Sika Henry: Speak Your Goals Into Existence - R4R 251

The Running for Real Podcast

Tina Muir

Sports, Running, Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.7 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2021

⏱️ 76 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sika Henry is proof that we can speak our goals into existence. If there’s anyone who exemplifies persistence and determination, it’s Sika. After years of training, a serious bike, crash, and even a pandemic, in May 2021 Sika became the first U.S. Black Female Professional Triathlete. In this episode, Sika shares how she started as a college walk-on, to the workaholic life in New York City, to then come back to sports as a marathoner, and now a triathlete.

“I believe in speaking things into existence. No matter how crazy it sounds, just put it out there. The worst that can happen is it doesn't happen. And then so what, even if you feel embarrassed by it, it’s like, who cares? At least you had the guts to attempt it and go after it.” –Sika Henry

In this episode we cover…

Sika’s childhood and early life as an athlete, she shares how she didn’t peak until a few years into college but that she never quit on her dreams.
The power of cross training swimming and biking have had on her running abilities.
The intensity of triathlon as a sport. She shares that even “recovery days” entail swimming and an easy run. It’s intense weeks and weeks of training.
Sika opens up about her serious bike crash that landed her in the hospital and put a pause on her dreams of becoming a professional triathlete.
It was with encouragement that she got back on her feet. She knew becoming pro would be a huge step in Triathlon for her to be an example for younger generations and represent inclusivity and diversity in the sport that only until last month didn’t have a black woman as a professional athlete in the United States.
She shares that only 0.5% of the sport is made up of Black people and that 64% of Blacks lack basic swimming skills. Sika shares the importance of supporting organizations that are making strides in aquatics and swimming accessibility.
Organizations Sika recommends: Diversity in Aquatics and Black Kids Swim

Resources

Instagram @sikahenry

Sika’s Website and blog

Strava Article

Thank you to Momentous, Tracksmith, and Picky Bars for sponsoring this episode.

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Thank you to Sika, we look forward to hearing your thoughts on the show.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Running for Real podcast, where each week we bring you a conversation designed
0:10.6	to help you create positive change in your life, community and planet.
0:15.9	It's a collective of conversations about running the climate emergency and social justice.
0:25.8	Running for Real is for the brave, for those with courage and vulnerability.
0:30.2	United by our love of running, we're driving momentum towards some of the really tough
0:34.9	challenges we're facing as humanity.
0:38.4	So come join me, Tina Muir and let's get started.
0:47.6	Hello my friends, welcome to episode 251 of the Running for Real podcast.
0:53.4	Thank you for joining me today, I am excited to hear and we have a special episode today.
0:59.4	You are going to be so inspired, so just in awe and it will leave you reflecting on your own
1:07.5	journey in a different way. I am really excited that we have Sika Henry with us today.
1:13.1	He was the first African American woman to become a pro triathlete to get her pro card
1:22.0	and we're going to dive into her story in a way that she hasn't covered so far.
1:26.4	She's had a lot of interviews post doing this and I am excited that she told me afterwards
1:33.0	that all the questions were unique, it was very different and she really, really enjoyed herself.
1:37.9	So I think you're going to enjoy this, we really talked about some great things that I think apply
1:43.4	to everyone and some variation and we talked a lot about that. We go over failures, go over things
1:50.3	happening, the what ifs, when things go wrong and just the ability to be able to look at what
1:59.3	happened to you and turn things around. So I think that applies to all of us after the year we've
2:03.9	just had. So without waiting any longer we're just going to take a moment to thank our sponsor
2:08.7	and we'll be right to the episode with Sika Henry.
2:14.6	Thank you to Mementus for sponsoring this episode of the Running for Real podcast
	...

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