want to stop for too long she did have humongous blisters on her ankles; heat rash had set in, which it tends to do when the temperature hits pavement-melting levels.

We didn't talk long as she was eager to keep moving. Terry and I determined that she's nearly at the 60 mile mark, and just a few clicks shy of the Nevada/California border.

The donations are flying in fast and furious. Since the crew arrived in Las Vegas, over $4,000 have been raised, just online and in person-- that doesn't include the checks being mailed in to the Religious Teachers Filippini while Sister Marybeth is away!

So, not including those checks, we're around $280,000.00 for the AIDS Orphans. Because it only takes 4 cents to feed a child a full meal (hard as that is to believe in America) that means Lisa's raised enough money so far to feed 7,000,000 children. Amazing.

But it also means so much more than that. It's money that can help AIDS Orphans Rising continue their wonderful programs, such as my personal favorite, the "Pizza - Gelato Initiative". To find out all the amazing programs they run-- programs that you personally are involved in helping-- check out our About AIDS Orphans Rising page, and the AIDS Orphans Rising site.

More updates as I get 'em...

JULY 9TH, 3:00 PM (PDT)
And they're off...

The temperature at 9:00 AM was a balmy 90 degrees. By the time noon rolled around it hit 112 degrees and an "Excessive Heat Warning" was issued. Excessive Heat in the desert... who would have thought? Good thing we have weathermen.

But Lisa and the crew are spiriting right along, already at the 15 mile point, and when I asked Leigh what time she thought they'd be stopping for a rest tonight, she said "Oh, we're going straight through the night" as if this were the only option a logical person would choose.

More updates later in the evening...

JULY 8TH, 2008

NEW STARTING LOCATION!
St. Joseph Husband of Mary Catholic Church
7260 W Sahara Ave. Las Vegas, NV 89117
[click for map]

JULY 4TH, 2008

Chill Towels comes abord as a sponsor! These incredible, all-natural self-chilling towels are going to be a hot commodity in the middle of the desert!

JULY 3RD, 2008

Donations since May 1st have already reached $230,000! Help us reach our goal of $500,000 by donating!

JULY 2ND, 2008

New article in Planet Jackson Hole "Going the Distance to help Children Orphaned By AIDS", July 1, 2008 [download .pdf]

UPDATES & NEWS