Lauren Douglas

Seattle, Washington | http://laurendouglas.me

Hello! My name is Lauren Douglas. I started swimming competitively at age 6 in Urbana, Illinois. I swam year-round, and was best at the 200 Individual Medley and long distance freestyle. I swam until my sophomore year in high school, when I started to run. I thought of running as the more "bang for your buck" exercise. All those hours of lap swimming, intense meets, travel, coaches and time spent in the pool burnt me out. I swam with the Champaign Aqua Chiefs in the winter, and Windsor Swim Club in the summer.
My running career started in high school with track and cross country. I moved to Washington state in 1991, when I came to the Evergreen State College. I was a lifeguard, and ran with the Evergreen running club all four years of my college life. After college I lived in Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia for two years. The track at the school where I taught was the only place I could run, and I did through rather extreme heat (today, however - I'm a big heat wimp)!
Now I have run many half-marathons (maybe 12 -?) and 4 full marathons.
I got my first Blue70 wetsuit as a gift from my sister for Christmas, 2011. I didn't jump into the sound until April, thinking that cold water would not be for me. But I immediately fell in love with open water swimming, and haven't looked back. I have only completed one triathlon, the Seafair Triathlon, in 2021. I completely loved the experience, and hope to do so many more. I especially enjoy training for a goal, such as a race. Today I open water swim about twice a week, run 4-5 times a week, and bike about once a week.