Monday, June 25, 2007

Wow What a week it has been!!! Go team Go!!

The weather in the Tetons continues to be hot which is so crazy for June. This weekend it hit 90 degrees as 4 of us hit the top of the Teton Pass for the 4th time:):) Yes that is right..we did it. 11 hours and 45 minutes to do just over 42 miles. Power walk up, run down..close to 5.6 or 5.7 miles one way with 10% grade. Nattu kicked my butt on the first up and down and kept telling me he was sure he was going to slow down..it took him about 11 hours to slow down!!!
At the end we soaked our legs in the nice cold river and went out for Mexican food!

Most of the long workout this weekend was spent thinking about several of our Dreamchaser coaching students who were running all over the World...just amazing energy when thinking about everyone, how are they doing, how are they feeling and where are they on the course they are running.
SUCCESS Is the best word I can find for all the Dreamchaser runners this past week. The good, the bad and the ugly. Most completed the races they set out to run and some were just short of the finish line. With both of these come growth, learning, determination and the spirit is tested in many, many ways. None of us start a race thinking we are not going to finish. It is the obstacles along the way and a series of things that take us to the finish line or not.
The one thing I do know is this: you can ONLY think about the things you can control right then and there at the very second it is happening. You can't change what happened 2 seconds ago or the last step you took..you can only think about the next 2 seconds and the next steps you will take.
You can't sit and worry about how hot it is or complain that it is to hot..you can ONLY control the steps to help keep yourself as cooled down as possible..the heat is not going to go away just because you want it to:):)
Success come with following a race plan that is set up for you, your nutrition plan is set for you and then you have a back up plan if all else fails...And sometimes the only answer for some is to stop the race and not continue.
If you make the choice not to continue make sure you have thought long and hard before you pull yourself out. My friend Marshall told me once to make a list in my mind of why I needed to pull out and if I could say I would be fine the next morning when I woke up and have no regrets then ok..pull out. But if you feel you are going to wake up feeling the could have, would have, should have..then you best carry on to the finish even if it was not the day you had dreamed about!!!

Why do I tell you all this today...its about learning to deal with what Gods gives you on each given day and to be thankful for the good, the bad the ugly. We all have these times and moments in our life. The great thing about Ultra Running is we all have each other who love and support us through it all to. You can only control what you can control and that is it.

WOW, WOW AND MORE WOW TO ALL OF OUR DREAMCHASERS RUNNERS THIS WEEK!!

Bob Haugh ran on a team with Marshall and Mark (Team Stray Dogs) in the Gobi March and were 3rd place team overall.

Alex and Frank ran the Gobi March together and ready for this..they were 28the and 29th overall!! I have been coaching both of these guys for a few years and watching the go from these words over and over..I am never going to do anything like this again to placing in the top 30:):)

Ed: ran his first marathon in Alaska in 4:30..this was a very hard marathon with lots of trails and steep hills..Nice running Ed!!!

Tom, Laurie,Colleen, Tess, Richard,Kathereen and Jim all ran the Desert Rats 150 mile stage race. Tom was 2nd overall and Laurie was 4th overall. What the web site looks like is that the others DNF the race but this is not the right facts..They did not run the entire 150 miles but most,,,ran almost most of it..I think Jim missed 10 miles..The course had many issues and I hope that each of them will share there story with you..It is amazing that all did so well, such strong individuals with so much heart and grit. We are so, so proud of all of you..

Leigh, George,Marie, Bill,Mark,Mike and Adam...talking about sitting at a computer waiting for results:) It was amazing coverage watching you all run the Western States race...right down to the last few minutes when for me it was like this..all of my baby ducks were accounted for. I could go take a nap..but guess what? I went and cut the grass and pulled weeds. Now this is great cross training.
Amazing efforts, courage and determination..Great running to all of you!!!


I leave you with 2 great quotes that were sent to me this week:

As TS Elliot once said “only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.”

“Unless you test yourself, you stagnate. Unless you try to go way beyond what you’ve been able to do before, you won’t develop and grow. When you go for it 100%, when you don’t have the fear of “what if I fail,” that’s when you learn. That’s when you’re really living.” Mark Allen, world champion triathlete

Many blessings for a wonderful day
Lisa

8 comments:

Olga said...

Lisa, awesome wisdom, and congrats to all Dreamchasers for a fine weekend!!

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

LISA Said: it's about learning to deal with what Gods gives you on each given day and to be thankful for the good, the bad the ugly. We all have these times and moments in our life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AMEN , and Great post Coach :-)

Thanks!!

LK said...

Awesome job everyone!!! Even for those that didn't cross the finish line, I have a lot of respect and admiration for everyone who toes the line. Great courage!

Way to go Team Stray Dogs! That adventure racing stuff looks very appealing.

Ed: You da man!!! Huge congrats!

Leigh: It was great meeting you at WS. I didn't realize you are the tire pulling crazy woman.

George: I hardly recognized you this past weekend. You're looking mean and lean!

Bill: It goes without saying, it was my pleasure getting to pace him from Foresthill to the finish. He finished so incredibly strong passing all those runners from Dardanelles to Robie Point. Never getting passed the last 35 miles.

For those that have never had the incredible opportunity to pace at a hundred, do it! It's been as rewarding, if not more, than any ultra I've completed.

Anonymous said...

dreamchasers I had just a wonderful time at ws and also the training camp (DV)& all the wonderful people I met I (we) followed the training plan and it worked-WE FINISHED WS and all the dreamchasers that just had the courage to toe the starting line all our work(pulling the tire 14 miles at indian truck leigh then frying in the sun for 28 miles the next leigh member those days amiga) the wonderful support from all of you before and at staes and wherever your dreams were being chased!!Georgie

Lisa Smith-Batchen said...

And to all of you who don't know this but Today is Georgie Birthday!!
Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday to you and a WS finish is a great gift. Well done our friend
Lisa, Jay and the girl's

leigh said...

wow! amazing! i have really fat ankles now!!! they look great with my buckle!!! could not have done it with out the help from my great friend George. and jackie kept us happy all through the night.

hotels - thousands
food - hundreds
gas - many $$$$
Georges show at the finishline - priceless! way to show me up dude, love ya! happy birthday!

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

Happy B-day George!!!

Olga said...

Happy birthdya, Georgie!!! What an awesome gift you gave yourself with all your friends' help!