Alison De Lucca

"But for each of us, isn’t life about determining your own finish line?” - Diana Nyad

It was the scent of chlorine, the steam rising from the pool, the outstanding coached practice and the friendly Fortius faces that made it clear to Alison that she was in the right place. Having grown up a competitive swimmer, her return to the pool after 20 years felt like a homecoming.

Needless to say, she joined Fortius shortly thereafter in February 2011. Her goal was simply to train smarter, having completed a sprint and olympic distance triathlon on her own. Little did she know that in addition to top-notch coaching, she would also become part of a family of extraordinary individuals. Gerardo and her fellow athletes encourage her daily to be her best in the water, on the saddle and in her running shoes, as well as in every aspect of her life.

Watching her teammates move swiftly toward their finish lines - whether it be a sprint, olympic, half ironman or ironman distance triathlon, Alison decided to set her sights for 2011 on the half ironman distance.In October, she completed the Miami 70.3 and in August 2012, she will reach for a finish line she thought she'd never cross: Ironman Mont Tremblant. She is convinced that without Gerardo's excellent coaching and the tremendous support from her teammates, this would not be possible.

When she is not training, eating, Facebooking or texting with her Fortius teammates, Alison is the executive director of the Southern California College Access Network - a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the number of low-income students who go to and through college.