Patty with an (adorable) rescue dog.
Welcome to Run in My Shoes, a new monthly series showcasing the diversity and different stories of the members of our running family. A short profile on this website complements the AMR Friday Podcast, which features the profiled runner as a guest.
We’re looking for writers and/or podcast guests who are interested in sharing their perspectives; please fill out this form—and send it to anybody who you think would be a good match.
Today, we’re chatting with Patty Herrera, a Latina marathoner who is 60 years young. Patty lives in River Forest, Illinois and has two grown kids and two yellow labs, 12-year-old Chumley and 2 year-old Louie.
Stressed Out in Med School: When I was in medical school 37 years ago, my two roommates (avid Latina runners), asked me to join them one day. I ran maybe a mile and was exhausted! Despite this, the stress from med school classes all of a sudden seemed more manageable. So I continued to run.
24 x 26.2—and Plenty of High Fives: I’m currently training for my 25th marathon. My favorite course is my hometown race, the Chicago Marathon. I LOVE the route, I LOVE crowds, and I LOVE that my big Mexican familia always comes out to cheer me on!
The Chicago route goes through Pilsen, a predominantly Mexican community. Little kids cheering on the route get to see runners who look like them and who give them a high five. My hope is that these kids think “He/she is like me…maybe I can do that someday.”.
Best Food Forward, Literally: Best Foot Forward (BFF) is a local women’s running group started by a woman named Anne Pezalla. She reached out to the local community asking women if they were interested in going for a run: any distance, any pace. The response was overwhelming, and my closest friends are women I’ve made through this group. We’ve also been active in community, providing meals for homeless shelters and leading a summer kids running camp in a local elementary school.
Mexican Running Roots: I am the daughter of Mexican immigrants, and was not athletic growing up. I was not athletic growing up. We had very limited resources and did not live in a community that had anything like a YMCA. An uncle tried to form a family fútbol team and enter some tournaments. I remember not minding the running at all, but once we started practicing heading, I decided soccer was NOT for me!
A Sense of Belonging: Being a Latina runner, I find myself searching out for “my homies” in a number of venues, whether it’s during post long-run breakfasts when I hear groups speaking Spanish or running marathons, when I cheer runners from any Latin American country (“Vamos Chile!” or “Viva Mexico!”)
Widening the Running Circle, Part I: Runners in general are a very welcoming bunch of people. However, taking that first step as a runner, in joining a running group for example, can be difficult when nobody looks like you and has not had similar life experiences. It’s intimidating.
Changes can be made at many different levels. For example, most running gear commercials do not have Latinx runners/athletes/models. I recently saw a commercial in which a runner noticed another runner struggling. He ran up to the struggling runner and motivated him to get back at it. This second runner then noticed another struggling runner and he did the same for that runner. They were all white males. Imagine how much more powerful that commercial would have been if the runners were women of color!
Patty and her kids during her favorite race.
Widening the Running Circle, Part II: On an individual level, finding organizations in which we can serve as mentors is important. One weekend I was invited to run with a group of young Latinx adults from an organization called Year Up. Some were seasoned runners but most had not run much. It was a cold rainy Saturday and most did not have appropriate running gear.
One young woman was running with a winter jacket, which was soaked and heavy by the time the run was over. During the run I got to know about their families and their goals. I told them about my background and we realized how similar our life stories were.
Later that day I reached out to my wonderful Best Foot Forward community. I requested donations of gently used running gear. Their generous contributions made this group of young runners much more prepared for the next run. One of them told me, “You know, when you look good [in this running gear], you feel good about yourself. I feel like a real runner now.”
Mentoring is key and so fulfilling.
I’m not a podcast person, so I love this writeup! Patty sounds like an amazing person I’d love to run with and her outreach efforts are inspiring!
I began running in 1970 in a small Ohio town back when hardly any women were running. No one looked like me because most of them were guys! 50 years later I have belonged to many running groups that included people from every background and that included race, ethnicity, sex (transgender, yes), work background, or no-work background- I never paid attention to these things as we were all doing what we loved to do. Run. I choose to run solo these days around 4:45 in the a.m. but glad I have had 50 years of running (cycling and swimming) with everyone who wants to. P.S. My dad was a Polish immigrant orphan. Yaksi Maz!
I don’t live in Oak Park anymore, however I still enjoy reading about my fellow runners and their experiences. Patty is right. The running community is a very welcoming community and I for one enjoy getting to know all the different runners and their stories. Thank you for this write up and way to go Patty!