From Minnesota to the Olympics: Doctor makes history for Mexico in skiing

NINA MOINI: Well, this week, Olympians from all over the world have been heading home and adjusting to life post-Italy. For one new Olympian, regular life includes treating patients as an emergency room doctor in Miami. This year, Regina Martínez Lorenzo became the first woman to compete for Mexico in Olympic cross-country skiing. She raced the 10k freestyle event, but she got her start with a sport here in Minnesota while she was going to medical school. Regina Martínez Lorenzo is on the line. Congratulations. Thank you so much for being on the show.

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be here and to have the chance to share my story.

NINA MOINI: Well, I have to say I'm reading these remarkable accomplishments, and I'm thinking, where does she find the time? But, no, this is an amazing contribution that you've made in your daily career and your life. And then skiing, though, I was shocked to find out that you got into skiing in your late 20s, and, just a few years later, were at the Olympics. That's amazing. How did you get hooked on the sport?

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: Well, I actually had a lot of friends that were doing cross-country skiing in Minnesota in medical school and dental school.

NINA MOINI: Sure.

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: And one of my bucket lists was to try to do the Birkie before I graduated and had to move away from Minnesota.

NINA MOINI: Aw.

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: And so that's how it started. And I loved it. Like, I'm really cold blooded and I hate being cold. And Minnesota is--

[LAUGHTER]

Well, you all know. You live in Minnesota.

NINA MOINI: Right.

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: So it gave me an opportunity to be able to be outside, be outdoors, enjoy nature, and have something different to focus on in the long winters. And that's what got me hooked.

NINA MOINI: Wow.

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: And then I realized that no Mexican woman had ever represented Mexico in this sport, so I'm like, four or five months of winter, I might as well try and see how far we can go.

NINA MOINI: That's amazing. Do you remember the moment when you were like, hey, I think I can make it to the Olympics?

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: I think it was actually my first-ever official FIS race, International Ski Federation race. It was at Theodore Wirth. And I had been training for the Birkie for about a month and a half. And it was mainly skating technique.

And then I did this race at Theodore Wirth. And I had only been classic-ing 10 days or so. And I got close to the threshold at that race despite not training so much with classic and despite a few falls.

And so that's when I was like, maybe if I don't fall. Maybe if I did this a little more often with the classic, I could actually make this work. So that was actually my first time was in Theodore Wirth.

NINA MOINI: Did you grow up playing a lot of sports? When you became an Olympic athlete, how did that feel?

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: Well, yeah. I grew up playing sports all my life. Soccer was my main sport since I was eight or so. And I always loved the idea of going to the Olympics. It's like the pinnacle of sport is to make it to the Olympics.

NINA MOINI: Yeah.

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: I just didn't really see it too much in soccer just for many reasons. But one of the reasons was I actually grew up moving a lot. And when I was in middle school and high school, I was living in Costa Rica and in Mexico at that time. And there wasn't a lot of women's competitive soccer league.

NINA MOINI: Sure.

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: So I never really saw it going that direction for soccer. But when I was able to cross the finish line at the Olympics, it was a dream come true. It's been a surreal journey. And, yeah, it's been amazing.

NINA MOINI: What was it like at the Olympics? What were some of your favorite moments?

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: My favorite moments, I think, was actually just being able to share the experience with a lot of my friends. Throughout the journey, I made friends from all over the world, including South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Taiwan, as well as, obviously, the more traditional ski nations. Like I'm friends with [INAUDIBLE].

And so it was really, really cool to be able to share the experience with all these friends from non-snow nations, especially because we struggled together and did a lot of the journey together. So I think that was definitely the best part.

NINA MOINI: That's so cool. How did it feel to represent Mexico?

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: Amazing. Amazing, really. It's a dream come true. It's an honor. It's a privilege. And, yeah, it's just incredible, especially being the first.

It's like a beautiful responsibility and had a little bit of pressure added to it. But I wouldn't change it at all. Amazing experience.

NINA MOINI: And were people so happy for you-- your family, everybody in Mexico? What was the reaction like over there?

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: Oh, yeah. It was crazy, because I have a lot of friends not only from Mexico but also from different parts of health care that told me, hey, I woke up at 6:00 in the morning to watch your race. The whole hospital is cheering you on.

And then everybody in Mexico too-- it's a sport that I didn't really until I moved to Minnesota. And a lot of Mexicans are not really familiar with winter sports. So it was super cool to see how much support was both in Mexico and from the medical community. And then I also had a lot of friends and family come to the race. I had maybe 20 or more friends and family, including some of my friends from residency.

NINA MOINI: Fun.

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: So, yeah, it was unbelievable.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. Because in the years leading up to the Olympics, you were doing your residency in Miami and starting out as an ER doctor. How did you manage to do all those things together?

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: Well, everything kind of went in different phases. When I was in residency, obviously, you're working about 80 hours a week between working and studying. And so there, what I decided with my coaches, was to focus mainly on not losing fitness-- so maintaining the fitness and then focusing on improving the technique over those three years.

And I was training about 6 to 10 hours a week. And then all my vacation time in residency I used to go find snow. So I traveled every single year-- yeah, every single year I went to Norway to work with my coach or to the world ski championships and raced there.

So it was definitely a challenge. Some days, I would work the 3:00 to 11:00 shift, and I would go train before work. And then after work, I found the only gym that was 24 hours in Miami. So then I would sometimes go to the gym at 1:00 AM and repeat. So it definitely was a challenge in residency.

Now, I'm out of residency. And I work as a travel doctor. And so that's how I'm able to have the flexibility to make my own schedule and primarily train and work enough to survive and to pay for this journey. But it's definitely had, in different phases and different waves, and always self-compassion in the process, because doing one is not easy. Doing both was pretty challenging. And I was able to do it kind of taking it step by step.

NINA MOINI: It's inspirational-- and to hear that you also have compassion for yourself during that time is so important. Do you think you'll compete in the Olympics again? Are you still training?

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: Oh, yes. I am really excited about the next Olympics. I think this is just opening the door in that first step for Mexico. And I'm really excited to continue now that I have a lot more experience and I know what the four years, what the cycle entails.

And so now I'm going on a media tour to Mexico. And I'm just relaxing right after the Olympics. But I'm about to start training in one or two weeks and then just get at it for the next ones.

NINA MOINI: What do you hope people take away from your story? What I really am noticing about you is you're a citizen of the world in a way, too. You've been all over the place. I kind of want you to move back to Minnesota. But I just wonder, what are you hoping people take away from this journey?

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: Well, several things, really. I think one of the things is I want to encourage everybody to follow their dreams and to live out as many dreams as you want, as you can. Because one of my dreams was to become a doctor. Another one was to become an Olympian.

And I feel like as life goes by, we tend to [INAUDIBLE] identity or into a profession or whatever we're doing. And I want to share the message that it's never too late to start something, to learn a new skill. And if anything, actually, time gives us the tool in life, and experience gives us the tools to be able to do new things--

NINA MOINI: Absolutely.

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: --probably even more efficiently.

NINA MOINI: It's not too late. You're getting older, you're getting stronger, and wiser. Regina, thank you so much.

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: Wiser.

NINA MOINI: We to go, but we really appreciate your time. Felicitaciones. Thank you.

REGINA MARTÍNEZ LORENZO: Gracias.

NINA MOINI: Take care. That's Regina Martínez Lorenzo, emergency room doctor and Olympian.