Jessica Nash

Age: 50
Hometown: Green Island
Residence: Troy
Family: Son, Alex Razzano; Partner, Kristopher Williams
Occupation: Associate in Educational Planning and Evaluation, NYS Education Dept.
Sports: Biking, Running, Swimming, Triathlon
Secondary: Hiking, Skiing

By Kristen Hislop

“You never know what you can do until you try, and very few try unless they have to.” –C.S. Lewis

There are two ways to face a challenge; take the easy way around it or meet it head-on and discover what you’re capable of. Jessica Nash has spent the last decade and a half choosing the second path – and reaping the rewards.

As a kid, playing CYO basketball and cheerleading was fun until the court and the competition felt intimidating. Like many ‘80s kids, Jessica Nash lived on her bike, pedaling with friends and joining family rides on local paths. Summers meant campgrounds and lake days, where she advanced through Red Cross swim levels and fell in love with the water. In high school she didn’t stick with organized sports – an alternate cheer stint as a freshman, a week on the track team, and ski club – but the spark for movement never left.

Through her 20s and 30s, that spark glowed brighter. She cycled, started running in her late 20s – the Corporate Challenge (now CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge) in Albany was the initial nudge. Jessica also swam and lifted at the YMCA and even played in a mom’s indoor rec soccer league. Then came 2011, which became the turning point! She signed up for a spring half marathon and a fall marathon, tightened up her nutrition, and discovered CrossFit. Training stopped being a side project and became a way of life.

Tough Mudder and Spartan obstacle course races came next. In 2016, a Tough Mudder with extra water obstacles reminded her how much she loved being in the water. She joined Capital District Triathlon Club for open water swims in Averill Park’s Crystal Lake and then jumped into triathlon races that same summer. Since then, she’s kept a steady cadence of three to five tris per year. She quickly moved from sprint and Olympic, up to the full Ironman distance, and then Survival of the Shawangunks (SOS Triathlon) in New Paltz.

Ask her favorite leg of a triathlon and Jessica will hesitate, because she genuinely loves all three. Swimming is peaceful and rhythmic, “it hits your body differently.” Running has been “life-changing, especially for the mental and emotional lift it provides.” The bike? “That’s freedom and wonder.” Her old road frame even has “Best Friends Forever” stamped on the underside, a detail that still makes her smile.

Hiking joined the mix in the early 2010s, first with friends exploring the Adirondacks and Green Mountains of Vermont, and then with Kris – her partner since 2018 – who’s an Adirondack 46er that successfully hiked all 46 of the High Peaks (many of them multiple times). Together they’ve summited more than 30, often in the glow of fall, their favorite season to be in the woods.

Outside of the mountains and finish lines, Jessica is a lifelong learner. She began a part-time PhD in literacy teaching and learning at the University at Albany in 2010, after eight years as a special education and literacy teacher. Since 2012 she’s worked at the NYS Education Department with a focus on education data and research. Her original plan was to become a professor, but her work evolved and so did her goals. The PhD remains a personal milestone – proof that curiosity and commitment matter. Her dissertation explores how teenage pregnancy is portrayed in young adult fiction, blending her love of reading, with questions that affect real students’ lives.

Jessica’s son is 31, a former high school soccer player turned recreational golfer, who also dabbles in cycling and tennis. Her parents, both 70, always modeled active, healthy lives. Her mother, Eileen Marciano, is a devoted walker and many in her step-family golf, and her dad, Tom Nash, played rec basketball, then embraced cycling and skiing. In addition, her dad is the reason Jessica first discovered the Pan-Mass Challenge. Today, rides with her father and his cycling crew are among her favorite miles!

Few things shape Jessica’s story like the Pan-Mass Challenge, a Massachusetts-based bike ride across part of the state, which raises more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event in the U.S. PMC’s mission is to raise funds for cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and 100% of every rider-raised dollar goes directly to Dana-Farber. Her father rode his first PMC in 1990 and urged her for years to volunteer. In 1997 she finally did and was hooked. “I was just making PB&Js and stirring Gatorade,” she recalls, “and riders were so grateful.” The unity of riders, volunteers, families, and survivors was unlike anything she’d experienced. She signed up to ride in 1998 – on a hybrid bike, with modest training – and didn’t complete both full days of riding until 2002. The weekend is transformative so she keeps coming back.

With consistent, personal fundraising from family, friends, coworkers, and a long tail of supporters who once backed her dad, Jessica has raised $111,200 since 1998 – including $6,600 this year. Her partner, Kris, now rides the fall PMC Unpaved gravel ride in the Berkshires and volunteers in August for the road ride, while her dad and stepmom still show up, and her dad’s friends still volunteer at the water stops. As a highlight last year, she met PMC founder Billy Starr – a reminder that world-changing things can grow from one person deciding to try.

“It’s hard to explain what the PMC feels like. It brings together 6,000 riders, 3,000 volunteers, and thousands of supporters, all united to fight against cancer. So far this year, $67 million has been raised. Remarkable. Inspiring. It keeps me coming back.”

Jessica had her son Alex in college, finished her bachelor’s, earned a master’s, began a PhD, and often juggled two jobs. She learned to train in the margins by running during his soccer practices, reading in the car before pick-up from practice. A minor bike-car crash in 2014 sharpened her gratitude for simply being able to move. Today, she and Kris built an outdoor life together with road, gravel, and mountain biking; hiking; alpine and Nordic skiing; paddling; gardening – and cheer each other on at races and rides. Her biggest challenge isn’t motivation, it’s doing less. She’s added yoga, listens more carefully to her body, and chooses experiences that feed joy and longevity.

Jessica’s favorite achievements include 26 PMC rides and counting – it’s the accomplishment that means the most. In 2018, she completed the Ironman Mont-Tremblant in 12:15, a late decision sparked by a strong PMC long-ride test for herself. She ran the London Marathon in 2024; pulled off with a whirlwind, last-minute solo trip. She’s also an Abbott World Marathon Majors Six-Star Finisher, qualifying for Boston, completing NYC, Chicago, Berlin, and earning entries to Tokyo and London – between 2018 to 2024. Finally, the Survival of the Shawangunks (SOS) Triathlon in New Paltz that she did in 2024. It’s an eight-stage wilderness adventure race that includes one cycling segment, four trail running segments, and three open water lake swims – it ranks just behind the PMC in her heart.

Jessica’s story isn’t a highlight reel of easy choices. It’s a collection of moments where she felt nervous, underprepared, or unsure – and tried anyway. That shy kid from Green Island who once left the basketball court found her way back to movement, one brave step at a time, until the steps became marathons, mountains, triathlons, and a community-wide mission on a bike.

You never know what you can accomplish until you try. And when you meet the hard thing head-on, the reward isn’t just a medal or a patch – it’s the life you build along the way.

Kristen Hislop (hislopcoaching@gmail.com) is a USA Triathlon and Ironman U coach, and race director for the Delightful Run for Women. Hislop Coaching offers a mindset program for all ages/abilities called Stronger Than Yesterday. She is a proud mother to two sons who ran in college and her husband who races and volunteers at many local events.