Page 74 - Demo

Two hours in the gym, two hours on the track, and one hour of core training broken up by meals, sleep, and ice baths; it is clear that being a track star is a full time job. With the constant practice and commitment required from a professional athlete, Sanya is inspired to push herself to such an extreme through her strong faith and selfdetermination. %u201cI am a religious person, and I believe that God gave me this great gift. When I use this gift to run I am glorifying God, so on some levels running is very spiritual.%u201d Additionally Sanya is extremely competitive and self-motivated. %u201cI want to be my best; I want to see how far I can take it. I want to find out what my body is capable of, and if I do all the right things can I continue to be the best?%u201dNike has sponsored Richards-Ross for the past thirteen years. She has participated in numerous campaigns and photoshoots, but she explains how what Nike does behind the scenes is even more special than most people realize. With her two toe surgeries, Nike has been there to advance their technology in order to change her spikes and put Richards-Ross with great people for recovery. %u201cThey are a company that wants to see you do well and are constantly improving their products to help us be great.%u201d Nike listens to their athletes in order to better their products. %u201cI can make a suggestion and in the final development I can see they listened to what I said and made changes based on my recommendations.%u201d Having watched Sanya%u2019s races or having seen her in photos, it is clear that part of her regular running attire includes compression sleeves. Sanya was warm and truthful in her explanation of how she came to wear them. %u201cIn 2007 I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that gave me skin lesions all over my body and arms. True to form Nike wanted to do something to make me feel more comfortable and confident on the track. I started wearing the sleeves to cover my scars because I did not want others to know what I was going through, but then they became part of my uniform to make me feel confident. It started out as appearance, but now they have become part of who I am on the track.%u201d Sanya was diagnosed with this autoimmune disease prior to the 2012 Olympics and now has to 74 || FITNESS MAGAZINE || SEPTEMBER 2015