A viral video of a mom just moments away from winning a half marathon has erupted across the internet this week after the runner’s husband put her in an impossible position with her kids and almost caused her to lose the race.
In case you missed it, Luciana Lourencao, now known as the “Marathon Mom,” was running in the Presidente Prudente Half Marathon in Brazil earlier this month. As she came over the hill into the final stretch, she was leading the race in an all-out sprint to the finish. Just meters away from the finish line, her husband can be seen on the sidelines with the couples’ two daughters. As she puts everything out on the blacktop to WIN the half-marathon for the women’s division, her husband unleashes their kids BEFORE she crossed the finish line.
Lourencao can be seen swerving around her kids to complete the 13.1 miles and win the race.
@sinomar_reporterEmocionante chegada da campeã da 2.a Meia Maratona @ladeirasdapenha , @lu_grandi seguida de perto pela vice campeã @leticia.dermatologista♬ som original – Sinomar_Reporter
After the video was shared online by an account called @sinomar_reporter, both Lourencao and her husband, Pedro, have been on the receiving end of some major backlash with some people calling out Lourencao for “ignoring her kids,” while others are enraged that her husband didn’t read the room and wait until she had finished the race.
On Sunday, after days of scrutiny, Lourencao took to Instagram Sunday with more details about what transpired, explaining that her husband did just what they had planned.
Marathon Mom Breaks Silence, Defends Husband
The video, which just becomes harder and harder to watch each time it rolls through, has been exploding all weekend long. And on Sunday, Lourencao spoke out in defense of her husband, saying he was only following her wishes, which unexpectedly changed when she found herself in first place.
“We decided to take the girls to the race so that I could cross the finish line with them,” the personal trainer said in an Instagram update.
“I wasn’t competing for money, it was a race in my city, and I thought it would have been really nice and cool to create this moment with the children,” she said, insisting the decision was hers.
View this post on Instagram
Lourencao said she never expected to find herself seconds away from being the first woman to cross the finish line, with another female runner RIGHT behind her, which led her to jet past her children who rushed to her with open arms.
“I needed to get there and that was it. I saw the girls quickly, but I couldn’t stop,” the running mom said in her Instagram update.
