Beyond Myself

A Survivor’s Project to Empower Women, Save Children & Inspire Hope

At 17 years old, Shangrila Rendon and her family moved from Manila, Philippines to Chino Hills, California. She entered the states as a teenager and took on the heavy responsibility of supporting her family as they worked to establish their new life in a new country.

Seven years after arriving in the U.S. Shangrila began her athletic career when a friend invited her to run a 10k. Over the next twelve years, she went on to build an impressive athletic resume including countless firsts for Filipino athletes in the sport of Ultraman and a Guinness World Record.

But Shangrila has conquered much more than ultra-endurance races and world records. Shangrila is also a survivor of sexual assault and childhood sexual abuse.

The severe trauma she withstood early in her life contributed to her development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and severe depression, which eventually developed into struggles with alcoholism and disordered eating.

With a solid support system behind her, Shangrila has worked to overcome the trauma of her past and continues her healing process every day. Part of the process includes working with personal trainers and nutritionists and working to achieve incredible physical performance goals.

A true testament to perseverance, Shangrila continues to push herself and use her incredible determination and athleticism as a way to forward causes she cares about. This includes helping others who have experienced similar trials as victims of abuse. She now devotes her life to helping women and children around the world and in her home country overcome the trauma of abuse.

Over her career, Shangrila has competed in numerous Ironmans and over 34 marathons. In 2016 she completed the Uberman competition as a part of a trio, and a year later she went on to become the first woman to compete in the Red Bull Trans-Siberian Extreme competition, a bike race across the width of Russia.

“INFINIT gives me the unique ability to customize my nutrition to keep me energized, hydrated, and focused on performing at my absolute best.” 

No stranger to Guinness World Records, in 2015 she became the fastest woman to complete 5 IRONMAN distances in 5 consecutive days, and later she completed 8 IRONMAN distances in over 8 consecutive days!

The accolades she has earned and the World Records she’s broken up to this point are a result of true dedication to peak physical fitness, but more importantly, an innate desire to support the causes close to her heart.

From October 30th to December 2nd, 2020 in Long Beach, California, Shangrila Rendon is attempting a Guinness World Record of the most 140.6-mile triathlon (Full Ironman-distance) races in 34 days. She is on track to complete 24 by December 2nd (Total of 57.6 mi swim, 2688 mi bike, 629.28 mi run).

Through the Beyond Myself Project, Rendon’s goal is to raise awareness and support for the Downtown Women’s Center (a group focused on healing trauma, providing medical/clinical help, shelter, food, and employment for abused women), Children’s Institute (a group focused around healing trauma, providing shelter, Education, and Healthcare for children), Paws 4 Success (an organization focused around helping with PTSD), and SJVRC (an organization to help abused children in the Philippines, and underprivileged children in Vietnam).

Click here for more information about her record-breaking attempt; you can also match her miles, or make a donation to these valuable causes.