All About Kevin Lisska  

I grew up spending all summer at the neighborhood pool, the fall playing football in the front yard, and spring playing baseball. I swam for Dynamo swim club in the winter (Short course). When I got to high school,(Brookwood) I discovered that I was not very good at baseball and football, so I joined the Track team.  My sister was a very good runner in high school and college, so I thought I would give it a try. As a member of the cross country team, I felt more like a part of a team than I had ever felt in any other team sport. There was no luck; if you worked hard, you would run fast. I was never the fastest, but I was never the slowest either. After high school, I headed down the road to Georgia Tech for college. I could have walked on to the CC team, but I did not want to run 100 miles a week and be the 8th runner on the team.  I did not have enough speed to excel as a runner at the collegiate level and I could not stand just sitting around, so I joined the water polo club. We had a good group of guys with experience and a lot of talent. We got better and better and competed at Club Nationals twice, finishing 4th in 2000. My senior year I was southeastern Player of the year. After college, I coached the club for one season, then moved to Asheville in 2003. I started mountain biking and trail running.  Then, I got into road biking the summer of 2005. I entered the Over the Mountain triathlon that summer, without ever going to the pool or doing any triathlon specific training besides the running and biking I had been doing. I showed up late and unprepared. I was the first age grouper out of the water, struggled on the bike, and ran surprisingly well. I won my age group and decided I had to try another one. I won the Lake Lure sprint that year and then won the DuPont Trail marathon. I was in the best shape of my life and it felt great. In 2006, I completed two half Ironmans and a dozen sprints and international races. I am a race junkie and race just about every weekend. If I am not racing, I am either tapering or playing water polo.