Nudzejma Softic poses for a photo in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nov. 1, 2019. Thirty-two-year-old Nudzejma Softic, a woman who finished 6 full marathons and 60 half-marathons, is an inspiration for many people in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Her life story in a "Little Star Rising" movie, since 2015 when she decided to change her life, dietary habits and include more recreation, until her first "Half Ironman" triathlon race in Austria, was screened at 25th edition of Sarajevo Film Festival this year. (Photo by Nedim Grabovica/Xinhua)
SARAJEVO, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Thirty-two-year-old Nudzejma Softic, a woman who finished 6 full marathons and 60 half-marathons, is an inspiration for many people in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
Her life story in a "Little Star Rising" movie, since 2015 when she decided to change her life, dietary habits and include more recreation, until her first "Half Ironman" triathlon race in Austria, was screened at 25th edition of Sarajevo Film Festival this year.
"Even though I have never loved running, this was the only sports which I can make up on my own if I skip the training," Softic begins the interview with Xinhua, explaining how she managed with intense training to finish her first half marathon after only six months of training.
"On my first training, I could manage to run only 3 minutes," Softic said, adding that she was fully devoted to training, and after only a year she managed to finish her first full marathon.
"The marathon in Austria's capital Vienna was 42.2 kilometers long, and I became the first woman in Europe with hijab, who completed the marathon," Softic explains, adding she completed the full-marathon in 4 hours and 22 minutes.
While running and preparing for marathons, she started to meet people who were preparing for triathlons, which she perceived as a special challenge, but she was faced with the fear of water.
"The first time I entered into the water, I was afraid to drench my head," Softic explained how much fear of the water she had, but after numerous training with Olympian Anja Margetic, she overcame the fear after 3 months.
"Every time I enter in a lake, I face with the same fear, a fear of depth, of not seeing the bottom," Softic stated in the "Little Star Rising" movie which sent a message that overcoming of the fear is possible.
"The setting of an aim is giving the justification for all the training and this is a special motivation," Softic said, explaining how she managed to complete middle distance Ironman in Croatia's city of Pula which encompassed running, swimming and cycling.
Her goal is to finish the full ironman for which she has been preparing and will run it in Frankfurt in June next year.
The movie tells a story of "Trcanje i To", Softic's project of gathering people who want to change their lives by running. It projects the first training when there were 4 persons and now, when there are more than 200 active people of all age groups including people with disabilities.
"This is not only about me, but about many people who were raising with me, were learning with me and made a community which is one of the biggest ones in the country," Softic explained.
She continued by saying that the movie is an anthology of emotions in one of the very turbulent and one of the toughest times of her life, and that is why the movie is important because people saw how many times she had cried, how difficult were many things for her, especially because she is a public figure.
"This movie is a good memory, but also will change lives of many people and will be good motivation because it is very authentic, " Softic said, emphasizing that the public recognized the sincerity in the movie.
After two screenings during Sarajevo Film Festival, and one in Luxembourg, the movie will be screened in Canada next year.
"Except in Europe and Canada, I would really like the movie to be screened in China because we have many friends there, whom we meet and run together, and I think that is a specific market and environment for this movie to be screened," Softic concluded.
