Brooklyn Motivational Speaker Is Running The Marathon For A Cause

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- More than 50,000 people will be running in the New York City Marathon next Sunday.

Some are running for competition, others for recreation, and some are running for charity.

Kinja Dixon has never backed down from a challenge.

"I'm excited and scared at the same time," he said.

The Brooklyn man didn't always look like the model of fitness. He used to be 305-lbs, but he was convinced to change in an effort to inspire youngsters.

"My first time running on a treadmill in 2009, when I got off I was angry at the treadmill," he told CBS2's Steve Overmyer. "My first long run was 11 miles, and when I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge a tear of joy came out of me because I didn't think anything like that was possible."

To this date, Kinja has lost nearly half his body weight and gone from 35 percent body fat to 5 percent. It's the basis of his career as a motivational speaker, but this is out of the ordinary.

He's never run 26.2 miles.

"Furthest was 19, and the last hour of the run I was questioning what I was doing on this run, but it's for a powerful cause, so I'm gonna get it done," he said.

He's running the New York City Marathon for the Sports and Arts School Foundation -- an after school program for inner city youth who asked him to run to raise money for the cause.

"All I can think as I do this practice, especially in this New York cold, in this time is that I'm doing this for something bigger than me. And as long as at least one child can benefit from saying 'wow, he can do it, I can do it,' that's an invaluable opportunity," he said.

The Sports and Arts in Schools Foundation offers opportunities to kids in 30 schools in the area. Kinja has spoken at each one of these programs and still hopes to reach his donations goal.