A Second Chance

Woodworth, an outside sales rep for Distribution International, had made this trip before. In 2021, she traveled to England with her father, Jack Woodworth, prepared to attempt the Channel crossing. They stayed for 17 days. The weather never gave her a safe window to swim. 

"He had never been to London before," Woodworth, 41, said. "So we spent 17 days enjoying vacation. When she returned five years later, conditions worked in her favor. Woodworth woke before dawn to clear skies and calm conditions."

After roughly a 40-minute boat ride toward the starting point near the cliffs of Dover, the moment she had been waiting years for finally arrived. 

"I was kind of nervous but excited at the same time because I was actually getting the chance to swim," she said. 

Once she entered the water, the nerves disappeared. 

"I finally get this chance to actually do it," Woodworth recalled. "There was no quitting. There's no stopping. I was gonna finish. This is my chance."

Woodworth had spent years preparing for that moment. A former Division I swimmer at New Mexico State University, she stepped away from serious swimming after college but eventually met a group of open-water swimmers. Her swim pod includes open-water swimmers and people who compete in ice-swimming events. 

Being around athletes chasing unusual endurance goals prompted Woodworth to pick one of her own: swimming's Triple Crown: the English Channel, a swim around Manhattan and the Catalina Channel, which is the body of water that separates Santa Catalina Island from the Southern California mainland. Woodworth completed the Manhattan swim last year, leaving the English Channel and the Catalina Channel between her and the Triple Crown.

Longtime swimming friend Scott Lautman, an experienced marathon swimmer, helped guide her training. Fitting that training around a full-time sales career meant starting early. Woodworth typically woke between 4 and 4:30 a.m. for one- or two-hour swims before work. Weekend sessions sometimes stretched three or four hours. 

"I made it part of my day," she said. "Getting up and swimming in the morning, it's kind of like that wake-up of, 'I'm gonna have a great day.'"

Cold-water training was another requirement. Woodworth, who lives in Bellevue, Wash., trained in Alki Point, Lake Washington, and other cold-water locations around the Seattle area. For her qualifying swim, Woodworth spent six hours in water ranging from roughly 55°F to 60°F. She originally intended to swim completely around Mercer Island, but after six hours, she still had about 45 minutes remaining. She decided the qualification was enough. 

"I was like, I'm out. I'm cold. I need to warm up."

Don't Watch the Clock 

The English Channel offered warmer water. Captains Harry Mardel and his father, Fred Mardel, recorded temperatures ranging from 66°F to 70°F during Woodworth's crossing. Her sister, Emily, joined the support crew aboard the boat, along with an official observer. 

Woodworth had prepared physically for the distance. Once underway, however, much of the challenge became mental. She made one rule for herself: Don't ask what time it is. 

During feeds, Woodworth took in hot tea, energy and electrolyte products, and protein drinks to keep fueled during the crossing. She communicated with her sister and the boat crew, but she refused to ask how many hours she had been swimming

"I knew that would make it shorter or longer," she said. "That would change my mindset."

Instead, Woodworth paid attention to whatever appeared around her. About five and a half hours into the crossing, she noticed her sister and the captain pointing toward the water. She heard chirping below the surface. Dolphins. 

"They came within probably eight feet of me, which was pretty amazing," she said. 

Her sister managed to capture video as they swam nearby. 

"I thought about that for a while," Woodworth said. "When am I gonna see dolphins again?" 

There were other distractions. Woodworth watched container ships, cruise ships and French military vessels passing through the heavily traveled Channel. 

"Every time I passed a new ship, I was like, I wonder what kind of ship that is?" she said. 

She had been more concerned about jellyfish. Woodworth had heard stories of swimmers encountering large groups of them. She was stung several times, but the discomfort generally subsided within five or 10 minutes. 

Then, eventually, she saw France. 

Seeing land created a deceptive sense that the hardest part was finished. 

"As soon as I saw land, I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm almost there," Woodworth said. 

She still had roughly three hours to swim. Every time she looked toward shore, the distance seemed unchanged. Woodworth kept moving at what she calls her "forever speed."

She eventually came ashore near Cap Gris-Nez, the traditional landing point for an English Channel swim, where a local mayor helped direct her toward the landing point, and people nearby waved and congratulated her. 

Her final time: 10 hours, 50 minutes. 

"I wasn't really tired much at all," she said. "I was more excited."

Woodworth and her sister went to dinner, walked around, and stayed awake until midnight. 

The Long Game 

That ability to keep going when the destination still feels far away is familiar territory in Woodworth's professional life, too. She joined Distribution International about a year ago as an outside sales representative, working with project managers, engineers and developers across a large territory. Distribution International, a mechanical insulation distributor, was part of QXO’s TopBuild acquisition on July 1, 2026.

Her days are spent meeting with customers, checking on what's going right or wrong, and helping navigate issues as they arise. Woodworth sees parallels between those challenges and endurance swimming.

"I actually kind of think that it's a little similar," she said. "Most of the time it's your outlook and what you put your mind to, not necessarily the physicality of it, but what you want to do versus what you have to do or need to do."

Swimming, she said, provides the balance that makes the daily grind easier to sustain. If she has a difficult day at work, she often gets back into the water the next morning. 

Finishing the Channel hasn't made Woodworth eager to slow down. Only the Catalina Channel stands between her and swimming's Triple Crown. 

"It kind of makes me want to do more," she said.