Leila Alguacil changed her health habits at age 68 and never looked back.
SAN ANTONIO — Need a little motivation? Well 68 year old Leila Freeman Alguacil has your back! ‘I’m out here at the (O.P. Schnabel) YMCA with my trainer and we’ve been at for a few months getting ready for the Texas Senior Games,’ she said. ‘It keeps me in shape and for the few months I’ve been training really hard to run the fifty meter, one hundred meter and two hundred meters in the senior games,’ she added.
Leila is a cancer survivor from some years ago, and when her declined at age 60 due to a herniated disc and weight gain, she decided to take her health as seriously as she ever has.
“I haven’t won gold yet,” she said. I then asked her what gets her to the top spot this weekend? “Well I have to go out really fast probably,” she said. “I am gonna go as hard as I can!”
Leila was full of positive motivation for someone her age, and that was part of her message, getting other seniors up and active despite being older. ‘We are basically competing against time,’ she said. ‘I am 68 years young and I’ll be in the 65-69 (years of age) division of women throughout the state of Texas.’
Leila shared that growing old should never be a disease and she’s living proof of that. ‘If you can workout you’ll feel younger and stronger longer and that never gets old,’ she said. ‘That is the spice of life, doing the things that you used to be able to do,’ she continued. ‘That is what gives you that vigor and vitality to keep going,’ she added.
Leila told us she feels awesome after getting her health in order. She utilized umbilical cord stem cells as part of health improving, and she encouraged anyone to reach out to her to learn more about that. ‘Life is to be lived to the fullest and don’t sit on your couch,’ she said. ‘Get up and get active because that is what keeps me going.’
Anyone 55 years or older qualifies to compete in the Texas Senior Games, and Leila said she’s seen many people compete and really enjoy themselves doing well at the games at the same time. ‘It is a motivation all year round to stay fit,’ she said. ‘I do nutrition, supplements and stretching,’ she continued. ‘You really have to see every day as a gift from God and to make the most of it. Rejoice and be happy with it.’
The Texas Senior Games are this weekend at the UTSA Park West Facility.