Monday, March 27, 2006

Happy Monday

 Hello everyone!
 
What a great weekend I had!
Flew to Dallas Texas on Thursday and stayed with a coaching client and his family. What beautiful people:) It was colder in Dallas than it was in Jackson Hole Wy. The forecast for the race on Sat. was sunny and a high of 62 degrees. The Grasslands 50 mile trail race.
Start of the race was 7am and it was about 38 degrees but to me it felt colder.
The sun came out and I think it go close to 78 degrees which was so much warmer than they thought it was going to be. All in all "perfect" training for the Marathon des Sables.
I'm not sure how the race gets its name, Grasslands, should be called Sandlands!
Its a wonderful event put on the by the Texas trail runners. Half marathon, marathon and the 50 mile. It had been some time since I had seen the finish line of a race since my heart scare last May. All I wanted to do was run and walk the race and feel the joy of being part of the gift that we all feel when we run. I had 3 other coaching clients running and one of my very dear friends from NJ running to. The gun went off, the sun on my face and we started to run. I started to cry at the same time, just thankful so very thankful to God to be able to be doing what I love to do most next to being with my family. I ran the first 5-6 miles all at 80% and then went right into a run walk plan of 8/2 and then 7/3. As much as I wanted to run harder I really had to hold myself back, but like anyone who really wants to listen to the race plan I stuck to the plan.
It started to get warm, the sand on the course was perfect training and it was a perfect day. My stomach was not to happy for about 3 hours of this race and I have no idea why I could not get it to feel better. 5 hours into the race I felt great!:)
8:40 was my total time, good enough for 1st place overall girl! The last mile I cried again, I looked up and gave thanks for allowing me to cross the finish line and to be able to do what I love to do. My husband gave me an Ipod as a gift with 9 hours of new music on it, this made my day! I crossed the finish line and felt great, it had been a long time coming.
Finlay, Will, Todd and Paula all did well. Nice job team Dreamchasers!
Sunday morning sitting at the airport, my legs are not even sore just my toes! I was 2 hours delayed coming into Jackson Hole due to guess what? Another snow storm!
 
Have a great day
Lisa
 
Happy Feet!
Lisa Smith-Batchen
www.lisasmithbatchen.com
www.dreamchaserevents.com
www.tetonraces.com

2 comments:

Olga said...

Woohoo! All this 7/3, 8/2, 9/1...may be I should try it? Looks like it pays off for others. Though I am scared.

Anonymous said...

I hope you come back next year. The course was great this year as opposed to last year - it was mud the entire way. It was nicknamed "Mudlands." It turned out to be a really pretty day. I got 6th female in the marathon. Can't wait to read about your MDS trip. Best wishes.