Embracing Endurance at Any Age with Lisa Smith Batchen EP #45

Lisa Smith-Batchen's journey to endurance running greatness didn't follow a typical path. In high school, she was told she was too slow for the cross country and track teams and struggled with asthma—so she gave up running for years, despite loving it. Everything changed during her last year of college, when she decided to join a 5K Turkey Trot on a whim. Surprisingly, she won the race—and a 20-pound turkey—proving to herself (and her family) that she was a runner after all.

From there, Lisa rapidly escalated her ambitions: from local 10Ks to her first marathon, and soon after, she was talked into running the legendary Badwater 135 ultra marathon by friend and mentor Marshall Ulrich. By 1995, just months after learning what an "ultra" even was, Lisa found herself at the Badwater starting line in Death Valley, and discovered a true passion for extreme endurance. Since then, Lisa Smith-Batchen has become a celebrated figure in the ultrarunning world, known for her bold spirit, rapid progress, and deep love for pushing beyond the marathon into the toughest races on earth.