Name: Leona Foxworth
How old are you?: 38
Where do you live?: NYC
Website: http://www.theathenaathlete.com
Instagram: TheAthenaAthlete
When and why did you get started? Was there a specific moment in your life?
When my niece was 2 years old (she is now 11) I was close to 400 pounds and realized that I would not be alive to see her graduate high school if I did not make changes. I knew that I had to figure out a way to lose weight and become healthier. She was my initial reason.
What do you enjoy most about it? Do you have an accomplishment that you’re most proud of?
I started working out before I started running. However, I started running about 8 years ago. Running has brought the most amazing relationships in my life. I have developed friendships that have saved my life.
Running has also helped me battle depression and anxiety over the years. Running has made me a stronger person, it has helped me to believe in myself. It has made me realize I can do hard things.
I have a few things I have never been more proud of. The first time I ever ran a single mile without a walk break, it was so hard and when I first started I could barely run 10 seconds. The day that my coach pushed me to run a mile without a walk break I did not think it was something that I would be able to do, and yet with the help and encouragement of my coach I did.
The next thing I accomplished was in 2014 when I ran my first half marathon. When I first started running this was a goal of mine and it took me close to 5 years to accomplish. I finished it in 3:36 and was so very proud of myself that day and I still am.
Have you experienced any challenges or obstacles?
I have experienced several injuries. I am prone to stress fractures and I have a bulging disc in my back from a car accident I was in about 10 years ago. I have had to push through injuries with all running being done on the Alter G (Anti-Gravity Treadmill) and pool running. I purchased a bike and rode that for a while off and on until I moved to NYC.
Moving to NYC also has been really hard for me with my workouts and running. In Florida I had an amazing running community fully supportive of all paces and abilities. I have really struggled in NYC not knowing anyone and not having that same foundation and running friends. Since I am always working out alone it is also harder to push myself and get myself going when I just do not want to do the workouts
What is your “why?” What drives you? What keeps you going?
Why do I desire to be a stronger person today than I was yesterday? The most common answer I have given in the past as to why I decided to make the changes in my life to become a healthier person was to be a role model for my nieces. I love those girls more than anything or anyone else in the world, however, they can not be my why. They can still be a part of my why but they can not be my whole reason. My why needs to be even more than they are it needs to be me. My why, my reason for pushing myself in a workout, or a race needs to be because I need to prove to myself that I can do anything I set my mind to. I have been thinking a lot about this over the last few months. I have been trying to figure out where how to find that fire inside me again. I have discovered that when I stopped believing in myself, my motivation left. My nieces, my family and my friends have never (nor will the ever) stop believing in me, but that by itself was not enough. My why, my motivation for getting myself to the gym it has got to come from within. I am slowly learning how to believe in myself again. Not only do I know that I CAN be stronger than I was yesterday, but I deserve to be stronger than I was yesterday. I think that is the hardest part of being your own why is not just believing that you can but believing that you deserve to be strong and do hard things.
What’s next? Do you have any short term or long term goals?
As long as the NYC Marathon happens in 2020 I will be running through the 5 boroughs of NYC on Nov 1!
