Last year, I was planning to race Ski to Sea on a car-free team, but I ended up getting some severe tendonitis in my foot. I decided it was best to skip last year’s race and let my body heal for the 2024 triathlon season. Instead of racing, I worked the race timing the transition from the cyclocross leg to the kayak leg. I was initially intimidated by the scale of the event, so I was happy to dip my toes into the event by working at it. It was stressful dealing with the early release folks and just the sheer number of people, but I saw the beauty in the event. I knew I wanted to race it in 2025.

Ski to Sea’s first race happened in 1973. Ever since, it has become an iconic annual multi-sport relay from Mt. Baker all the way down to Bellingham Bay. Teams made of 3-7 people will cross country Ski, downhill ski, downhill run, road bike, canoe, cyclocross, kayak in hopes to finish top in their category. Ski to Sea offers 15 different divisions. I don’t know why there are so many divisions, but I imagine that it is to give people the opportunity to fairly compete against each other. This year, our team raced in the Whatcom County Mixed Division. This is a competitive division, with an even number of women and men doing the events who live in Whatcom County. Even with all the different divisions, each team has to navigate 7 sports for everything to flow smoothly. I had my own logistical stressors this year as I did both the road bike and the cyclocross leg.

Race Day Prep: Friday and Saturday

I was invited to race on team Hard Core Physio back in January. My friend and ex-co-worker Emily raced on this team last year and passed my name along to the team captain, David, for this year’s race. I was honored that David asked and thought of me when he was looking for someone to take over the road bike and cyclocross legs on a competitive team! Team Hard Core Physio is a sponsored team by Core Physio, a Physical Therapy clinic in Bellingham. I was particularly proud to represent the clinic because the Physical Therapists and PTAs helped me get my breast reduction and helped me work through my foot tendinitis mentioned earlier. Fast forward to race weekend, our team had planned to get together on Friday to iron out the logistical details, pass out our sponsored gear, and get to meet our team members. Meeting everyone and getting our Core Physio tanks got me so excited for race day on Sunday. I don’t really get to be a part of a team anymore since triathlon is so individual. I was extremely excited to race for something other than myself. It makes racing different.

At David and Susan’s house passing out bibs and working out race day details with the team.

I spent all Saturday making 2 drop bags and prepping stuff for the very early race morning. I had to make a post-race bag and a cyclocross drop bag. The post-race drop bag was for when I got picked up at the end of the CX leg. That one included clothes that I wanted to wear after the race and a protein shake. The CX drop bag included everything I needed post-road bike and pre-CX bike. This bag included lots of food, a different helmet, shoes, sunglasses, water, and my CX bike, of course. I got both bags packed up, along with all my bike, and headed to David and Susan’s to drop off my post-race bag because Susan would be picking me up. Then I headed over to Peter’s house, one of our canoers, to give him my CX bag and bike. I did this because after the road bike, I will pass the baton to the canoe leg. Then, I will drive Peter’s truck (with all my CX stuff in it) to the canoe finish/CX start. Then I’ll swap out all my road bike gear for my CX gear and get ready to race again! Lastly, I planned what I wanted to bring up to the mountain on race morning. I needed lots of food, my road bike gear, and a ‘dumb’ trainer. I got it all packed and ready to go but it is still nerve racking to have so much stuff. It’s easy to think I might have forgotten one important thing, but I didn’t😊.

Race Day: Sunday

Got my spot with my bike and trainer set up at the DOT shed along with 100s of other racers.

I met two of my other teammates, Emily, our XC skier, and Monika, our downhill runner, in the Discount Tire parking lot at 4:45 am on Sunday, race day. We slowly made our way up to Baker. I had coffee and a protein oatmeal for breakfast in the car and chatted with the gals the entire way up. I got dropped off at the Sno-Park parking lot with all my stuff and walked about .5 mile to the DOT Shed, along with 100s of other road bikers too. When I arrived at the DOT Shed and I found a spot and set up camp for the next 3 hours. I got my bike connected to the dumb trainer and pulled out my secret weapon… sparkly face tats. I had lots of temporary tattoos, and I wanted everyone to be pretty and sparkly too! So, I went around and started asking everyone if they wanted one! Honestly, this was one of my highlights of race morning. It was so much fun, and I felt like I was spreading the joy, which in turn made me super happy too. The weather was amazing, clear skies, and it got warmer as the sun peaked further and further over Baker. I found my friend, Sydney, and we ended up hanging out until it was time to go! I got my bike ready, ate my second oatmeal, and hopped on the dumb trainer for like 20 minutes. Then, people started rolling in. I got nervous and put my stuff away and got ready to race. I got ready way too early, but that’s ok. I’d rather be too early than too late. Monika was a little after the time she said she’d be down there, but once I saw her, I got into position to go.

Bailin and I took turns until around mile 20 when we got into a bigger group. *Photo by Pat McDonnell*

The first 20 minutes were awful, I went lactic like immediately, but I wasn’t worried. I just kept pushing on, and it got better. I found this girl, Bailin, and we rode together until Maple Falls, which is about halfway. Then we both got into a group for the rest of the ride that would separate, come back together, and separate again. It was a lot of fun, and I worked really hard to take some solid pulls for the group. I am just so glad I had some breaks in there too. The last 10 miles I took maybe one or two more pulls but I let the group do a lot of the work. Then, in the last 3 min, I took off the front to come first from our group. I crossed the finish line and almost burst into tears. I had worked so hard for so long. I was so proud that it was over. I held it together because I knew the work wasn’t over yet. I suspected I would finish in the 1:45- 2-hour range, and I finished in 1:47. I made up around 100 places for our team. My effort helped our killer canoe crew pass our rivals within 30 seconds of starting the canoe leg. I was really glad I was able to contribute to our team’s effort.

Side note: I asked my team member’s to submit their race recap too and I was able to get Peter’s, our anchor canoer, race recap!

Wood ducks and eagles frequent my secret training spot and my downstream paddles warm me up for my more intense upstream workout. My canoe partner and I managed a few paddles together but not nearly as many as last year. I mostly trained solo.

As race day approached, the river was looking a bit low and the forecast called for mid 60's. Low and warm often means a slog so my goal was to stay hydrated, fed and to not go out too hard early. The day before the race my canoe partner and I ran the upper course. It was running slow, but clean and none of the risks of bottoming out proved true.

The morning of the race I grabbed all my race stuff I had laid out the night before and hopped in my truck. My race boat was already on the racks so I didn’t have too much to do. I picked up Jesse, my canoe partner, and we got to Riverside Park by 8:00 am. I made sure to park in a spot easy for Sarah, the biker, to find after her race. We checked in and staged our boat in a good spot. Race meeting, boat prep and talking to old paddling friends calmed my nerves and I was feeling excited for the race. As we got closer to our handoff Jesse went down to the river to wait with the boat. I would take the handoff and run down to meet him. As the bikers began to arrive I warmed up and stretched. I knew relatively what time we'd be handed off by but was surprised not to hear our number called. Then I saw a yellow jersey round the corner and realized they had not called our number. It was a happy surprise because Sarah had almost caught up to the first place team in our division. I ran down to the river and caught Jesse off guard. We hopped in the canoe and the Race was on! We could see the neon life jackets of the first place team and by the second bend in the River we had caught up to them and passed. It proved to be about two hours of canoe racing. We passed probably around 35 teams and were passed by one team who were some canoe racing friends of ours. Long races I always try to really focus on technique and being smooth and efficient. I took sips of my 1.5 liters of drink mix every few minutes and managed to almost finish it by the end of the race. The familiar landmarks passed by and by the time we got close to Ferndale the pain and exhaustion of racing began to get outweighed by the excitement of finishing. We rounded the last corner and saw out family and friends cheering us to the finish. We ran our boat up the bank and met Sarah (again, doing next biking leg) and our canoe leg of the race was over. We managed to put about 12 minutes of time between our team and second place in our division and it felt like we had a pretty good race placing 14th overall in the canoe leg. After the race, I met up with my family, ate drank and headed to Fairhaven. - Peter

On the CX course! *Photo by Steve Christofferson.*

The transition from road bike to cx start was perfect. Peter gave me directions, and I just went straight there. I ate while I drove and chilled out once I got there. That’s when Andy surprised me! I didn’t know if he was going to even make it to the finish line celebration, so I was extra surprised he showed up to the CX start! It was incredibly special that he was able to make it. I did a quick spin and then anxiously awaited the canoers to arrive. We had planned for me to go down to the beach and help bring up the boat, but I didn’t get there in time. I quickly got the baton, my bike, and was on my way for the last effort of the day. The course was very twisty turns right off the bat, which I wasn’t expecting, but after that, it was a lot of wide gravel, turned into a bark chip type texture, then a super duper bumpy single track. It was insanely bumpy; I thought my head was rattling around my skull. Since it had been so nice out, the course wasn’t muddy at all. Then we rode into town on the main roads, climbed two staircases, more twisty turns, a couple of barriers, then finished off going into Zuanich Park! I was so spent. As I bent over my handlebars and breathed heavily for like a full minute, I had a couple of people come over to check in on me. I really pushed myself through the fatigue I already had in my legs. The first 10 minutes were rough, but then I just accepted the pain and tried my best.

Susan found me shortly after I finished and gave me a big hug, it was very nice. We headed to the finish line to celebrate with our team! Andy was there with our other friend, Caleb, and we got some beer in the beer garden. I don’t drink a lot, especially before a race, so I was really looking forward to having more than one! We waited around till it was time for the awards. It was really rewarding to get first in our division after such a long day. And I got two plaques since I did two legs, which was even cooler!

Here are some quick stats and facts from the day:

Road bike - 1:47:49.6 – 7th fastest time (women)

I had 1 bottle of Tailwind with two scoops along with one PF 30g gel for the first hour, then one SiS 40g gel with water for the second hour.
Between the two legs I had two hours. I ate a meat stick, half a bagel with cream cheese, a little bit of a Red Bull, and some gummy worms. I wanted to give myself options in case something was disgusting to me in the moment. There was also a banana in there I didn’t eat.

CX bike - 44:01.0 – 8th fastest time (women)

I had one 30g gel with 75mg of caffeine around 20 minutes before.

Team – 7:14:41.4 - 1st in our division, 36th overall out of 500 teams!

Things that went well: I had great spirits the entire race day. I am really happy with how my fueling went for the most part. I pushed really hard and I am super proud of my efforts.

Things that I could’ve done better: I should’ve taken that second gel. I could’ve warmed up on my trainer for longer and not gotten off as soon. It would’ve been good to download the CX GPS course on my Garmin because I almost took a wrong turn if it hadn’t been for this guy ahead of me who pointed me in the right direction. The red bull and sour gummy worms made my tummy bloated and almost upset, so maybe just a flat energy drink and plain gummy worms’ next time.

Team Hard Core Physio photo with our awards.

All in all, my first true Ski to Sea experience was incredible. I saw friends on course all day, I met new people, and felt so connected to my team and our sponsor. I saw my friends kick ass and get top gun times. It was very inspiring, and I feel like I am well on my way. The finish line was just as fun as the race day. Getting to hang out with friends and just enjoy the company of everyone in Bellingham, and those who raced! It is just such a unique event that brings out the best in everyone and everything. It helped that the weather was perfect; It was sunny, not too hot, a little windy, and no rain.

I can’t wait for next year!!!

One last special shout out to Elizabeth Hampton at Core Physio for the sponsorship. If you need PT and they are in your insurance network, I can’t recommend them enough

Ski to Sea Race Recap - 2025

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