Astronaut Abductor: Woman on a Mission 30-minute Interval workout

Hiya, rockstar, 

Thank you for joining me for Running Scared with Coach Christine.

If you are a runner and a true crime enthusiast, you have found your corner of the internet, friend! 

This true crime running workout is inspired by the space program and the Artemis mission to the moon. However, Lisa Nowak may have been an astronaut that "skyrocketed" to despair, desperation, and looney town when her lover, William Oefelein decided he just wanted to "be friends" because he had met a new lady love, Colleen Shipman. 

Well, Lisa was having none of that...learn more and buckle up, because this "out-of-this-world" episode is ready for take-off in 3...2...1. 

Today's workout is a 30-minute  interval run

5- minute warm-up

3- minute RPE scale 4-6 (conversation pace)

2-minute  RPE scale 7-8 (1-2 sentence pace)

1-minute RPE scale 8-10 (1-2 words and likely they are NSFW words)

1-minute walk 

Repeat 2 more times

5-minute cool-down

We will be using RPE found here >>

I'd love to hear feedback from you, or if you have a case/story you would like featured, please fill out this short form here >>.

And, if you haven't yet joined, please know that we have our corner of the internet of runners and walkers who love true crime here >>

If you have any questions about running or want to chat about True Crime, please email me at christine@runwinefinishlines.com.

Please consult a physician before starting any new exercise routine.

Thank you for joining!

Big Shout-out and thank you to Jodi T., Jes. V., and Jennifer W. for all of the amazing Running Scared and true crime gifts yall have sent my way. 

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Lisa Nowak, astronaut, true crime, space, space program, running workout, Houston, mission, workout, life, training, Orlando, united states naval, cardio equipment, abduction, murder, mayhem

Transcript

Unknown: 0:04

Rock Star Welcome to running scared. I'm a coach Christine, I am a Level 2 RRCA and a Run Walk Run Galloway certified coach. But really, more importantly, I am someone just like you. I love true crime. And I love running, walking or getting laced up. But sometimes it's a little harder to do than others, it's a little harder to get motivated. So friends, if you need to make a little titillating, a little scandalous, a little bit extra to get you out there, then hopefully this case will meet the ticket for you. Let's get working on a walking warmup in three, two, and one. So friends, I get this question quite often. And it's Do I really need to do a walking warmup? And the answer is yeah, why do you think I've put it in here? No, but really, what the purpose of this walking warmup is, is it allows you to really create some internal heat lubricate your tendons, ligaments and joints also brings your cardiovascular capacity and systems up to par. So when we roll into the harder efforts of a workout, it feels a little smoother, dare I say it feels a little bit easier. So great time in the walking warmup to set your intention for the workout. So let's be mindful of our form, and be really aware of being nice and tall, being really proud of getting laced up and getting out there getting on that cardiovascular machine, that cardio equipment. So let's elongate our posture, bring our shoulders down and back, engage our core and stay light on our feet. And if you're outdoors, well, my friend, you're listening to true crime. So I know that you are being mindful and aware of your surroundings. And that you have gotten into a practice of letting someone you know love and trust, be made aware of where you're heading, or at least what time to expect you back. If you're inside on a treadmill, go ahead and bring it up to 1% incline and regardless of whatever cardio equipment you may be using for this, if you're inside, please be very mindful of your posture as well. If you're holding on to handrails for balance, that may be okay. But definitely don't put your weight onto it. And let's not have anybody leaning over, or staying on too close to that front display of your cardio equipment. Now, again, I've already already kind of mentioned a little bit of his out of this world kind of case and letting you know that well. Fortunately, for the astronaut in this case, it was not just a phase in life that she had to go through. And it well, it was it was a little bit nuts. So it got a lot of international acclaim. And unfortunately, she's kind of abducted someone's heart or someone abducted her heart, I should say we'll learn more about those details. I'm sure you guys all remember the Lisa know what case, but let's learn more about our actual workout. Well, friends here running scared I schedule it usually through the RPE scale all the workouts so that you can approach this workout however it fits best for you wherever you're at in your fitness journey. The RPE skills rate of perceived effort goes from one to 10. But today why you should do it true crowded style we're in did a little bit of astronaut style. So one is easy peasy. Maybe the lodge has been scrubbed, you need a little bit more time you're just chillaxing 10 is we've been cleared for takeoff and you are making your manned mission space to the moon, we're going to hang out with a three to one workout three minutes in our conversation pace. That's an RPE scale of four to six. That will take it up for two minutes that our tempo pace that's a little spicier, we get into RPE scale of six to seven. And then for 60 seconds, I want you to make that trip to the moon and stars, my friends, you can do anywhere on the RPE scale as an eight plus. And we're gonna have a 62nd pullback, we'll catch your breath, you'll reset that posture, you'll check in with the International Space Station if you must, and then we'll take off again and that exact same structure two more times. And we'll have a cooldown on the other side. I want to take a moment here and say that I as a central Florida resident was captivated by this case. And even more so living in the Space Coast and living in the Space Coast getting see the shuttle program getting to see the rockets and knowing quite a few people who worked in that world. There was a lot of pride and a lot of little key parts that kind of came into play. So a lot of excitement was around the space station or for me or the space program. And I wasn't as obsessed about the space program as our particular mistress of mayhem for today. We'll learn more about that as I get going on the case. I do also want to take a quick moment and think some very special little special listeners who have sent me some incredible writing scared and true crime prizes is what I call them whenever I like open up the mail and have a little gift waiting for me. So thank you so much. Jess, I loved everything you sent over Jody, you know how much fun I had with the advent calendar. And Jennifer, a sparkly reading scared cup. Come on, girl. So thank you guys, so so so, so much, I really do appreciate it. And I appreciate every single one of you guys that listen in and put a little smile on my face by being part of the running scared community and joining the Facebook group and kind of getting that conversation going. So without further ado, I'll thank you on the other side. I'm feeling a lot of gratitude here. But let's first get into our story. We're gonna go right into our three minutes conversation piece in three, two, and one might kick it off a little bit of a joke. What is an astronaut who's watching his weight order at the bar? A side of light satellite beat. Gosh, that was so horrible. Hopefully this True Crime case isn't quite as bad. Oh, my friends. We're gonna start it in February 2007. And as you guys have probably heard me say if you've listened to any of my cases before, February is a scary month, man. We're gonna have to be super aware of February last of things go down in that month. It's short, and people lose their ever loving minds around Valentine's. So in February 2007, US astronaut Lisa No, it drove from Houston, Texas, Houston, we have a problem to Orlando, Florida, because she was going to confront the woman who'd won over the affections of an astronaut that Lisa had been involved with. But instead of having a conversation that she claimed she wanted to have with the other woman, Lisa was actually arrested for attacking this other woman. This was a story that again, absolutely captured internationally, the attention of many. There were a lot of details that came out that found that were found to be absolutely ludicrous. And people were just again, they could not they could not pull away from the headlines. One of the reported details was that Lisa wore diapers on her 900 mile drive in order to avoid bathroom breaks because she was so obsessed and enrage Well, that may not have actually been the case. And actually, this particular case did go on to become an inspiration for the 2019 film Lucy in the Sky, which stars Natalie Portman as an astronaut named Lucy cola. Well, before we get into that, let's learn a little bit more about our astronaut here, Lisa because in actuality before all this went down, she had quite an illustrious career. And she had an incredible childhood. This woman was absolutely very steadfast in her desire to become an astronaut and really put in a lot of work to get there. Lisa Marie Caputo was born in DC on May 10 1963. She was born to her parents all freddo, the computer consultant and Jane a biological specialist, Lisa and her two younger sisters, Andrea Marissa grew up in Maryland and in 69, she watched the Apollo 11 Moon mission and instantly fell in love with the space program. She followed it as she got older, and she was extremely riveted by the female astronauts that were introduced to the program in 1978. She spent a lot of her free time visiting the National Air and Space Museum. Now Lisa goes on to have an incredible academic performance throughout her entire school career. We'll learn more about that in our two minutes segment and three, two and one let's go my friends. She goes on to Luxmore Elementary School Tilden middle school and then in Charles Woodward High School in Maryland. January of her junior year of high school she told her mom Hey mom, I know exactly what I'm going to do and I'm gonna grow up I am going to be an astronaut. I'm gonna make it happen. And her mom had no choice but to believe her because she had been a Girl Scout she was a member of the French Honor Society. She was on her class student council she played field hockey she competed in track and field and in 1981 She was named Student Athlete of the Year. She even graduated as CO valedictorian, and in her final year of high school, Lisa was accepted to both Bruce Brown University, an Ivy League university in Rhode Island and United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Her parents like Hey, Lisa, we think you should go to brown and she's like, You know what, guys, I know what I need to do to make my life happen. Make my dreams a reality. I'm shooting for the stars. I'm shooting for the moon. I'm going to Annapolis. My parents were a little concerned because women had just been admitted to Annapolis in 1976. And by the time Lisa got there in 1981 While there were other ways minimal classes, she was still only women were only 6% of the student body. And the female cadets were still harassed by male classmates. They even had a lot of derogatory remarks made by some of their male professors. But she continued to feel like it was important for her to stay there. She held her ground, she competed on a track team. She graduated on May 22, of 1985 with a Bachelor of Science in aeronautical engineering, and at that point, she joined the United States Navy. first assignment in the United States Navy was to head to the Johnson Space Center where she worked as an aerospace engineer at the Arlington Air Force Base near Houston, Texas. And during this time, she remembers having a lot of pride, she said, because she loved the camaraderie she loved the teamwork. And she felt impressed by the fact that everybody no matter what their position was there, worked really hard. They were very passionate about what they were doing, because they knew how important it was to the overall success of every single mission. Friends, we're gonna take it up into our first mission here is 60 seconds to take at that pace. Let's go in three, two, and one. Let's make it happen. Friends, I'm also going to tell you while you're rolling through in that 60 seconds and you are pushing, because you have another walk on the other side of this, I know you've got what it takes. Lisa received orders to report to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola for flight training. From there she continues to work her way up through the ranks and she goes on to the United States Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California in 1990, where she earned both a Master of Science Degree in Aeronautical Engineering, and a degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering in September of 92. At this time, she had met her husband, and she had as she's also having phenomenal success in her career in her academic life. She also has her first child, Well, friends, she applied to the United States Naval Test Pilot School at the Naval Air Station in Maryland, six times, and was finally accepted. Let's talk more about that in our conversation. Or actually, as we pull back control, welcome three, two Andalan. Pull it back, shake it out a little bit, reset your posture, we have two more segments to go. A little bit of three, two and one. During her career in the Navy. Lisa logged over 1500 hours of flight time and more than 30 different aircraft and she was determined to do all of this because she was still planning on being an astronaut. June 15 of 1995 when NASA announced a selecting a new group of astronauts, she finally applied. She had to submit her application to review board because she was not a civilian. She was a naval officer. The Review Board did approve it. And she became one of 2400 applicants. But in early 1996, Lisa was informed she was one of the 150 finalists of highly qualified individuals. She was asked reports the Johnson Space Center, and on May 1, just before her birthday of 1996, NASA publicly announced the names of their 10 pallets and 25 Mission Specialists and she was one of those 25 Mission Specialists. Let's get back up in to our three minute block and three, two, and line you've got three minutes here. Now, Lisa continues to have a lot of success in her career. And at the same time, she's happily married, she has this wonderful child. And in early 2001 She became pregnant with twins. So now she's going to be the mother of three. She's still working a whole lot of hours. She goes on to become part of the robotics team for the space shuttle, specifically for her program. And on December 12 2002 When NASA announced the crew for STS 118 admission is scheduled for November 2003. She became one of the mission specialist. The space shuttle Columbia disaster, though happened to the following year, just a few months afterwards on February 1 2003, killing seven astronauts and this really made quite a big impact on her and made quite a big impact on her family. However, Lisa goes on to say that she was told by her young child, her young son or her oldest at this point, that it was super important that she follow through with making everything happen for her to be the actual astronaut and get into space. So she continued to pursue this dream of hers that she had had from a little little girl. And she goes through all of the training. They have extreme climate training and every capability. Get her ready for her mission to space in January 2004. Well, my friends you know what happens here right? Lisa participated in an 11 day cold weather, sir survival training. But her fellow astronauts, at least one particular one caught her eye. And she found a way to maybe heat up that cold weather survival training. She discovered that she had quite a little bit of a crush on her fellow astronaut William O'Flynn. So when Lisa and William returned to Houston, they began their official extramarital affair. No, no, no, my friends, because let me tell you how much trouble they would get into because they were both still Navy officers. They could be charged with conduct unbecoming an officer, because adultery is under the Uniform Code of Military Justice not allowed. Now, William at this point, although he's married, his wife finds those emails, he gets himself in a whole lot of trouble because at this point, Lisa and William are sending some scandalous, super hot, super tawdry emails. And William's wife filed for divorce in February 2005. He moves out after their divorce was finalized in May 2005 until a small apartment, and he said, Hey, Lisa, I'm out on my own. I'm gonna give you a key and she's like, Oh, Hells yeah. So she started to leave her things that are claim her energy claim her vibe, saying yes, he is my man. Friends, we'll learn more in two minutes segment and three, two, and one. But meanwhile, she's still married friends. And she does actually have a job still in kids. So she finally gets out to her space mission. Because, again, she goes out on NASA's announced December 2003, the STS 121 would be commanded by Steven Lindsay and other astronauts and she was part of that crew to the International Space Station. She went out, she led us robotics team, She's incredible. She's beloved, it was a successful mission, she comes back down, finally dark and make it safely. And then things really heat up because she has to go out into the world, doing all sorts of publicity. She has to present she's got to be on different long interviews. I mean, her life was extremely issue if it was bad in space in terms of the amount of hours she was putting in her hours were multiplied during this situation as well. And a lot of the stress that she was under started to kind of create little cracks here and there. Unfortunately, at this time, relationship doesn't do very well. And by that, I mean her marriage, it starts to really disintegrate. She separates from her husband Richard in January of 2007. And unfortunately for her, although she was madly out of this world in love with William, he had met someone else. And he told her in late 2006 that he had started a relationship with a US Air Force captain Colleen Shipman, who worked as an engineer with the 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. And William informed Lisa that Colleen and him were an official item in January of 2007. He goes on to say, well, you'll learn more about it. Let's take it up in three, two, and one. Let's take it up a notch friends. You've got this. Let's push 60 seconds here. Little Spacey. You've got what it takes friends. Well, yeah, take it up a notch. Eight plus. So you're focusing on your breath. You're focusing on your form, keeping those shoulders down and back. Don't let them scrunch up keeping your chin up my friends eyes on the prize. Your eyes focused on getting in 30 More Psych? Like 30 more seconds here in this segment. Then we'll pull it back into our walk. We'll learn a little bit more about what he goes on to say about Lisa. Oh, well, yeah. Oh, Lisa. Were you thinking okay, I'm not gonna give too much away. We'll learn more on the other side. And 10 seconds left. 432 hands one, pull it back for 60 seconds. That kind of reminds a little bit about watching the Artemis launch, where it was delayed and then delayed again and then delayed again. And just as you think that you are almost ready to see this beautiful, manned mission to the moon. It doesn't really happen. But see those 60 seconds are aren't anywhere near that bad. My friends are just as pivotal. So good for you. Check it out. Catch your breath. If we're going to go into our very final segment here let's take it up back into our conversation pace in about 25 seconds. And 10 54321. So William had told Lisa, hey, let's still remain friends. We're still training for the Ms. 150, which is a charity bicycle race, which by the way I've done but I'm sure it was nowhere near as competent in that bike ride as they were. We'll keep training together, we'll still hang out. But yes, I've moved on with Colleen. And he fed that Lisa took it really well, I mean that she was totally fine with them just being friends. But Colleen said, I don't know if I trust this Lisa woman that much. She seems like she's a little obsessed with you. And I know you guys are training for this race together. But I don't really feel comfortable with it. So I'd really like you to kind of start to separate your relationship a little bit more. At that point, Lisa had been keeping her bike over at his house, and she's like, maybe it's time for her to take her bike back. She doesn't need to keep all of her stuff at your apartment. So he did ask Lisa to remove the bicycle. And on January 29. She gets reassigned. Lisa gets reassigned. And she is not on the next space mission. So she is starting to lose her cool, my friends because now all of a sudden, she's lost her marriage, her lover has moved on. And the job that she's worked so desperately hard for she's not chosen to go out into another mission. So she broke in questions that she broke in, she got into Williams apartment with a key that he had given her that he never requested back. And she starts to go through all of his emails. And she finds that he had quit emailing her that spiciness. But he had started to email Colleen a whole lot of spiciness. And one of those emails goes on to say from Colleen, that she was not gonna be able to resist. She actually she goes on to say, and I quote, I'm gonna have to control myself when I see you because my first urge is going to be rip her clothes off and throw you on the ground and love the hell out of you. So silly. Oh, my goodness. I mean, it just sounds so silly. It sounds like something you would read out of like a really bad romance novel. But and then the last, when Lisa saw that Colleen had taken her man and was telling him all of these tawdry things, she got super case of green eyed monster and she decides I'm gonna go have a talking to this woman and let her know that he is essentially mine. So, again, in February 2007, Lisa, after reading that email, gets in the car and start her 900 mile journey from Houston to Orlando. We'll learn more in our two minutes segment. Let's take it up in 321. Now in her car, police leader find she had a trench coat. She had a black wig. She had pepper spray, a BB gun, rope, trash bags, and an eight inch knife along with some other items. We'll talk a little bit more about those other items. Now. The reports initially said that she drove through the night to make it to Orlando not stopping for sleep that she was wearing diapers so she wouldn't have to pull over to use the restroom. Or attorneys provided proof or provided evidence that actually showed that likely wasn't exactly the case. The diapers were more more likely her toddlers it did appear that she had a receipt to stay at least one night at a hotel on her way back to Orlando. But nowhere in these 900 Miles does she think maybe this isn't a good idea. Like I don't know like, I don't know about you guys, but I can't drive within 40 miles without getting bored. I can't imagine a 900 mile journey fueled to go talk to the other woman as far as she's concerned. Anyway, friends, she continues her trip down to Orlando. She gets to Orlando to confront Colleen because Colleen is on a plane ride back from Houston that she can get back to her regular life and her work at the Patrick Air Force Base. She checks into a hotel off of international drive or near the International Airport. And she makes a big point of telling the hotel clerk that she was heading back to her room because she was exhausted. And then she went right back to her car and made her way out to the Orlando International Airport. She decided to Don her black wig and her trench coat in Florida. In February. It is not that cold, not like there's not one month here, where you would need a trench coat. But neither here nor there, she awaited Colleen to arrive. We'll learn more in three, two, and one, take it up our last 60 seconds and we'll have our cooldown and we'll learn more about our astronauts here in 321. I feel bad calling her an astronaut because colors she did lose her ever loving mind and really did make a whole big mess out of her life. You've got this rock stars push it up. Maybe you're in that eight, that nine, maybe you're going for that 10 And all out sprint knowing that you have a full cooldown. On the other side of this. You've got what it takes to make it happen. Keeping those feet lightly underneath your hips. Quick cadence moving and Gribben all the way through here friends and we're here for 15 got this bringing it back down to earth in 10. I've more three, two and one. Great work friends. Absolutely amazing work. Well, again, Lisa was wearing that black wig her trench coat she approached Colleen had gotten into her car after seeing this woman following her around the airport and on the shuttle ride back to the parking lots. So she sees this woman that she had kind of already thought was suspicious looking bang on her window of her car. She rolls it down just a little bit. And Lisa goes on to say my boyfriend stood me up he didn't come get me can you give me a ride and all of Colleen spidey senses go off and she's like, No, I'm sorry. I'll call someone for you. But I don't feel comfortable actually giving you a ride. And that is when Lisa allegedly sprayed her with pepper spray and tried to get into the car. But Lisa was able to drive off. And when she drove off, she did also call the police and police arrested Lisa on attempted murder and kidnapping charges. Again, the story made huge international news. And all sorts of things came to play. This really bizarre case with William and Colleen got a lot of national spotlight and it caused a lot of consequences for all of their careers. Well, needless to say, William and Colleen did eventually get married. They're living happily ever after. After all of this nuttiness in their lives. She lived to tell the tale. They have a family that they've started. And well Lisa's life got a little bit different. She faced some severe repercussions. Her husband and her got divorced. Officially she pled guilty in 2009 to a reduced charge of burglary and misdemeanor battery. During the court hearing. She said she was sincerely sorry for her actions and promise that she would never ever contact William again. She was given a year probation with two days of time served from when she had first been arrested before she posted bail. He received an other than honorable discharge from the Navy. And now, several several years after this infamous attack. Everyone has moved forward again, William and Colleen are settled down in Alaska. They actually run a website called adventure right.com, which promotes writing for kids. And we've got Lisa who's found a small quiet corner of the world outside of Houston, living her life out hopefully, without too much more media attention. She did bring a lot of awareness to mental health issues in the very stressful environment of the space program. And NASA has made quite a few changes with how they do their psychiatric evaluations and providing more behavioral specialist and care for their employees. And friends. We have finished up our time here but I want to wrap this up with our lessons learned. Lesson number one is please Please don't work so hard that you throw it all away for a boy. They are never ever, ever worth it. And to ask for your damn key back, like once you break up, you get your key back. Okay? All right. rockstars make sure that you rehydrate, you refuel. Now that we've made our way back to Earth and we're in orbit. I really appreciate you guys being part of the running scared community. I'll have the link in Episode notes. If you haven't joined there, please, please do join in friends for the holidays. I will have a little bit of a later schedule. I will keep up my mistresses of murder and mayhem on Mondays. But in the meantime, I have some really great cases coming up for you. And then in the new year, I already have a really exciting challenge planned. And we'll pick up that two episodes per week again in the new year. But here for the holidays coming up again, you'll have episodes coming up every Monday and if you have a special case you'd like to hear about or something you'd like to talk about with me on the microphone. Feel free to fill out the form that's in my episode links. I couldn't do this without your support. So thank you again. I really really do love having you running scared with Coach Christine