Paul and I headed up to New Paltz New York on September 7th, 2018. I was racing SOS so we decided to take the van and camp out for the weekend. We stayed at Round Out Valley Campground but it was definitely not as nice as described on-line. Really more of an RV park for big rigs. There was a spot in the woods with no hooks ups so we took that. The pool was not operating or the mini golf and the place needs some TLC. Saturday we headed into New Paltz and walked around a bit, looked at some public artwork and ate delicious burritos at Mexicali Blue. The prerace meeting was on the campus of SUNY  so we ended up going to the Samuel Dorsky Museum of art and saw this,

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders: The Trans List  August 29 – December 9, 2018

SOS triathlon is an epic event set in the Mohonk preserve and limited to 200 participants. here is a description:

The race is 50.5 miles long, beginning at Ulster County Fairgrounds. Participants begin by bicycling thirty miles. This is followed by a total of seven transitions: a 4.2 mile run to Lake Awosting, 1.1 mile swim across the lake, a 5.5 mile run to Lake Minnewaska, a 0.5 mile swim along that lake’s eastern shore, an 8-mile run to Lake Mohonk, a 0.5 mile swim along the east shore of Mohonk Lake, and a 0.7-mile uphill run to the Skytop Tower on Shawangunk Ridge. The course gains and loses several thousands of feet of altitude and provides a number of stunning views for participants, and the finish line is visible from a number of points along the course.

Paul had done the race 12 years prior (that’s him in an old photo) and it was always on my bucket list to do. So 2018 was the year and I came in 5th female overall. Cold weather was somewhat of a challenge but probably better than doing it in a hot year.

We ate lots of food at the awards ceremony to celebrate and then even stopped off at for cider and pizza at West Wind Orchards because I was still hungry.

I like to fill my time away from home doing active stuff and seeing art. Thankfully Paul is happy to do the same, especially when there is an Andy Goldworthy stonewall on site. Storm King art center does not disappoint and we found it a treat to walk among many great pieces of art. I loved Maya Lin’s Wave Pool and Zhang Huan’s big Buddha.  https://stormking.org/sculpture-guide/