Coastal Health & Fitness, Karen’s Favorites, and Sound View Life

Coastal Health & Fitness

[00:00:00] Welcome to Topsail Insider, where you can hear all about the businesses and events in the beautiful coastal towns in the greater Topsail area of North Carolina. 

Coming up, it's time to get inspired with today's guest, Karen Redmond. She's an osteopathic therapist Nutritionist and competitive athlete who spent decades helping clients recover, perform better, and take control of their well being for life. . Plus, we're diving into paddleboarding, home design, and more.

Today on Topsall Insider.

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Hello, Insiders. My name is Christa and I am your co-host today because I'm being joined at the mic by Eden Mills. Eden is an artist out of Burgaw and she also works with Pender County Tourism and she co-hosts another podcast called Pender County [00:02:00] Connect. You should definitely check that out. You can learn more about Eden and all of our new hosts at topsailinsider.com. Go to the Topsail Insider podcast show and click on about and everybody's pictures and bios are listed there. Welcome Eden. Thank you so much for joining Topsail Insider. I'm super happy to have you as a host. 

Thank you, Christa. Excited to be a new host on this podcast. Our guest today is Karen Redmond.

She is an osteopathic therapist, a nutritionist, and the owner of Coastal Health and Fitness. She's also a home designer, is a competitive SUP enthusiast, and we have a lot to cover with everything that she does today . So welcome, Karen, and thank you for joining us. Thank you so much for having me today.

Before we dive in, I want you to just give us a quick overview of your business, coastal health and fitness, and then maybe explain a little bit about what an osteopathic therapist does and how your approach might be different from that of a physical therapist. Thank you. 

Thank you. So I do get that often, a lot of questions.

What is it [00:03:00] exactly that you do? So I practice osteopathic therapy, corrective exercise, and holistic health and nutrition consulting. So with osteopathic therapy, I work with people who have any type of injury, from a concussion to a knee issue. back issues. People that come to me typically are anywhere from a regular person with an injury to an elite athlete.

So I'll work with them on the specific injury component and then put together a program that periodizes corrective exercises, therapeutic exercises, and looks at integrating functional movement analysis, what they do in their home and life and sport, and then take a look at the nutritional components and lifestyle factors that influence not only the rehab, but their goals to get back to their activities or improve [00:04:00] their sports performance and daily life.

So you have an extensive education. We'd love to hear more about the degrees that you hold and what led you to choose osteopathic therapy. 

So my undergraduate was from Michigan State University and I had a generalized bachelor's degree in English. After that, I decided that I wanted to Get into health and fitness and looked into personal training.

So I received the personal training certification for the Cooper Institute of aerobics research in Dallas, 

And after that, I moved to the Northern Virginia area outside D. C. and I worked as a personal trainer there and went to graduate school at Marymount University. I received my master's degree of science from Marymount University in 1997. After that, I got married and my husband and I relocated back to the Chicago area, which is where I grew up and worked at a personal [00:05:00] training studio and started studying with Paul Chek.

Paul Chek founded the CHEK program, which is an acronym for Corrective High-performance Exercise Kinesiologist. so through the CHEK program, there are four different levels and then a master practitioner. I went through all four levels, became a master practitioner. and started teaching, not just around the U.

S., but also internationally. And in the CHEK program, I had the opportunity to work with some of the top physical therapists, Diane Lee, Andre Vlieming, Don Tigney, the top teaching physical therapists in the world. And I learned some of their therapeutic techniques as well as corrective exercise. How long did it take you to go through that program?

So the Chek program I started in 1998 and I finished my thesis. 

And my son was born in [00:06:00] 2003, so it took me about five years for that program. You owned a clinic 

there in Chicago, was that during that whole time or was it after you received that training? 

 I graduated in 1997 and moved to the Chicago area and I worked at a general personal training studio .

I was about halfway through the CHEK program and in 1999, I opened up my own clinic. , so I was still finishing my CHEK training and certification and I opened up my own clinic and I had eight other practitioners working with me, a massage therapist and a chiropractor. So that started in 1999 and then I continued my education to complete the Master CHEK Practitioner program.

You mentioned a concierge type of service that you were providing. 

first I started in a generalized health club setting.

Then I was working at a personal training studio after being in that about 18 months. I realized that working in a very loud gym, [00:07:00] with music, didn't offer the type of privacy that my clients wanted. What they needed is an assessment room for treatment and evaluation, and if I'm instructing someone whether they're, in acute pain with a serious injury or it's a high level athlete, having a type of atmosphere where you have to wait for equipment and there's loud music really just wasn't conducive to the type of service I was providing.

So at that point, there was one other person and we decided to open up our own place.

The concierge part is when someone would come to me and whether again they were an athlete, a general person with fitness and health goals, weight loss, an elite athlete or someone in acute pain, I would do whatever therapeutic. Modalities were necessary, the treatments. I would work with them on the exercises, stretches, [00:08:00] Aldoas, 

Nutrition consulting. And inevitably, there's a whole lot of information because it's not just come in and do three things. I'm giving them things that are making a change to their whole lifestyle, whether it's how they sit at their desk and computer, or whatever. what they're eating, how to shop, so that it's just a lot of information at one time.

So with that, they don't have to wait to the next appointment if they have a question. So I send them away, I give them their program, we've gone over it, they go home to work on it for a week, let's say, to the next appointment. And they're in the middle of a stretch or an exercise and they forget they took notes.

I wrote notes, but they aren't sure they're doing it correctly. And let's say they're in acute pain. they're a little bit scared because they want to make sure they're doing it correctly and not hurting themselves more. Yeah. Exactly. So they don't have to wait the next week, like in a typical traditional chiropractic or physical therapy setting, you may [00:09:00] not be seeing, with a chiropractor, you probably see the same person, but you may not be seeing the same person again, and you have to wait till your next appointment.

if that person has a question, especially in the initial, getting to understand the program and what they should be doing, they can email, call, text me. Anytime. Anytime. reasonably. I turn off 9pm. But, yes, exactly, within reason, because That is what the difference is. It's about having a continuity of care where they're not going to have to wait to the next appointment to get their question answered.

A lot of times people might have anxiety and they, my rate was more than a regular personal trainer. So what do you get for that? it's like a concierge practice. They're at Whole Foods and they're like, Oh, Karen, you told me about this organic turkey bacon. And they snap me a picture or is this what I'm supposed to be eating?

And they'll snap a picture of their meal. And in [00:10:00] 30 seconds, I can respond back, which is. really great because texting didn't really come into fashion or really be available even with the emailing till much later after 1999. And when my son was born in 2003 and I continued to work full time, I only took six weeks off and I needed a way to retain those clients and help them, and yet still be a mom.

And it's quite challenging, but when we were able to text, I was able to respond and not have it be obtrusive to my family life and give them a quick answer. Where there are 

often 

times 

where you're like, you can't have that. 

oh yes. Put that back on the shelf. Let's try again. no, yeah, exactly. That did happen sometimes, but people get excited in the beginning.

And when I am giving them a major lifestyle overhaul on what they need to do, because this is about the [00:11:00] long term change. It's not a short term fix. It's not go to PT for six weeks, because guess what? When you get out of PT, they will even tell you what happens next. PT is this linear model, which is the traditional way of doing therapy, but they're just because the pain is gone, doesn't mean, They're better enough to return safely to their activities or their sport without getting re injured because the incidence of re occurrence and re injury is actually pretty high.

Really? It is, but it's not. 

It's been weakened, like whatever was injured is now a weakened area of the body that you would have to continuously like maybe forever be careful with? 

It could be, but the physical therapist by nature of the way is their model is set and because of insurance, they're limited in what they can do, right?

And so you get the prescription you go for six or eight weeks. You may be able to extend it But that's pretty much it and so [00:12:00] the most therapists are also not trained in the next stage of exercises.

So okay, you've got your therapeutic floor-based exercises or some upright exercises. what's next? Where does the transitional part come in and how do you return an athlete? To be able to do explosive plyometric exercises. Like I had a lot of D1 athletes, like soccer players and super high level ice skaters.

Yeah, this was in Chicago. Yep. And I still travel back and forth and see those clients as well as working remotely. So that's where that, came from as far as being able to answer the questions that they have in the moment. And when you do that, you will get compliance because they know that you're there to support them and they're in it and they'll see the progress.

And it also makes the recovery or the goals achieved. happen much faster. Yeah. Because [00:13:00] there's no lag of a week to a week. It's okay, great. Here's how you progress it. 

So Kari, your dad was a big part of your career choice. Is that right? 

Yes. now that I think about it, I'm 56 years old.

And at the time I probably wasn't thinking he was an influence, but when I look at where I am right now and what I've done with health and fitness and advanced education, several things come to mind with my dad who he, passed away this past July. So I've had a, lot of time to think about his influence in my life and you just reflect in times like that.

Sorry about that. Oh, thank you. but, growing up, my dad was. Very passionate about education. So he had, two master's degrees and was close to completing a PhD and he was a man of science. So he had over a hundred patents 

And back then, UIC wasn't on its main campus, it was actually at Navy Pier, and the gym was there. [00:14:00] literally at the end point of Navy Pier looking out onto the lake. And so he was there, he was very successful, he lettered, and then he got a full ride scholarship to Michigan State University for gymnastics.

And during that time, The men's gymnastics team won the NCAA championship. He took second in all around and first place on pommel horse. Nice. That's awesome. So he had very bright mind, very smart man. and an excellent athlete. 

So of course I was a gymnast. I started as a gymnast and then I was a diver and then I did track. And then I moved on to tennis. I did a lot of sports and he was very passionate about encouraging my sister and I to. 

The discipline that it takes to get to that level that he was at, and the mind as well.

It sounds like he [00:15:00] was just really not just playing football. athletic and brilliant, but he had a certain, he had to have a certain level of discipline to achieve, to have those achievements. I believe that you do too. Okay. Just from the pre interview and what I, the little bit I do know about you so far, it sounds like you were extremely disciplined.

Did you get that from him or was your, how was your mom? Was she the same way? Not at all. 

so yes. And it's interesting that you said that because when people read the obituary that I wrote for my father and There wasn't really a formal memorial service. It was just private with family actually, a week ago in Chicago.

 And so when I wrote the obituary and then my friends that know me read it, they said exactly what you said. You are like your dad. So yes, I'm driven, type A passionate, about my business and helping my clients.

furthering research to get the best information I can to my clients, my own personal motivation. I was a competitive runner, after [00:16:00] college and now I am a competitive SUP stand up paddle boarder for the last two years. and I've been traveling around the southeast with my husband and competing in major races and at 56 even winning some of the races overall.

That's incredible. 

Tell us what brought you to the Topsail area. How did you end up here? 

So in 2020, During the pandemic, it affected our business. We were in Northbrook, living in Northbrook, Illinois, and my business was in Northbrook, Illinois, which is part of Cook County. And we were really very much affected more than other parts of the country, not by the people getting sick, but as far as What we were allowed to do and not do.

And I just said, you know what? I want to move somewhere that we can live year round and have a good quality of life. My husband's from Charlotte. He's one of seven children and [00:17:00] we have a lot of sisters and brother in laws in the area. And I really thought the Wilmington area would be great. So we started looking at property in the area August of 2020 and came down in September of 2020 and bought a lot.

You knew about Topsail because he was from Charlotte and already, knew about the area? 

interestingly enough, we had both been to Topsail a couple of times. Our brother in law's family, built a home on Topsail, oh, I think in the late seventies or early eighties. And so I had only been once.

I didn't even really remember Topsail, but I just thought Wilmington area. So we started researching what waterfront lots would be available. And someone said, you should look at Hampstead. And then we were both like, we've been to Topsail and he had been there more than I had been. And interestingly enough, he had played in a couple of golf tournaments.

At the Belvedere Plantation, which is the golf course right across from our house. So it's just such a small world. So we were lucky to find [00:18:00] a nice size lot directly on the intercoastal. We put a bid down in November, closed on it of 2020, and made a two year exit plan out of the Chicago area. To move our businesses down here and find a builder, build a home.

So I have a question. How do you keep your discipline and motivation? We talked about that earlier on days that you don't feel like getting up or you don't have that energy to keep on going. 

That's a really good question, but I have to say, I don't ever feel like that. I am just wired. I get up at sunrise, And if the sun is coming up later, like now, I will, I like to start exercising at sunrise. It's also hard to exercise in the dark and actually not the best because your circadian rhythms all in your body's functions, your hormones, your energy, all work around sunrise and sunset.

So it's easier to get up and exercise at [00:19:00] sunrise. And I also like to stay in the same schedule. So I'm usually up between 5 and 5 30. So I exercise before clients always. so I get my training workout in, whether it's paddle boarding, running, lifting weights, stretching. And then I start seeing clients.

Do your clients help motivate you as well having to guide them with their athleticism or whatever they're going through? Does that help you mentally? 

It's definitely, a checks and balances system, but more the other way. My clients are motivated to see me and I motivate them because I am trying to set the example.

So Paul Chek a long time ago had a saying, wear it before you share it. So if you're giving nutritional advice, and you're showing ab exercises and you yourself are not walking the walk and talking the talk and you do not have a clean diet and you are not exercising and you are not doing cardio and you aren't very fit, then what kind of [00:20:00] example and why should someone want to come to you when you're not doing it.

So I do it really more honestly for myself. I love it. I do love to exercise. I can tell. I'm passionate about it. 

Moving here, how difficult has it been for you to bring your practice here and get the new clients here? 

So it actually has been more challenging than I thought it was going to be.

what I do is very unique in the Chicago area, even in the Midwest, there was nobody had the credentials or did the type of work that I did. So when I moved down here, I knew my plan would be to continue to work virtually. So I do work virtually with Probably 80 percent of my clients, so I have it set up, either with FaceTime or with Zoom.

And we do, everything from nutritional and lifestyle coaching, which that's easy to do remotely. But I developed a therapeutic techniques to work [00:21:00] virtually with people, even rehabbing one of my clients post knee replacement virtually. And then I travel back to Chicago several times a year and I sublet space.

And so then I see the Chicago area clients in person. 

If people are looking for an osteopathic therapist, how do they get in touch with you? How do they see the services that you offer?

usually it's been mostly word of mouth or actually more recently on Instagram because Some of the people that follow me on Instagram and some of the things I post, one guy stopped me in Lowe's a couple of weeks ago and he said, Hey, Karen Redmond. And I thinking, okay, how many people here know my name right in the middle of Lowe's?

And he says, you stand at paddle board. So I know, you never know, right? But I have a phone conversation with all clients first, usually 15 to 20 minutes. We talk about. what their goals are, what I can do to offer them, whether it's the nutritional, well, there's always a nutritional aspect, but what I can [00:22:00] do therapeutically, how it differs from physical therapy or chiropractic, what they can expect, what I expect of them as far as it's not just a model of you come, I treat you, you leave.

It is, you have things to do on your own because I teach people how to get themselves out of their pain. I teach them how to be able to have a healthy lifestyle. So it's getting them on board and getting them passionate about it so that they will get the results that they want. So it's on them. It's not just Me or someone doing it for them.

It's about them taking ownership and responsibility in wanting to get better or achieve a healthier lifestyle Better at their sport, whatever their goals may be. 

Karen Can you tell us about the space that you treat your clients at? 

 thanks to my husband, we are finishing building out. So the ground level [00:23:00] of the house. It's actually almost a thousand square feet, which is a pretty large space. So it's on the ground level on the other side of the garage. So you can enter under the stairs or along the back patio, and it has a view of the intercoastal.

So it has a treatment area. So I have my, treatment table, which is like a physical therapy, electronic treatment table. And then I brought my gym equipment. Chicago area town. So I have that. So there's a gym space with the dumbbells and elliptical, a spin bike, barbells, wobble boards, all the fun exercise and fitness toys, a cable stack, pulley machine.

And then I have the treatment area. there's a beautiful view. So yeah, no kidding So you get the view while you work hard or are being treated. So that's really nice and It is a one stop shop. So I might be treating you on the table and then i'll be like, [00:24:00] okay, let's come over and stretch.

get off the table. We go to the rubber man on the floor and we stretch or we're in the gym and we're working on something related to a sport or they're doing an exercise. And I see that their shoulders are not moving properly. And I see something. And instead of just finishing the exercise, we go, okay, back on the table, I'm going to release that.

They get up. And all of a sudden it's different. So it's, back and forth , but in a very fluid way where I'm not really limited in what I can treat with people. So it's whatever the person has that day, we will treat it the way it needs to get treated. It might just be a whole exercise session or we can exercise outside.

I had a group of ladies that I have worked with several times. There are five of them. And our warm up is down and back on the dock, so it's 600 feet long, 0. 12 of a mile down and back, so almost a quarter of a mile. Beautiful. We walk outside, we do our [00:25:00] warmup, and then there's a back patio off the gym, a really large patio, and we did our whole exercise session outside looking at the water.

That sounds amazing. 

Does osteopathic therapy also include nerves as well, like healing any type of nerve damage? Yeah, so that's a 

really good question. When I'm speaking about osteopathic therapy, so in the U. S. right now, you have physical therapy and you have chiropractic. Those are, and you massage, different modalities of massage therapy.

Those are the basic therapeutic techniques. So I'm trained in traditional osteopathy out of Europe. 

 through Dr. Voyer's soma therapy or osteopathy program, which is, the original or European, now European based, which is more like physical therapy, except there are way more treatment techniques. So I can treat any type of nerve issue. So whether there's [00:26:00] nerve damage from a disc or an entrapment, Any type of myofascial muscle tear.

I treat concussions. I treat people with chronic illnesses. Pretty much anything to do with the human body that would not need either, surgery or drug intervention. I can treat So

Karen, outside of your work, you're still highly focused on nutrition and health. Can you give us some of your insight about your, about Karen's Favorites and some of your socials and how people can find you online? Sure. 

so I started karensfavorites. com and my Instagram accounts. Oh, the first one over 10 years ago because my clients, wanted support for nutrition.

So I'd say to them, okay, you need to eat clean. Let's go on an anti inflammatory diet because [00:27:00] you have a chronic illness or you're in acute pain. What is an anti inflammatory diet? Okay. That's no grains, no sugar, no dairy, no alcohol. what do I eat? Meat and vegetables and fruit. Okay. And so if I wanted to get compliance and I wanted them to have success, I needed to give them support.

So for years, my clients have been going to these nutritionists and they'd be like these robots and say, take these supplements, eat this, don't eat that. you know what? People don't know how to cook. People don't know how to prepare foods. People don't know how to shop. People don't know what spices to have.

People's kitchens are not organized to cook. So you give them a recipe and it's stress. And if it's stress, they're not going to do it. And you know what else? I was raising two young kids with my husband. And my whole family ate the same thing. So I figured out a way to help them by doing menu planning.

So doing menu planning, starting on Sunday, going grocery shopping, planning for the week with [00:28:00] meals that everyone in the family will eat that are healthy and setting them up for success. You have to set them up. That's why. People go off the wagon on their diets. That's why people fluctuate because no one sits down and helps them with a formula.

And so Karen's Favorites started and they, I started sharing recipes with my clients and they're like, Oh, the one pan meal Hoppin John, which is a basically ground beef and vegetables and you can serve it over rice or anything else healthy. And it's super easy to make. You don't need a lot of ingredients and it's a one pan meal.

So one pan in the meal. Everyone loves it. So I started sending them out the recipes. Like you have to put it somewhere. So I started putting all my recipes on karensfavorites. com. So they're all gluten free. Some of them have dairy, they are all healthy. And not only that, they're easy to prepare and they're delicious because not only do I share my recipes, I'm really big into [00:29:00] the health and the flavor profile and how it tastes.

So the recipes, are really delicious tasting. They are not, oh, this is a awful healthy meal. The kids eat it. So I started putting them on Karen's Favorites and then they wanted me to talk more about, okay, what products do I use? If you're going to prep this meal and you don't have a good knife, that makes it challenging.

okay, here are the good knives. Okay, this is the best cutting board. These are the type of spices. So I basically try to simplify and provide information on products and recipes through Karen's Favorites, and then started sharing that more, then the Instagram account evolved after that. That's 

nice. Is that like an Amazon list?

some of the things are on Amazon, but my main platform for products, it's called to Know It. And so you can follow me at Karen's favorites on to know it. And I have two sections, one, or I have a bunch of sections. Some of it is home [00:30:00] design and decor, but then everything from what are the cleanest cleaning products, not just what cleans well, what are non toxic cleaning products.

So I have been promoting non toxic cleaning products. Cleaning and beauty products for 25 years before it was all out there when there were only a few options, limiting plastics, supporting hormone health for not just, adults, but for kids and families. So unlike to know it, I have different sections where I post the products and not only are they clean products or a really good knife, these are things And that's part of my research from graduate school.

I've thoroughly researched before I even buy and try a product, researched it through different modalities and a different rigor that a typical person might research. It'll take me probably an hour or two to research one thing, then I try it. And it has to meet, my clients call it [00:31:00] Karen approved. This is Karen approved.

Literally. And they're not, it's not an exaggeration. It's not a joke. It's for real. Is it Karen approved? Meaning, would it meet the health background that I want it to? And does it, is it a good product? Is it really a very good product? Whether it's a knife or a spice or a vacuum because the vacuum doesn't, I don't know.

Push into the exhaust everything else, because of the HEPA filter. So those are things that my clients have come to value. And so I've put that all together in a platform that people can just click through. Click a link and go straight to that product. straight to the product. And the other thing that I've done, which takes a little more time.

is there might be several places you can buy a product and I put the best price. So I research out where you're going to get the best deal on the global knife. Nice. Where are you going to get to the best deal on the [00:32:00] vacuum? There's a vacuum for your mattress and your upholstery. You can't believe what comes up and it's got a UVC light.

That's awesome. 

I love that. And you've been doing it since before it was a thing, because, before we have all of the, affiliate links that we have today, it's really promoted heavily with influencers and stuff online, but you were doing it a long time ago. I 

was doing it a long time ago, but it was in this disjointed, links.

And so now it's much easier with the Like2Note platform because you can just go to cleaning and you see the picture of the product. And I can put a little note in there about why I recommend it. That's awesome. 

Yeah. Also, on your socials and on the website, you're posting a lot of your adventures on the paddle board, which I find completely inspiring.

I'm assuming you picked that up once you moved here, or were you already doing that in Chicago? 

A little bit of both. So I was a competitive runner. For many years doing half marathons and below. And I actually organized a group of [00:33:00] women to do the Ragnar relay, which was a 200 mile race from Madison, Wisconsin to Chicago.

And we did it as a women's ultra team. So normally Ragnar has 12 people. This was six people for 200 miles. And so we go one, two, three, four, five, six, and we'd each have anywhere between three and eight miles. And we won the women's open category for that race. What age did you start doing that? I started running, I got more into running literally right after college.

I was running, but, the women's ultra, this was, in the 2012 Ragnar. So I was a competitive runner. And when we bought our lot and knew we were going to live on the water, I thought, I really want to stand up paddle board, but I'd only done rec boards. So that's when I met. We met Jared at Wrightsville Sup

, we bought the lot in 2020. And in 2021, I started a few paddleboard lessons with Jared on a rec board. And then got a rec board and was paddling in Lake [00:34:00] Michigan and Chicago, which was Actually, it's more like an ocean. I don't know if you're familiar with Lake Michigan, but it can be.

 It's surprisingly like an ocean. It's huge. there's 

no tide, but the wind and the waves and it can get super rough. And of course there's a very small paddling season. And then when we moved here in 2022, and I kept working with my coach, Jared, he's the one that's helped me so much. I just, that 10 foot 6 31 inch rec board does not cut it on the intercoastal.

I was so slow and then working against the tide. So now you not only have current and boats, you have. The resistance going against the tide, which most people don't realize if they're in a lake, you don't have the resistance to the tide. The tide could be pushing you back two miles an hour. So you're literally, when you're going with the tide, it's yeehaw, it's fun.

I've seen people not expecting to meet that and really fighting hard against it and, and ultimately. Well, and it's dangerous. People have to [00:35:00] be picked up. Yeah. You 

have to be, I'm crazy with all my gear, so Jared taught me all about, respecting and understanding,full moon, new moon, looking at the tide swing with my apps, looking at the wind, looking at the current, the inlets, and I continue to take more lessons from him.

And then. Yeah. Yeah. I had to graduate to what I call the big girl board, so I went from the 10 foot 6, 31 inch wide rec board to a 14 feet long, carbon fiber, 23 inch, very narrow board, race board, a little over two years ago. And then I decided I want to start racing. So I started competing and racing.

Where are some of the locations that you've competed 

so locally, I've competed in Surf City, and at Carolina Cup, which is in Wrightsville Beach. I do a lot of races on Lake Wylie. So that is near Charlotte, North Carolina. Huh? I've been down to Hilton Head, I've been to Florida, [00:36:00] been to Savannah area.

So pretty much You just travel all over. I, it's wherever I, my husband's really, he's just so supportive. I love it. He just, we put the board on the car and we just drive. 

It works really well. And I just have now, I can just drop right in. After the first year of paddling and I continued to work with my coach and got really serious on my technique.

In two years, I took. Over 14 minutes off my 5k time. 

. 

And then I moved up to the 10k distance this year, after only racing 2 years, and won a race, Lake Hartwell, which is in Clemson. I won a, 6 mile race there, overall for women. That was my second race. I saw that picture online, actually.

That was awesome. It was real and it was crazy because it started at 10 a. m. And I'm like who starts a race at 10 a. m. in the summer and it was like 90 degrees and you're sweating and you're hot 

but yeah, it was a great 

race. what do you do now during this cold weather? Are you still on holiday?

You're not still getting out there, are you? 

Yeah, I'm trying to get out as much as possible. [00:37:00] So I look at the wind as the big thing. I typically don't go out if it's colder than 45 degrees, but if it's 45 degrees and no wind, I'll get out. I've got neoprene booties. So my feet sit in the water on the board and the water now I think is 56 degrees.

You're not 

wearing a wetsuit? No. 

I don't plan on falling in. You're brave. Last week I was out in my bikini and my booties on my paddleboard. That's impressive. I said, don't put the bikini away yet, even though it's December. the next couple of weeks when it's really cold, so now I'm back to more running.

and more strength training in the off season to build strength and keep my, max VO2 endurance up. So the running really helps with that a lot.

So you also have a passion for home design and decor and provide inspiration and shopping online. So can you tell us a little bit about [00:38:00] your home decor and home design and your Instagram that you started ? 

Sure. In 2020, we bought our lot and I had already been progressing with Karen's favorites, my business side on Instagram.

And I thought, Hey, we had already built a custom home in Northbrook, a beautiful custom home where I designed the entire interior of the home, all the hard finishes, all the soft finishes, everything. It was a French country reproduction house. And When we went to sell it 17 years later after we built it, it was not dated at all.

So the kitchen, the bathrooms, everything that I'd selected that people thought I was crazy. Why are you putting in marble countertops? because marble's French and marble's beautiful and I don't like granite. 

So you were designing ahead of your time. I was and 

back then there was no Pinterest. I had folders when I sat down with the architect and I had torn out of traditional home and [00:39:00] architectural digest.

So when we sold the house and people and realtors and everyone came through in us. looking at this saying, your house is beautiful.

17 years old. We don't need to renovate anything. It's not dated. . And when that happened, I knew I would be able to do the same thing building our home now, as far as picking out the interior soft and hard finishes. And I thought, I should do a house account. Why not do a house account and talk about not just the interior finishes, but what it takes to build a house that is hurricane proof.

Everything from the windows to the piling foundation is built to withstand hurricane category four. What does that look like? The permit process, the LVLs, the structural engineer, the dock that had to be approved by CAMA that's over 600 feet long. So put together an Instagram account and started to work on collaborating.

before [00:40:00] we had even moved, 

What if you could have the opportunity to work with someone that is , is a regular person, not a chef, creating recipes and creating a functional kitchen and showcasing how to use these appliances. A week after I emailed the president of Sub Zero Wolf, I got a call on my caller ID, it says Sub Zero Wolf is calling me and I was like, what?

And so I did work with the people in the Chicago showroom and the merchandise So I had the opportunity to build a second, a second functional kitchen with not just fabulous products, but everything from the layout of why I say you need a spice drawer to, I collaborated with the Larchwood butcher black top, out of Canada.

It is a renewable wood and it is the most fabulous wood. They make little small butcher blocks or cutting boards you can purchase as well, and it's beautiful and it doesn't show knife marks. And so [00:41:00] every aspect of the kitchen and then the rest of the house, I thought I should, you know, I should, Put this together and showcase and make the ideas and, design inspiration available to other people.

What did that partnership look like? Did they give you free range and 

Oh, you mean Sub Zero? Yes. No, we got a discount. Okay, we did get a discount. It wasn't free, but you know, we'll take a discount. 

I thought you were going to say the next week they showed up, one just showed up at our door and delivered them.

I gotta start making some phone calls. Not quite like that, but it was also challenging building at that time because the time we ordered our appliances everything during COVID, it was taking a year to get a refrigerator. yeah. But I am such this meticulous planner that I had factored in, I call it fudge time, right?

So I'm like, okay, if I need it here, I'm going to try to get it sooner. So I had already, acquired almost all the light fixtures, most of the tile, [00:42:00] before, some of it before we even broke ground. Oh, wow. Okay. Oh, wow. Which also enabled me to, as I found things, I had researched, I'm big on finding the best price on nice items.

So whether it's, The Global Knives that I love, or the Visual Comfort Light Fixture. It was able to give me time to source, finding really good discounts, even on some of the more luxury products. So those are some of the things that I like to be able to share with people. If I put together a link is.

You could get this for 100 or every other website is 298. And so here's where you can find it if you like it using, and that's all from my research in grad school. So when I had to do research for all the papers and Things that I was writing in grad school that was still back in the microfiche and go to the stacks and copy Articles there.

Yeah, we were still in a 18 8 dial up modem, which You got bumped off before you could even pull up a piece of [00:43:00] research So it was just and in virginia where we were in they had medline, which was you could coordinate with all you know, johns hopkins georgetown gw american university merrimont university All these amazing catholic university George Mason, all these universities that would collaborate all their data and they would, I would just order it and that's how I started to learn, and then once the internet came, how to research things.

So whether it's, the best oven and why, or the review on the product, or the knife, or any, anything that I'm doing, or the best price. figuring out how I can get the best price on something like our counter stools I saw at Pottery Barn. But I researched and found they were manufactured by Hooker Furniture in North Carolina and found them for 60 percent less than the Pottery Barn price for the same piece.

So a lot of what you do is research as well. Yes. 

All right, if I need to,get some new furniture, I'm gonna just call you. Please [00:44:00] help me find this. I'm happy 

to do it.

So Karen, can you tell us about your future plans with Coastal Health and Fitness, your paddleboarding, and your home design, Instagram, social media, and what you plan on doing in the future with all of those? 

So for Coastal Health and Fitness, I would like to continue to grow my client base here locally, working with anyone from an individual post surgery or I've had the opportunity to prevent many people from having surgery, helping them with nutrition, helping athletes, anyone in the area.

As far as stand up paddle boarding, I of course already have my list of races for the year. , there are some very fit competitive women out there paddleboarding, but I've done so well with my times in my training with my coach that. I plan on going to Detroit to compete in the national stand up [00:45:00] paddleboarding race.

so that will be in July this year and then several other races, across the Southeast. Mostly, I think I'll be sticking to the 10k distance, maybe slightly longer. Who knows, maybe, you know, if I can get a sponsor, go over to Dubai for the World Championship, which would be in November,that's a little bit of a reach.

Not that I could definitely be there and compete, but getting over to Dubai with a paddle board. the logistics take a little bit. 

If anyone can figure it out, Karen, it's you.I can't wait to follow along on your, on your socials and see your winning photos. that's what I want to see.

Thank you. What about the home design? Are you, what do you have any future plans with that? Do you ever consider doing a brick and mortar for that? 

it's interesting. I developed my own, our home that we did in Northbrook was, custom French country. The home here is, I call it coastal luxe.

It's not a beach house. [00:46:00] it's not just a coastal home. It's a hybrid of some modern finishes with Timeless Underpinnings. I created that in my head as I was looking to build. There was nobody that was really building a house or designing it of what I had envisioned. So that might be something, that I would think about doing that.

One of the things that my husband and I have been doing together is I really like Faux Bamboo, Regency, Mid Century Modern, Henry, Lincoln, Thomasville Furniture. So it doesn't look like your typical mid century modern furniture, and it has a coastal vibe to it, and there's all these pieces floating around, a lot of them, all over the Carolinas and in Georgia.

So over the last two years, my husband has gone around and picked up a bunch of pieces, which he is actually very handy. He'll be refinishing it. So we'll be doing some refinishing of vintage pieces to put in our own [00:47:00] home, and then we'll be eventually selling some of those pieces with, uh, taking that older looking, it's got like this kind of dingy yellow green color, and the, what we'll be doing is putting a high lacquer.

finish paint on it, and then restoring the, hardware to the original brass finish. So that's some of the things that we'll be doing. we still have landscaping, so a lot of projects I'll be talking about inside the house. And you 

document all of this on your Instagram, right? Yes, so on 

Soundview Life on Instagram is where I post everything, and then also links to products, that I'm using in the house or decor pieces are also on to Know It.

Okay, before we wrap this up, what is one thing you want to leave our listeners with today? What's that 

one thing, Karen? What's that one thing? 

One thing. one of my taglines early on when I was trying to put things out to people would say to me, what's your goal? my first goal personally is I want to [00:48:00] inspire others to be healthy and I want it to be a long term life changing commitment, not a short term diet, not a fad.

You are no short term fixes for anything. It's a lifetime commitment in changing and it's important to prioritize your health. 

 So our time is up here today. If you don't mind, if you could just give out your contact information again for us, the main places that we can go and find you.

Sure. So the easiest way if you want to contact me directly would be to email me at karenmredmond@mac.com. You can also find me on Instagram at Karen's Favorites, as well as at Soundview Live for the home account. and there are links to each of those. My website is campsitebio/KarensFavorites and those are all my website information are on my [00:49:00] Instagram accounts.

I'm also on Facebook @KarensFavorites and @SoundviewLife. You can always message me through Instagram, you can message me through Facebook. I try to make it easy to find me . I do check then and I will respond back. 

And also, listeners, you know that you can go and check out our show notes.

That's where you will have those, all of her links to her website and her socials and there will be click and go links there for you. So I just want to say thank you to our listeners. Thank you, 

Karen. 

. And also, thank you, Eden, for joining as a host. And again, Karen, thank you for coming here and sharing all the information with us today.

We really appreciate it. 

And thank you, Christa. Oh, 

my pleasure. Always. 

 Hey, if you enjoyed today's episode of Topsail Insider, please show your support by clicking the follow or subscribe button on your favorite podcast listening platform. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. [00:50:00] Please also go to topsailinsider.com and join our mailing list by clicking on the make me a Topsail Insider button.

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