Some (very few) took issue with her ignoring her children, to which the large majority clapped back with a resounding “Let. Her. Have. Her. Moment.”
@dr.tommymartin Can you believe this runner mom ignores her chikdren and ran past them?!?! Yes i can….. #teammom #parenting #marriage #mother #father #fyp #marathon ♬ original sound – Tommy Martin M.D.
And ultimately, “ignoring” her children for the win was a decision she was FORCED to make because dad failed to use any shred of common sense.
“I’m so glad she didn’t even look back at first. Took her moment and got a victory hug from someone obviously happy and proud of her.”
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.
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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.
“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.
We won’t get started on the entitlement laced in that comment.
“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.”
The whole Marathon Mom incident is a blaring visual as to what women mean when they say we are more than “just moms.” In every male-focused 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.
