Karen Redmond is truly living the coastal dream, paddling the brilliant blue waters surrounding Topsail Island in North Carolina. Most mornings begin before sunrise, when the horizon glows gold and pink and the water is glassy and still. She steps onto her race board for a focused training session that often turns into a breathtaking adventure. Along the way, she’s joined by dolphins cutting through the swell and a spectacular array of coastal wildlife, ospreys circling overhead, herons and egrets stalking the shallows, eagles soaring high above, and even seven large stingrays leaping from the water in a single unforgettable paddle.
Training on the Intracoastal Waterway pushes Karen both mentally and physically. She confidently takes on the rolling wakes of large boats and yachts, reading the water with precision while navigating shifting tides and unpredictable coastal winds. Every session sharpens her strength, balance, and resilience.
In 2022, Karen and her husband John left a suburb of Chicago for coastal North Carolina, trading harsh winters and a fast-paced lifestyle for salt air and open water. The move marked not just a change of scenery, but a complete embrace of life on the water.
Karen discovered Session Magazine when she began racing in 2022. She says, "The publication’s stunning photography and powerful storytelling, capturing athletes immersed in paddle sports with grit, grace, and athleticism left a lasting impression. More than just a magazine, Session celebrates the culture and community of all things water, spotlighting dedication, adventure, and the pursuit of excellence. Seeing those images fueled my motivation and inspired me to train harder, push further, imagining herself among the athletes featured in its pages."
Professionally, Karen brought her business in Osteopathic Therapy and Corrective Exercise to the coast, where she has long helped clients recover from injuries and trained both amateur and elite athletes across a wide range of sports. Now, she seamlessly blends her expertise with her passion for stand up paddleboarding, designing intelligent, performance driven training programs for herself and others. She competes in both long distance and sprint races, and her dedication paid off last year when she traveled to Detroit for the USA SUP National Championships, earning Gold in the Women’s Masters 100 meter Sprint.
When she’s not working, Karen reflects on her life with gratitude: “I feel like I am on vacation, it sometimes feels surreal.” And as the sun rises over the Atlantic and she paddles into another brilliant morning, it’s clear she’s exactly where she’s meant to be.
@karensfavorites
