I Survive & Lisa Kall thrills at Rev 3 Cedar Point

Congratulations to Lisa Kall on winning the 40-45 age group at Rev 3 Cedar Point 140.3.  Lisa was also the 7th woman overall. 
I did survive SOS.  This race has to be on your bucket list, it is one of the most beautiful races that will ever torture you for 5 plus hours.  It took me over 6 but this is a race of experience & if you do it once you will want to do it every year & try to improve your time.  The race starts with a 30 mile bike, the 1st 25 mile are fairly flat with some up & downs & a hairy S turn at mile 10, every year someone crashes.  At mile 25 you turn onto rt 45/55 & climb over 1000 ft for the last 5 miles to Minnewaska park where your crew waits for you takes your bike & sets your transition.  The whole race is point to point.  I had a great experienced crew Harris Brenner who did a great job keeping me on course.  From this point you have to carry all your stuff you will need to get to the Survivor line.  My plan of stuffing my shoes in the back of my shorts worked well & had no issues with me feet.  So after you get off the bike you run 4.6 miles on a lose gravel trail up Cardiac hill (aptly named) to lake Awosting for a 1.1 mile swim across the lake.  This was the coldest lake about 68 degrees, which starts with a 3ft. plunge off a rock into 7ft. water.  At about the 1/3rd mile mark a swam into the person in front of me which caused my body to cramp, so I had to swim more toward the shore & stop several times stand on a rock & work out my leg cramps.  At this point I was very concerned about making it through.  But I kept telling myself just survive don't worry about your time & get through.  So after a 38 plus minute 1st swim I finally got to the 5.5 mile trail run to lake Minnewaska for a 1/2 mile swim across that lake.  I kept my run pace at 9:30 as not to bring on any further cramping which seemed to work.  My 2nd swim was much better as I only experienced minor toe / foot cramps as the person behind me was drafting & wound hit my toes about every 5th stoke even when I tried to get away from them.  But it only took 16 or so minutes to get across the lake.  At this point Harris was waiting for me as I got out of the lake and ran with me up the rock steps.  The next run is an 8 mile lose gravel fire road run to Lake Mohonk.  It is mostly flat until mile 6 where you hit Godzilla hill, then when that finally flattens out until you hit son of Godzilla.  There is plenty support with aide stations every 2 miles.  The last 1/4 mile is gorgeous single track that opens up to the majestic Mohonk Mountain House & lake Mohonk.  The toughest part of this swim was climbing over the split rail fence to get into the lake.  I was quite worried about cramping during this swim but the lake was the warmest of the 3 lakes & I had my best swim of  the 3 getting across the 1/2 mile in just over 13 minutes.  Now all that is left is the 7/10th of a mile climb up to Smiley Tower to the Survivor line.  They do give a separate award for the fastest run up to the tower.  I hope next year we can get several club members up there for this incredible race.  Registration is Halloween night at midnight.  So stay up, eat all your kids candy & register for SOS 2014.  Thank you again Harris for being a great crew.