by John Hartsock

Area woman enduring 100 miles for charity
Pennsylvania - Lisa (Sidler) Fleming has completed several major marathons, including the Boston Marathon, the Washington, D.C. Marine Corps Marathon and the Pittsburgh Marathon.

She has run the Boston Marathon three times, setting a personal-best time there of 3 hours, 38 minutes back in 1999.

Fleming, 46, has also run 50-mile ultra-marathons, and last year, in March 2007, she completed a 100-mile ultra-marathon in Raleigh, N.C.

Fleming, an Altoona native and current Bedford resident, has also run long distances for charitable causes, trekking more than 30 miles from Bedford to Altoona many years ago to raise money for leukemia treatment and research, and participating in another long run to generate funds that helped a friend’s young son who was battling a brain tumor.

Next Saturday and Sunday, Fleming will combine both of her passions — ultra-distance running and raising funds for a worthwhile charity — when she accepts the challenge of completing a 100-mile ultra-marathon through the mountains of Virginia.

Fleming will run and walk during the 100-mile marathon event — which begins at 5 a.m. next Saturday and is expected to wrap up sometime late next Sunday afternoon — in order to raise funds to benefit Bedford’s Circle of Love, an establishment located on Pitt Street which serves the after-school needs of children from grades 1-12.

The Circle of Love building, which was opened by a Bedford couple, Tony and Janet Roy, in 2002, provides a safe after-school refuge for children who might otherwise have no such accommodations.

“It’s a really good thing for the community,’’ Fleming said of the Circle of Love building. “[Going there] keeps kids off the street, and gives them a place to go where they can do homework, socialize with other kids, and get a hot meal if they want one.’’

Fleming, a former track and cross country distance runner at Altoona Area High School prior to her graduation in 1980, hopes to raise donations for the Circle of Love from area businesses and private donors.

“I’m not going door-to-door for donations, but whatever money I will raise for participating in the run will go to the Circle of Love,’’ said Fleming, whose training schedule involves up to 90 miles of running and walking each week. “My goal is to finish the 100 miles in the allotted time of 36 hours or less.’’

She’s conquered 100 miles before, completing the 100-mile North Carolina ultra-marathon in just under 26 hours over a year ago. In that event, she covered eight circular loops of 12¢ miles apiece on a well-groomed trail comprised of loose gravel and dirt.

“That was my first [100-miler], and I actually did a lot better than I thought I would,’’ Fleming said of the North Carolina event. “I finished among the top 10-15 women overall in the event.’’

She did so while overcoming a grueling set of obstacles that included nausea, delirium from competing for over 24 hours without sleep, and a pair of bleeding feet.

“I had a really great pacing crew for that event,’’ she said of a group of friends known as pacers who accompanied her on the North Carolina course, providing her with encouragement, humor, and distraction from her fatigue. “They jogged or walked along with me, talked to me, kept my mind off [the pain], and made sure I got enough to eat and drink during the race.’’

One of the friends who paced Fleming at the North Carolina race, Nancy Pyle of Bedford, will be back to help her through the Virginia race, which begins and ends at Front Royal, Va.

“She’s amazing, simply amazing,’’ Pyle said of Frederick’s endurance. “At last year’s race, you could tell she was getting kind of delirious and confused toward the end of the race, and her feet were bleeding right through her shoes, but she kept on going, and she finished the event.’’

More at altoonamirror.com

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