We were lucky to catch up with Lucja Leonard recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lucja, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

It was 2004, I was overweight, unfit and not comfortable in my own skin. It was time for a change & a big one. My then fiancée now husband, Dion & I decided to move from New Zealand where we were living (we are Aussies) to London, UK to embark on a new life. As part of that change I decided to start focusing on my health & took up running. Not even able to run a block I started training myself with a run/walk strategy, eating better and going to the gym. I overcame my own personal limiting beliefs of myself & discovered after completing my first 10km race that I actually enjoyed running & wanted to further test my boundaries. Fast forward to 2010 and I’m running my first marathon and in 2013 running my first 250km multi stage self sufficient race in the Kalahari desert in South Africa and officially became an ultra runner..

From this empowering experience I decided I wanted others to also experience this life changing journey and embarked on getting my personal training qualifications and become a coach, specialising in endurance running, particularly focused on encouraging more women to participate and achieve the perceived unachievable.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m a down to earth and realistic coach, I love to coach, support & nurture relationships with other real women (& men) to believe in themselves to achieve success in whatever form that looks like for them.

I utilise my ability to connect & build rapport and trust alongside my experience of running some of the worlds toughest ultra marathons such as Marathon des Sables, Ultra Trail Mont Blanc 106 miles, Leadville 100, Transgrancanaria 125km, Bigfoot 200 miles, Moab 240 miles among a multitude of other races.

My point of difference lies in really understanding each individual, their motivations, their time restrictions and I’m able to find that balance for them to achieve their fitness related goals and even more.

Personally I’m most proud of myself for completing the Bigfoot 200 mile non stop race in 2021 which has over 42,000ft of ascending and descending in some of the most remote and technical trails I’ve ever experienced. Which also translated into coaching another wonderful woman to complete the same race this year, 2022. I’m currently coaching two women for their first 100 miles in October, one of which I started coaching a few years ago for her first 50mile race who has since gone on to run mountain ultras and the Kalahari desert multi stage 250km race as well. I’m so proud of both of them looking to tackle their first 100 miles.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Running is not easy and I’ve had to develop my mind alongside to be able to complete these immense distances which can mean I am out on my feet for i to 90 hours (3 days & nights!) with very little to no sleep.

I’ve had to deal with not finishing races such as my first attempts at running the 100 mile distance and getting a DNF (Did Not Finish) beside my name to come back stronger & more resilient to finish by working on my own mental and emotional shortcomings.
I ALWAYS come back to finish what I could not the first time, I don’t like to leave that as unfinished business.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The biggest lesson I’ve had to unlearn is that I’m incapable of doing hard things, that I’m too fat, too weak, and not strong enough to stick at anything. I grew up with that belief through being told those exact words from my parents so it was hard to change that inner monologue and it still comes to bite me sometimes when I’m in a dark place but I’ve worked very hard to have my ways to shift the mindset. I can, and will, do (very) hard things!

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.runningdutchie.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/runningdutchie/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/RunningDutchie/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucja-leonard-7788611b
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Runningdutchie
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/user/dionlucja

Image Credits
None all mine