Part 3 of our interview with Project Athena Founder, Robyn Benincasa

Part 3 of Jessica's interview with Robyn Benincasa- creator and founder of Project Athena

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Jessica: Why the name Athena?

Robyn: I did some research on names that would hopefully match what we wanted to do, and I looked up Athena and she is the goddess of wisdom and war. So it was kind of fitting because we said in the beginning- well through war comes wisdom. And every one has been through a war. And hence we’re in that place where we’ve gotten a lot more wisdom from the war. And that’s what we want to share.


Jessica: Why is sports your answer to recovery?

Robyn: There’s something really life altering in a positive way about having a little bit of a struggle- a little bit to overcome. And while people have overcome things, obviously all of these women have overcome physical things that have set them back, this is something that is more for their spirit than anything. And I mean there are a lot of things that can help you recover. You know-music and hobbies and all that kind of good stuff. But I think that everyone who is on this team that’s kind of producing Project Athena- we’ve all gotten so much of who we are and what we need in life to be positive about ourselves through sports. Through athletics. And it’s, you know, something that we’ve been doing since we were kids. And that’s what we wanted to bring to women. There’s something neat about being a little bit afraid of something, and wondering whether or not you can do it, and then making it happen. And your confidence level soars. When you’ve been looking at something for a long long time- you know like ‘oh man before I had breast cancer I always figured I’d do a marathon someday, and then after breast cancer I know it’s not even going to be possible’ and we’re saying ‘yes it is’! And it may be a 6 hour marathon, It may be a 7 hour marathon but it IS doable. And you can do it. And we’re going to be with you every step of the way. And to see the light in their eye and the lightness of sprit, and the way that they latch onto it so much after their event. I mean we’ve had at least half of our Athenas want to come back and do whatever the next thing is even if they do it as a fundraiser. It’s just they now believe and they now understand that we’re not trying to make them into a 3 hour marathoner. It’s just about being out there with your girls. And sports just happens to be the method.


Jessica: What is your ultimate dream for Project Athena?

Robyn: I’d like to see us have mentors- it’s starting to happen now- where we have mentors all across the country- all across the world. You know we have other women who are writing to us now and saying, ‘There’s nothing wrong with me, but I’m a coach. Or I’m a physical therapist. Or whatever it is – and saying I want to help. So my dream is to have people in every city who are coaches and mentors for Project Athena. And that we have local chapters all over the place of women helping other women.

So much of the time people don’t know where or how to reach out. Or they think that a training group is so far beyond their capability. And they just need to have someone that is like, ‘You know what? We’re not here to run a 50 miler, we’re gonna walk a 5k. And that’s what we’re gonna do.’ And I think so many women are afraid that they’re so far down the totem pole physically that they can’t even get started, and that’s what we want to change…
So much of recovery is at a cellular level. You know are you happy? Do you have a positive spirit? Do you believe in yourself? And that’s where we’re trying to put people’s minds , and the athletic part is just a means to an end.


Jessica: How can the average person help Project Athena?

Robyn: A couple of things. Obviously we always need donations. It’s a 501C3 non profit, Project Athena Foundation. We also need mentors in different communities. We have many many but if you have a special talent or are willing to help coach,you know, maybe a local Athena .. in your area- we’d love to hear from you .
And also we’ve developed these fundraising adventures ….


Jessica: Thank you so much Robyn- you really rock!

Robyn: I am so lucky and blessed to have what we have with the team and with the Project Athena foundation,

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For more information or to learn how to sponsor a woman, please visit ProjectAthena.org

Empower Female Athletes

Think there's nothing you can do to empower Women in 1 Minute?

Starring - Josh Zitomer
Written by - Julie Tortorici & Jessica Arinella
Shot, Edited and Directed by - Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group

Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission and Project Athena, www.projectathena.org

Statistical Information provided by - Project Athena, www.projectathena.org

Special Thanks - Robyn Benincasa and everyone at Project Athena, and Dennis Arinella.

For more information, please visit - www.whatyoucando365.com

Part 2 of our interview with Project Athena Founder, Robyn Benincasa

Part 2 of Jessica's interview with Robyn Benincasa- creator and founder of Project Athena

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Jessica: How do you feel that this project, and the women you‘ve worked with during this project have changed you?

Robyn: Oh my gosh, It’s been- everything we dreamed it would be, and nothing like we thought it would be.

We thought we’d be kind of out inspiring these women- and you know- helping them get through things and I’m telling you , it’s so amazing. I mean after every one of these events that we do with these women – Melvie, and Florence and I are going ‘Oh my God, that is the most awesome person I’ve ever met!’ You know, we’re so inspired by them, and we’re so honored that they’ve let us into their lives. It’s such a neat feeling. We had a 2 time breast cancer survivor that came with us on one of our races to Costa Rica. It was her dream. She’d been a fan of adventure racing for a while- and she had wanted to do sort of a mini adventure race- and we were already going to Costa Rica to do this 160 K ultra run – our racing team- so we brought her along as her Athenaship Grant to run some of the legs with us.

And I’m telling you – oh my goodness- this woman- is just so amazing. She was a firefighter from back east. And she had a double mastectomy the first time she was hit with the breast cancer. Had full reconstruction. Then was hit again three years later. And they had to deconstruct everything – take out so much cartilage from inside her chest- because it had spread into her chest wall-and that they couldn’t even reconstruct her anymore.

And she was just the most amazing spirit. She had one breast, and we were all kind of wearing these tight little tank tops, and we thought maybe she might want to wear a sweatshirt or something ? Oh Hell No! She has her tight little tank top on and she is just- that grin you know -from ear to ear, and she’s like ‘So what? So what?’ You know? ‘Who cares? It doesn’t matter.’ And we’re looking at her and she didn’t want any of our…’Oh my gosh, this must be crazy for you ‘ I mean it was amazing how the tables had turned and she showed us how to be- you know- around people like her. Just the positive spirit that she had. And she ran with us 2 and a half of the 5 days, and these were ugly, ugly days- and she was having a hard time because of her chemotherapy . It kind of keeps you from sweating as much as you need to- and man, I’m telling you that kid was just so inspiring to us. And she just kept going ,and she was like, ‘I don’t care if we run. Let’s walk.’ And time and time again, these women just amaze and impress us.

We just took a woman who had survived a brain tumor. And they actually had to crack her skull to get it out of her head. They had to crack the orbit of her eye. And she never dreamed she’d run again, and she just did a half marathon with Melissa last weekend.

We took a woman with a spinal degeneration to do the Great Wall of China marathon. And it’s just amazing to watch these women kind of ( sighs) …In the beginning when we talk to them they’re like ‘I don’t know, I’m not sure if I can do this. Do you think I can ? And you guys are so awesome.’ And then when they get done, something amazing has happened to them. Almost everybody has come back and said. ‘ OK what are we doing next? What are we doing now? …’So it’s so neat to just watch them believe in themselves again. To have their groove back. I mean that’s really what its all about.

In the early days, it was kind of all about being on the podium and winning, and doing great things for our sponsors and our team, and our reputation. And you know, in way it’s pretty cool that I have these 2 metal hips now, because it really has changed my focus, to what is and- you know- dealing with that with a big huge smile on your face. That’s what it’s all about now. I’m loving it!

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For more information please visit ProjectAthena.org

An interview with Project Athena Founder and Creator, Robyn Benincasa

One day a few months ago- Julie was reading a magazine and came across an organization called Project Athena. We did some research and were excited enough to ask them to be part of our Women’s Week. But we weren’t sure how to get a hold of them. The only way to contact them was through an email address, and we have been doing this long enough now to know that contacting someone that way is usually a long road to nowhere. But not knowing what else to do- I sent my pitch via email and figured we’d never hear from them again. I was shocked when literally 3 minutes later our phone rang- and on the other end of the line was Robyn Benincasa Project Athena’s creator and founder.

She apologized for being a little out of breath. She said she was hiking! In the mountains! And checking her blackberry!. Immediately I was intrigued. Speaking with her for a few moments only deepened my awe. I wanted to interview her for our blog so that everyone could hear from this amazing, warm, funny and inspiring woman,
She took time out of her insanely busy schedule to do a phone interview with me.

Below is the transcript of that conversation.

Part 1

Jessica: First off, thank you for taking the time to speak with me .I know that you are crazy busy.

Robyn: (laughs) All true.

Jessica: Please tell me a little bit about who you are, your background, and what inspired you to create Project Athena?

Robyn: Ok, well, oh gosh, where do we start? Well why don’t we start with my athletic background? I was an athlete in high school ,a diver in college- graduated in marketing etc. etc. Tried to do the corporate gig and ah, discovered that I was allergic to panty hose and suits. (Laughs)

I did for it for 6 or 7 years and went on to do 6 ironman triathlons during the suits and panty hose days. I had read about adventure racing in Runner’s World, and I remember the moment that I actually read about it, and went, ‘This is the sport that I was meant to do’.

And since then I have pursued my dream of becoming a fire fighter- which I am now for the city of San Diego- been there 11 years. And for the last 15 years I’ve been a semi- professional Adventure Racer. Which means that we do it a lot, but make no money. (Laughs)

It’s just not a sport where anybody makes any money-I mean, ultra- endurance events are more for your soul than they are for your wallet.

But that’s what I’ve been doing the last 15 years all The Eco Challenge races, The Primal Quest, The Raid Gauloises-these 6- 10 day long non-stop ultra- endurance multi -sport races where you’re with a team of 4 people, they drop you in the middle of nowhere (Fiji, Nepal, Tibet, Japan)- I mean you name it, we’ve been there...And they hand [you] your maps and compasses, and you have your boxes pre- filled with some food you see 2 or 3 times, and some extra clothes and equipment- and basically once they say ‘Go’, you are on your own for literally 6-10 days non-stop. Just you and your 3 teammates doing whatever it takes to get to the finish line. And whoever gets there first wins.

And they are the craziest most remote places on earth, so it’s really a pretty epic journey and the ultimate in … synergy, and team work and ah- suffering (laughs)



Jessica: um yeah (laughs)


Robyn: (laughs) And I suppose what led me to creating Project Athena was that I had been doing that for about 15 years, and suddenly discovered in the middle of the World Championships in 2007 in Scotland -that kind of a nagging hip flexor pain that I had had -suddenly -it kind of forced my leg to stop working. Literally. Climbing the highest mountain in the race. And I had to spend the whole last 2 days of the race literally moving my own leg forward with my hand (laughs) to make it move.



Jessica: Oh my God!


Robyn: And when I came home I thought I had a pulled hip flexor or something like that, and I realized I had stage 4 osteoarthritis. In both hips. I mean, I’d never even been to the doctor at all about it, and suddenly he was telling me, ‘Hey guess, what? You’re probably never gonna run again. And you literally are bone on bone on your right side, and very very close to it on your left’ …Which explained a lot. But um, (laughs) it didn’t make me too happy.
‘Cause, suddenly there I was this pretty healthy person who’s been athletic at a pretty high level my whole life- to suddenly being someone who’s never gonna run again. And it was just kind of a slam it terms of the news. My whole life literally changed in about 30 seconds- which happens to most people who have some kind of medical setback.

Like suddenly you’re this healthy person and then the doctor’s telling you that you have cancer. Or you have a brain tumor. Or you’re in a car accident where you nearly die, and that’s how life kind of twitches on you. … You’re climbing all these ladders and suddenly your life has this big, huge, long chute. ( laughs) And you’re back to the beginning if not worse.
And it was kind of in that process of me thinking through, ‘Ok well who am I now that I may not be a professional adventure racer?...Hopefully I can still be a firefighter’ – and just me thinking through that process of how do I make it back to me? To who I was. Or maybe not so far back, but just, you know, just to be who I am- you know an outdoor athlete and a fire fighter. And kind of the journey to get back to that after having hip resurfacing surgery ( first on my right and two years later on my left).

It was kind of in that process that I thought, ‘You know what? It’s time for me- maybe you know when the universe closes a door it opens a window, and my window here is to help other women through this process- you know to help them see a future, and see the light, and see themselves again’ And to kind of shed that survivor label and say, ‘I want to be the girl I was- I want to be the person I was in spirit…before this all happened..’

And so much of that , in my opinion, happens through surprising and impressing ourselves through sports.

So my buddies and I, all of whom are survivors themselves, which was another irony that my best friends have all survived either breast cancer- or my other buddy, Florence ,is a two time cancer survivor. Melissa has rheumatoid arthritis – and we sort of put together a team called Team Project Athena. First of all to show other women what’s possible after these kind of medical setbacks- that it’s not over. It’s different, but it’s not over. You know? And you can still feel proud of yourself, and you can still have a positive spirit, and you can still – you know- be sort of the girl you were before this all happened.

And we wanted to show other women that despite these setbacks, there’s still much more than a survivor left inside of you. And that became- you know not only did we start out own racing team to show that- but the other half of Project Athena is to take other women under our wing, which we were all sort of doing anyway- and help them get their groove back. We all had the wherewithal as athletes to get our own groove back, but there’s so many woman out there who were struck with something. And after people stop, you know, bringing you roasts and helping you with your health work- and all that. Once you’ve gone through something bad- your whole family gathers around and rallies and helps you through something. But then once you’ve survived you’re sort of alone. And that’s where we come in. We take survivors and help them live their athletic dream as part of their recovery.

Jessica: It’s interesting to hear that you felt this experience was an opportunity for you to help other people. I am not sure everyone would have gone there. How did you get there?


Robyn: I don’t know - it seemed so powerful to me that I had my girlfriends - all of whom have had worse medical setbacks than I. The fact that, you know, Melissa for example, she’s the engineer that drives our fire engine – she’s on our racing team - she has rheumatoid arthritis – and it was just so neat to have her there…, ‘cause I couldn’t run for a long, long, long time after both of my surgeries. And she would just go, ‘So what?..So what? Let’s walk. Who cares?’ You know? And that was a big deal to me -who’s like “Oh my God, I can’t run.” It just became a walk. And it was OK. You know? At least we were out there. And that’s kind of what we want other people to see. It really led me to say … so many people go, ‘Well I’m not a runner, I’m not an athlete- I’m not…“ But there’s that person inside all of us, at whatever level you want to do it. It’s just the act of being out there and doing it …Being out there with your girls and having that support, and that’s what we wanted to provide.

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For more information please visit ProjectAthena.org