Rachel Swanson

Skokie, Illinois

I am a mom of 2 teens - My 16 year old daughter is a ballet dancer and my 14 year old son is a hockey player. I am a therapist (psychotherapy - mostly adolescents and adults mostly struggling with Anxiety and Depression). I am also a triathlete! I have done one Ironman (Madison in 2017) and currently will do whatever race sparks my interest and I usually sign up for whatever race highlights my weakest link. (For example, I am currently decently fast at swimming, biking, and running shorter distances - up to half - but...I kind of suck at endurance. So I signed up for a 50k in hopes of doing a 50 miler. I really love the challenging myself aspect of all of this. (My weakest link used to be open water swimming, so I signed up for - and am now also a sponsored athlete for the A Long Swim charity. They raise money for ALS by doing very long swims. I've only done their local shorter swims, but love raising money for that very important cause.) But that gives you an idea - I usually try not to sign up for races I'd be "good" at. I usually find what is most challenging for me and sign up for something that would highlight that. I started out by doing my first half marathon 4 years ago (again, had to challenge myself and do it in Angel Fire, New Mexico at 10,000 feet elevation) and got bored by the end (lol) so I decided I'd start doing triathlons because then I'd never get bored with all that different training...a literal year or so later, I was doing IronMan Madison! :) Ahead of me, I've already signed up for the 50k trail run in April, (maybe a 50 miler in May) HalfIronman Traverse City in June AND next September, I am for sure doing a SWIMRUN!!! (How fun do those sound?!? My friend and I will be tethered together and will likely do the long course at Les Cheneaux Islands up in Michigan.) That's a little bit about me. :) Oh, and I love yoga, too :)