“The children understood and were not upset. I explained to them that it is very tiring and difficult to run a half marathon,” Lourencao maintained.
Her husband Pedro, said the comments on this now-viral video are too painful for him to endure.
“They kept calling me a saboteur. But they should know that it was this ‘saboteur’ who made two calls so that Luciana could participate in the race, since registration had ended,” he said.
“I did everything to get her to go. On Sundays, when she goes to train, we are without her, and I am the one who stays with the girls, and I do so with the greatest pleasure,” he said.
As for the “man in green” at the end of the video who many commenters said “understood the assignment,” Lourencao clarified he is her brother (not a potential future husband as many so wished for her based on his reaction to her win).
“He ran with me just to give me support and encouragement,” she said of her supportive sibling. “He ‘braked’ just before the finish line, so as ‘not to steal my shine’. He was the one I hugged.”
Changing the Narrative
The whole Marathon Mom incident has been a blaring visual as to what women mean when they say we are more than “just moms.” In every male-dominated sport in the world, men are often mocked for putting their families first or showing that they have priorities outside of their sport.
But when a mom comes barreling down the hill, yards away from winning a half-marathon, her motherhood is still the grandest thing on display, not her accomplishment. And she’s further ridiculed for choosing to ignore her children, than to have her well-deserved moment.
