Athlete: Tyler Williams

BACK AT IT’S ATHLETE AMBASSADOR Tyler Williams

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOU:

I’m originally from Ottawa! My story is a bit different than the typical ultra runner story. I grew up playing soccer, running cross country + track and field during my time in middle school and high school. I used to think long distance was the 1,500m 😂 When I moved to the Rockies in 2012, I really enjoyed the outdoors and being in the mountains. I never really ran further than 10-15km but enjoyed a lot of longer days hiking. In 2017, I had heard about people doing bigger races such running distances up to 100km and 100 miles and got extremely intrigued from this! Within a week of watching some videos I decided I was going to run Tunnel Mountain in Banff for 24 hours on basically zero proper training just to see what my body and mind could do. To my surprise I ended up running 110km/6,800m of elevation and woke up feeling pretty good the next day! I loved the places my mind went and just loved moving my body through nature for long periods of time. I then signed up for 100 mile race with 6 months to train followed by a 50 miler then 100km race. That’s my story of falling in love with ultra running 🥰

OTHER PASSIONS OTHER THAN YOUR SPORT?

Some of my other passions are food, cycling, ice baths, hiking, and traveling the world!

WHAT DOES YOUR TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE?

I truly believe how you start your day is how you set yourself up for the rest of the day so my first 1-2 hours is very mindful and important for me personally. I wake up fairly early and jump in an ice cold shower or do a ice bath solo or with friends in the bow river! Gratitude journaling has become my favourite ritual every morning and has brought so much magic to my days. I love doing a short meditation and my body craves movement. I typically do my running or riding in the morning and always get some sort of strength work in such as pushups! I have a little puppy now so my girlfriend and I will make some coffee and go on a nature walk with her together everyday! Then like most other people I have to go to that place called work! I love spending my days off doing big adventures, exploring new places followed by delicious plant based potlucks with friends!

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE TRAIL IN THE BOW VALLEY?

Mount Temple!

3 THINGS THAT MOST PEOPLE MAY NOT KNOW:

1) I played guitar for 5 years of my life (now I don’t know remember anything chords 🤷‍♂️ 😂)

2) 6 years ago I got rid of everything I own except what fit in my 40L backpack and became a minimalist!

3) I used to be obsessed with juggling a soccer ball when I was younger & could almost keep it up for 1500 hits without dropping it!

ONE SPORT THAT YOU WISHED YOU WERE GOOD AT:

Gymnastics!!! I admire those people so much!!

ONE GOAL YOU WOULD LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH THIS YEAR?

100 miles on Tunnel Mountain!

WHICH OF YOUR SCARS HAS THE BEST STORY BEHIND IT?

Stage 3 frostbite on my finger. The pain I feel in it daily is a constant reminder to be so grateful for being alive and reminds me of the accident I had in the mountains.

YOUR FAVOURITE MOTIVATION SONG?

Hustler’s Ambition – 50 Cent 🤙