Member Spotlight - Shelly Williams
Shelly shares her story on how one decision changed her life forever!
How did you hear about LA Tri Club?
21 years ago someone told me about this new club forming, LA Tri Club. I called Paul and he told me about triathlon and the community and it sounded really great to me, so I headed to the bike shop that weekend, put a bunch of gear on my credit card and the rest is history.
I ran 1 marathon in 1998, it wasn’t a great experience, but I loved the commitment to training and the comradery with the group I was training with. I’d heard about the Malibu triathlon and decided in 2000 to go watch the race. It just happened to be the year that Ian Murray got married (I didn’t know Ian back then) and I remember he was in his tuxedo shirt, Alexandra was in her wedding veil and the announcer remarked that the entire wedding party was doing the triathlon the day after the wedding. I thought, these guys are having way too much fun and I want in on this!
My first Triathlon was the Bonelli Tri Series back in 2001. As for my favorite race, I always loved the original Vineman Half Ironman, I did that race 6 times. We always had a big group going, we’d rent a huge house or series of houses and we always took an extra day after the race for wine tasting. Sometimes we even went wine tasting the day before the race!
I haven’t been to many events lately, but I used to be at most of them – Santa Monica/Malibu rides, S. Bay ocean swims, social events, etc. I live in Long Beach now, so I don’t make it up to Santa Monica or the westside as much for training, but I LOVE running into my fellow LA Tri Club members down here!
Outside of training I love to ski! In fact, there’s a group of us from the LA Tri Club that are headed to the French Alps this winter!
My Race Day Must Haves:
I’m pretty methodical race morning, I have everything thought out and planned – breakfast, race nutrition, departure time, transition setup, position for swim start, etc. For me, it’s all about planning and visualizing how the day is going to go.
Future Race Plans:
I will definitely keep racing, I’ve completed 87 triathlons and I have a goal to get to 100! COVID threw off my consistent record. 2020 was the only year, in 20 years that I didn’t do a triathlon, and instead gravitated toward the dirt and started trail running. While I did race in 2021, my immediate plans are focused on ultra running and trail running adventures.
Do you know anyone else that is currently a member of LATC?
Yes, I know lots of people, old and new…too many to list! I did meet my husband through LA Tri Club. We met 20 years ago and were training partners for the next 10 years before we finally got together and then married in 2018.
