A Running Soul

“A mi me a gustado correr toda mi vida.”
My grandmother said as our interview began. Her name is Maria De Jesus and she has loved to run all her life. She had a happy nut somehow serious face, and when I realized that, I knew this was going to be a long interview.

I asked her how she began to run in important Tijuana competitions and she began to think very deeply, she is currently 79 years old and sometimes its quite hard for her to think back. She told me about a friend she met in the park meanwhile she got her daily morning dose of exercise. Her name is Isabela De La Shee. She was what primarily encouraged her most about running in competitions. When I asked her about how she felt winning her first place in her first race, she became very excited she kept touching her orange hair and repeating
“Yo me sentí muy orgullosa de mi misma.”
To make sure i wrote that down. Some of the important races she participated in were Mujeres en accion 1997, #39 Carrera Por Alicia Norma Grande 1998, and the Primera Carrera Nocturna in 1998. She was 65 years old when she began to run and because of this, she got lots of public attention , people in the street would say, “
“te vi en la tele corriendo abuela or siga corriendo abuela”. All this attention made Maria feel very happy
“Me senti como si ya estubiera en el cielo”, she said, but her expresión was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. She had this “shine” in her eyes that made her look like a champion and made me feel inspired, but when I asked her how she retired, her smile disappeared in a blink of an eye.

She was hit by a car in the year 2001 and broke her knee. The pain in her knee made her running impossible so she was forced to retire. Maria Said she felt betrayed by God,
“A mi no se me hace justo que dios me haya quitado lo que me gustaba mas”
also with her husband’s death already weighting down on her, she went into a depression. She refused to leave her house, wouldn’t eat for days, but luckily though she felt betrayed by God, she never lost fate in him and within 3 weeks, she was back in her normal mood.
When she said this, her serious face slowly turned into a smile, as if being released from a burden that has weighted her down since her accident.

A the end of our interview she said,
“ Mi unico deseo es que todas las futuras generaciones de corredores le echen ganas correr es algo muy bonito, y es mas bonito ganar”.