How did I get myself into this?
March 2026
Boat • Learning • Money • Personal • Team • The Race • Training
How exactly did I end up signed up for a 3,000 mile row across the Atlantic?
To be honest, I’m not exactly sure.
Things I know it wasn’t:
❌ Lifelong dream
❌ Because I’ve done so much rowing
❌ Because I’ve watched the World’s Toughest Row (WTR) race for years and thought: “You know, I could do that.”
❌ Because I read some book about others’ ocean-rowing adventures
Nope. All I really know for sure is that Facebook in its infinite wisdom decided to put the WTR in my feed in December 2025 and I was intrigued.
But not intrigued in a “maybe I should sign up” sort of way. Why would I do that?
I have ZERO rowing experience that’s not on an erg (rowing machine) and these people were obviously experts. I live a couple thousand miles from the nearest ocean, when WTR participants probably were raised by Neptune himself. Plus the race takes 45-60 days—who has time for that?
If you know me at all, you know adventure is in my blood. I’ve got a history with endurance races. I’ve done 150-mile, multi-day, self-supporting races in Iceland, Scotland and Kenya. I’ve hiked to Everest Base Camp, run a marathon in Antarctica, and even attempted an Ironman Triathlon back in the day.
I’ve traveled to 56 different countries, and in 2023 (the year I turned 50), I made it to all seven continents in one year.
All that to say: me and questionable decisions? We’re not strangers.
But honestly when I was watching the reels and updates on the 40ish teams involved in the WTR2025, I was invested but not considering it for myself.
American Taryn Smith was the belle of the ball that year. She was attempting to become the first American solo female to row the Atlantic. Young, upbeat, fearless… it was fun to watch her daily posts.
Yeah, that woman (ahem, and maybe a teeny-tiny bit my above-mentioned relationship with questionable decisions) is to blame for all this.
More specifically, this 3-minute Inside Edition video recapping her journey:
Pay special attention to 1:40 in that video.
That’s where I got in trouble. The moment my thinking about the World’s Toughest Row changed with one sentence by Taryn.
“I signed up to row the Atlantic by myself having never rowed before.”
I didn’t stand up and shout, “Well, by God, I’m doing it too!” As a matter of fact, I just went on about my day.
But a seed had been planted.
And now here we are.
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