50 States & D.C. Marathon Group U.S.A.
Shelly B. Bydlinski
Director 2011 to Present
Personal History of Shelly B. Bydlinski
Group Director of the 50 and DC Marathon Group
Originally from North Carolina, and after living 25 years in Atlanta, Shelly currently resides on St. Simons Island, Georgia, with her husband, Stephen. Their blended family consists of four daughters, a son, and two grandsons - as well as 9 cats! In 2005, Shelly’s youngest daughter, Laurel, was the first recipient of the 50 and D.C. Marathon Group Scholarship. Laurel has since graduated from college and is a pursuing a career as a writer.
Shelly works for the Glynn County School System as the K-12 Mathematics Coordinator. Prior to this position, she was a middle school mathematics teacher and an Academic Instructional Coach. Shelly has 20 years of experience in the education profession.
As for marathoning, Shelly began walking in 1990 at the encouragement of her daughter, Elizabeth, as a way to quit smoking. It did not take long for Shelly to decide to try running from one mailbox to the next in her neighborhood. One run led to the next and soon she was looking forward to her daily runs. One of her favorite memories is the day she ran an entire mile without stopping! That was more than 20 years and 65 marathons ago! Plus, she said “so long” to cigarettes, too!
In 1993, Shelly completed her first – and what was to be her only – marathon. She ran the Honolulu Marathon and was hooked! Having never been a runner or athlete of any sort, she knew she had found her niche. It was not until 1998, that she “discovered” the 50 and D.C. Marathon Group. By that time, she was close to the required 20 marathons to join – as in the old rules – and with her friend, Rose – who she met at the Sunburst Marathon in Indiana in 1998 – she ran her qualifying marathon in Burlington, VT in 2000.
After another 30 marathons, Shelly ran her finishing marathon at the Cape Cod Marathon, in Falmouth, MA, on October 31, 2004. Her husband was on hand as well as her mother and sister who showed up from N.C. and VA to surprise her at the finish line! A bottle of Dom Perignon rounded out the celebration!
In 2009, Shelly became the Medals4Mettle (M4M) chapter coordinator for Georgia. This volunteer position has allowed Shelly to facilitate the gifting of donated marathon, half marathon, and triathlon finishers’ medals to children and adults fighting debilitating illnesses. She works closely with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston to coordinate presentation ceremonies. Her local track club, Golden Isles Track Club, donates toward the purchase of ribbons for the medals. Zulu Racing has been an integral partner in the donation and presentation of the medals. To find out more about M4M, go to http://www.medals4mettle.org
Due to hip difficulties, Shelly has run only a handful of marathons since finishing the circuit. In 2008, she had a hip replacement and now limits her mileage. She continues to love running – it is her passion!
What’s on the “Bucket List” for Shelly … the Tahiti Moorea Marathon – because one can dream!
Jerry Schaver
Director 2002 to 2011
Personal History of Jerry Schaver
Group Director
of the 50 and DC Marathon Group
Jerry was born and raised in a small community in Albany, Illinois along the muddy Mississippi river. Jerry still resides in Albany today. He is the youngest son of three boys. He graduated from Fulton High school in 1977. He has one daughter, Nichole and grandsons, Hunter and Nolan. Jerry works for Alcoa Mill Products in Bettendorf, Iowa. Jerry also does volunteer work for the Special Olympics, YWCA, and local races in the community. His life lessons were learned from his grandfather on how to be compassionate with others and to make life simple.
Jerry enjoys many hobbies. Hiking in the woods, enjoying the nature and wildlife, or viewing the mountains, and maybe climbing a few too! Motorcycle riding has became his new passion, along with bicycle riding. Jerry bikes either to help recover from injuries, or for an alternative to training. Recently he has got his grandson involved in bike riding with a trail along bike. The two of them enjoy riding on the local bike path. Weight-lifting is an important hobby but also a great tool for marathon training.
Jerry was a heavy smoker and overweight when he decided to take up running to get back into shape in 1994. He first tried out small races but went on to do his first marathon in 1995 in Chicago. He had no experience and no one to give him advice and learned that day he had a lot to learn yet. Jerry became determined that running marathons was something he wanted to continue to do.
Jerry became a member of the 50 and DC Marathon Group in 1999 after completing 20 states as in the old rules. After being in the group a few years he felt there was a need to have a website to help with the growing number of members. Jerry with the help of his web-designer friend Bob developed a website for the group in 2001. He also is the web host of the website, taking care of all the members’ stats and etc. Jerry is now the Group Director of the 50 and DC Marathon Group since December 1, 2002.
Through his travels on marathons, he has developed many friendships around the world. Jerry has traveled twice to Cuba with World T.E.A.M. Sports to run marathons, but the main goal of the trips was to help the disabled Cuban athletes with hand-cycles and medical injury prevention. His compassion for helping the disabled has enabled him to help them with their goals of doing marathons by allowing them to join the 50 and DC Group under special rules.
Long term goals for Jerry include running marathons in Russia and Ireland. And hopefully in the future have his two grandsons by his side running a marathon with him. Jerry lives by his motto of “I can, I will, I’ll try, I do.”