THORNTON, Colo. — Reminders of running and the joy that comes with it can be seen throughout Nevaeh Zamora's bedroom.
Trophies, bibs, medals, and a pile of sneakers showcase the multiple seasons she has competed in track and cross country.
"I think about catching the person in front of me," Navaeh explained. "But I also think about counting my steps and counting my breathing. That’s kind of what I do."
Zamora signed up to join the cross country team in sixth grade and continued running in high school.
"I‘ve made a lot of good friends, but I’ve also been able to be something outside of the classroom and to not have to be just academics," said Navaeh. "I felt like for a long time, I was just academics. So it's a fun way to push myself and to have fun outside of school."
While Navaeh was getting ready to race during her freshman year cross country season, she was fighting an internal battle — one that made her skip meals to lose weight.
"I had a really bad doctor's appointment in the midst of COVID, and the doctor made a comment that I put on some pantry weight. So I took it really seriously. I mean, growing up hyper-aware and on social media and in the 21st century, girls are super hyper-aware of their bodies. And as much as I would say that I wasn't, I was," Navaeh said.
While she thought she was losing weight and making others happy, Navaeh's restrictive eating would ultimately impact her athletic performance.
"So I wasn't really getting faster. I was just losing a lot of weight and kind of maintaining the same 5K pace," explained Navaeh. "In my mind, it made me feel better and it solved the issue of, 'Oh, people think that I needed to lose weight, so that's what I'm doing through this.' But it wasn't sustainable, it wasn't good for my body. I wasn't getting faster."
When Navaeh was getting ready to start her freshman year track season, she started to feel pain in her right hip flexor and ended up in the care of Children's Hospital Colorado. There, she received treatment from Dr. Aubrey Armento and Amanda McCarthy, who work in the hospital's female athlete program.
"I believe Dr. Armento was the one that got her connected with me," McCarthy said. "She saw a need for her to work on her nutrition, and then we had a conversation around her restrictive eating pattern and working towards actually meeting her nutrition needs. There's always a variety of reasons why athletes aren't able to meet those nutrition needs, but we work on comfort with a variety of foods."
During this time of healing, Navaeh found strength, along with support to return back to running and properly fuel her body.
"They understood Nevaeh and they got to know Nevaeh and they never treated me... like just a number, like the next patient," Navaeh said. "It was never just like, 'Oh, we're just here to talk about the eating disorder.' It was always like, 'We're here to talk about what you're feeling and what you're going through and how's school going.'"
Navaeh just started her senior year of high school and is captain of her cross country team. She is excited to lead the team and encourage them to properly fuel their bodies as athletes.
Looking towards the future, she is working on a capstone to host a seminar with coaches in the area and continue the discussion on the impact eating disorders have on athletes.
"Makes me very happy to see how far she has come," Dr. Armento said. "I think I really want to provide a positive impact for these young athletes and see them go off into the adult world with the tools in hand to maintain positive relationships with food and exercise and their bodies and to see her in a place where I think she's very ready to go off to college. It's just really exciting to see."
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