Badwater Double: And They’re Off!

Just for fun, watch last year’s 10am start of the Badwater Ultramarathon – you’ll see Lisa in a long-sleeve pink shirt. And you’ll see that she follows the advice she shares with her coaching students…start slow and if you think you are going slow at the start of an ultra, go a little slower!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCllnk6gBjk

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for checking Lisa’s Blog as she attempts the Badwater Double for the second year. Let’s hope she meets with success again.

My name is Colleen Woods and I will be posting entries throughout the course of the next week. I’d love to hear from you and will do my very best to send along your well wishes to Lisa and her crew.

SEND A MESSAGE TO LISA AND HER CREW: Contact is limited, but I have told Lisa I would fax to her any comments posted to the Blog before 12 noon on Sunday. So if you want to send Lisa and her crew a note to encourage them before the race begins, please post it as a comment and I will print it off and fax it to her. I know your comments mean so much to them!!!

THE DEPARTURE: Lisa and her Jackson, WY-based crew members left for Death Valley today. They flew out of Jackson’s Airport, had a layover in Denver and arrived to Las Vegas. In Vegas, they shopped for food for the race. Lisa has been trying a number of different food combinations for this year’s race, but one thing I’ll know she’ll eat again out…AVOCADOS! Lots of good fat! Her crew member Scott Morgan is on avocado duty – he can buy 25 avocados for $2 on the roadside…in Jackson, that would buy 2!

TONIGHT’S DINNER: Tonight, Lisa is dining with her crew at Stovepipe Wells. They are also joining Frank McKinney and his crew. It will be Frank’s third year doing the race. Frank was a student of Lisa’s when he began his Badwater journey (read Frank's coaching testimonial). You’ll also see a great shot of Frank at the 2006 finish line. Here's a photo of Frank, Lisa and their crews at Stovepipe last year:

WHAT LIES AHEAD: This weekend is all about staying calm and making last minute adjustments to the race plan. Lisa will have her feet taped by the Badwater Blister Queen, Denise Jones. Denise is an absolute sweetheart and a footcare expert, co-author of Death Valley Ultras: The Complete Crewing Guide with Theresa Daus-Weber. Denise has aksed Lisa to set aside at least 3 hours to tape her feet – an allowance is only too happy to make considering how well her feet held up after Denise taped her feet for last year’s Badwater Double.



WATCH BADWATER ON VIDEO: One of the unique things about Badwater (and there certainly are many!) is the lack of contact with the outside world that athletes and crew alike experience in Death Valley. There is no cell reception the first 100 miles or so into the race and from there, it can be spotty at best. No e-mail within those same limits, too. So there is occasional communication via phone calls from pay phones, but by and large – the action is confined right there to the race course.

This year, Adventure Corps has secured a spot on YouTube to broadcast videos. I can’t wait to see them…here are instructions for subscribing:
In preparation for the 2007 webcast, our web-video head honcho, Mike Schafer, has set up the Kiehl's Badwater Ultramarathon channel on Youtube. We encourage you to "subscribe" to our channel so that you are notified when we post more videos, and also select us "a friend." Click here (you can already enjoy our videos from 2006 and also pre-race entrant videos from 2007):

http://www.youtube.com/adventurecorps

LEARN MORE ABOUT LISA'S FUNDRASING CAUSE: Please click here.