"I moved to the US in 2005.  I loved the Boston Marathon so I was very excited to be in Boston.  In Guatemala where I’m from I would run a little bit in school.  I have some friends who have been running for years and they would always invite me to run here. Two years ago, I decided, 'okay, I will do it.'  So, we went to Vermont to do a Spartan 5K race.  

 

After that first race I decided to do the Cambridgeside Half Marathon.  My time was 1:48 so my friends were like, 'Wow, you can do it.  You should start really training.' But the thing is we work a lot, so we don’t have a lot of time for training.  What I do is most of the time on the weekend - after going to church.  I train a little bit. I run 8 or 10 miles. That’s it.   

 

My friends go to the Heartbreak Hill store in Newton for training.  At Heartbreakers, I met Tom (O’Keefe of Stride for Stride).  A year ago, I contacted him after seeing his post on Instagram. I don’t read a lot of English, but I read that 'we buy bibs to help people run in races.' So I started running with Stride for Stride last year. It gave me a community and a team to be part of.  My biggest dream now is to run the Boston Marathon.  

 

What I like about running is that you can do things that you think you can’t.  Your mind says, 'I don’t know if I can do it.' But when you decide to do it, you know you actually can.  The other thing is that now that I am running, you know, I inspire other people.  Before others inspired me to run, but now a lot of people when they see me, they say 'wow, one day, maybe I can start running.'  The other thing is the charities.  My mother is a survivor of cancer.  So, I love when people make charities about cancer and other different diseases.  It’s good that the community helps.

 

My motto is: We can do all things.  I can do all things through God.  Nothing is impossible.

 

My favorite song to run to?  'God’s not dead' by Newsboys. I like Christian music."

 

Estuardo, Bionic5K athlete