A 584 mile run for a cause. Check out the story behind this unusual athlete Marathoning is popular, ultra marathoning has its fans too, but running 584 miles? Here is the story behind an unusual athlete has broken the limits of what many runners are willing or even want to do. 'Peaceful warrior' Lisa Smith-Batchen conquers limits on 584-mile run DASHIELL YOUNG-SAVER The diarrhea wouldn't stop. The hallucinations were just beginning. The blisters on her feet formed as she ran. In heat that topped 120 degrees, Lisa Smith-Batchen's body began breaking down. Smith-Batchen was on the 170th mile of her "quad" — running from Badwater in Death Valley, the lowest elevation in the continental United States, to Mt. Whitney's summit, the highest point in the continental United States, then back down to Badwater, back up to Mt. Whitney and back down to Badwater again. The four legs tally up to 584 miles. She started July 1. There were 414 miles left when she started breaking down. Every half-hour, she went off the side of the road with a plastic bag and some wipes, to relieve her stomach. Eventually, her team forced her to stop for the first time, at least for a while. Twelve hours later, they made the call to keep going. If Smith-Batchen finished, she would be the first woman to do so, and she'd raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for clean water wells around the world. If not, it would be like last year, when at age 52 she had to quit because she got shingles She gave herself 12 days. read more