“Hand Me The Baby!!!”

Caution, sappiness may follow.

So, before I get to the real point of this blog, here’s a little background about me. My job here at NOLS is to basically stalk alumni who have accomplished blog-worthy things, and then blog about them. My stalking adventures have thus far made me quite a prolific blogger: check out blogs about Anderson Cooper, NOLS Grads in Haiti and Chile, climber Majka Burhardt, knifemaker Joel Bukiewicz, NOLS Women in Leadership, NOLS curriculum and research manager John Gookin, NOLSies at the Olympics Parts I and II, and a slew of other Notable NOLSies. And that’s not all. I still have a back-log of people that I need to write about.
But today, I want to talk about one of my first posts, which was about NOLS alum Liza Howard, a nurse, WMI/NOLS instructor, and mom, who, to top it all off, won this year’s Rocky Raccoon 100 – an ultra-marathon. Yes, that’s 100 miles. Plus, she was clocked the second fastest woman of all time on that trail. Check out that blog post before you read any further.

On a personal note, since I too am a mom of a toddler and an aspiring athlete, I think Liza should win the “Most Inspirational NOLsie” award. Especially because I just learned she has accomplished yet another amazing feat (is she even human, people??)

The May 2010 issue of Trail Runner Magazine features an article about Liza that knocked my socks off. You should read the full article in print, but here’s the part that’s causing this particular episode of effusive blogging:

Liza’s time at the Rocky Raccoon 100 was 6 hours faster this year than last, and do you want to know why? Well, I’m gonna tell ya. Last year, Liza had to stop every 20 miles to NURSE HER BABY!!! This year she didn’t have to. Says Liza, “While that made for quicker aid-station transitions, I missed seeing the shocked looks on people’s faces at Dogwood aid station when I ran in yelling, ‘Hand me the baby!'”

So now, the pedestal on which I have placed Liza Howard has been elevated to even higher reaches. It’s up in the clouds. I can’t even see her, that’s how high she is. They should have a line of sports drinks named after her and the little girls in the commercials should say “I wanna be like Liza!” (that was a lame reference to a Michael Jordan Gatorade commercial that might be before your time, depending on how old you are).

Ok, enough said. Wait, one more thing: LIZA HOWARD, YOU ROCK MY WORLD!