She had just welcomed her son Alex into the world and was living in England with her partner Andy.
Lisa travelled as a student to the UK for a 12-month placement which was part of her hospitality degree.
And that’s where she met Andy.
Seven years later, in 2010, Lisa, Andy and Alex returned to her hometown of Cohuna before moving to Moama two years later.
Lisa is an active person - she usually goes to the gym a few times a week in her lunch break, and until COVID-19 struck always looked forward to the Echuca Moama Parkrun.
The family have embraced the parkrun and particularly enjoy special theme days where they can dress up.
Parkrun had become so much of a routine that they have planned holidays around event destinations.
This year, Andy and Lisa had planned to be in Las Vegas for Lisa’s 100th parkrun on their honeymoon, but the pandemic has postponed their wedding and honeymoon plans.
An overseas trip involving running was a highlight of 2019.
Andy’s sister was turning 50 so a family celebration in San Francisco was planned around the United Airlines Rock ‘n’ Roll Half-Marathon.
As Lisa generally only runs 5 km once a week she embarked on a training plan, put together by her sister Sarah, a triathlon coach.
The plan included three runs a week, increasing the distance each week.
Lisa loves running events and was excited to be travelling to San Francisco to meet up with Andy’s two siblings and their partners.
The event started in the dark at 5.30 am and was a scenic, hilly course.
A highlight was the sunrise with a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Lisa approached the 21 km as three intervals.
After the first 10 km she caught her breath and, in her mind, she then just had the equivalent of two parkruns to do, which she knew was achievable.
She completed the half-marathon in 2 hours 28 minutes.
Running with Alex is also something that Lisa cherishes.
Although he might whinge and moan occasionally, he really does enjoy running with his mum.
In May, Alex and Lisa completed Run with the World, a virtual marathon.
Between them they ran 42.2 km over three days.
This event was put together at the beginning of the pandemic, just as events were being cancelled.
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