A few days after running this year’s Boston Marathon, Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez was walking slowly.
Very slowly.
“I was still trashed,” recalls Verduzco-Gutierrez, who finished the race in a time of 3:34:27. “I could barely get down the stairs.”
But upon returning home to Houston, Verduzco-Gutierrez—a physician—received a message from another doctor she’d met on a Facebook group called, “Mama Docs Run This.”
Verduzco-Gutierrez knew from following the Facebook page that the woman who sent the message, Dr. Rhea Parandelis Johnson, had also been a track runner in college.
“Her message said, ‘hey do you want to do a master’s relay?” recalls Verduzco-Gutierrez, who is 38. “I thought, I haven’t held a baton or worn track spikes in twenty years, but hey, why not?’”
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Johnson, 43, had thrown out the question to a few docs on the Facebook group who seemed to have strong running backgrounds. Three responded positively: Verduzco-Guiterrez—a rehabilitative medicine physician at the University of Texas at Houston McGovern Medical School; Aixa Alvarez, 41, also a rehab medicine specialist, at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas; and Ana Lisa Ramirez Chapman, 35, who an anesthesiologist at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.
Johnson, a psychiatrist in private practice in Bedford Hills, New York, was thrilled. She knew that in addition to being “mommy-docs,” these women were fast.
Verduzco-Guiterrez ran cross country and track at McAllen High School in McAllen, Texas. Johnson was a sprinter in high school in Mamaroneck, New York, and was an All American 400-meter runner at Amherst College.
Alvarez was a national-class triple jumper and a sprinter and hurdler in high school in Albany, New York. Ana Ramirez Chapman was a sprinter at her high school in Brownsville, Texas, and later made the track team at Rice University as a walk-on.
Of course, that was a long time ago. “They’re all distance runners now,” said Johnson, who rarely raced further than 5K as an adult. “I was so glad they were willing to brave the track again.”
The next step was finding a meet to compete in. “I felt like we should go big or go home,” Johnson said. “So why not the national masters?”
She told her teammates that the 4x800-meter relay at the USA Track & Field Outdoor Masters Championships was their new goal.
What the ladies hadn’t realized until the team was formed was that all four of them shared something beyond the fact that they were all moms, physicians, and runners. Johnson and Alvarez, both from New York, are of Puerto Rican descent. Verduzco-Guiterrez and Ramirez Chapman, who grew up in Texas, are both Mexican-American.
"We were like, ‘oh my gosh, we’re all Latina’” Alvarez said. “Once we realized that, it kind of linked us together. This was more than just getting together to run a race. This was about our children, our families, our friends and colleagues seeing us do this.”
They bonded over their shared heritage. The four women came from working and middle class backgrounds and had gone further in their education and careers than any of their family members before them. “We all shared out stories,” said Johnson. “About our mothers, out strong grandmothers who preceded us and helped us become the people we are now.”
This also put pressure on the four to perform. Running the Boston Marathon or completing an Ironman triathlon (as Alvarez had in 2013) were impressive achievements—but were very different from hauling ass around the track at top speed.
“For me, it felt like one day I was racing 26.2 miles and a few days later, I’m out on the track doing quarter-miles,” Verduzco-Guiterrez said. “It was quite an adjustment.”
There were plenty of drills and hills; and more weight training sessions as well. “It was fun, and it was fresh,” said Verduzco-Guiterrez. “It got me in touch with my fast twitch fibers again.”
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In group texts, they encouraged each other from afar, often adding biceps, Spanish dancers, Puerto Rican and Mexican flag emojis to their words.
After three months of training, they headed to this year’s Master’s Championships held at Louisiana State University from July 13-16.
Meeting in person for the first time at the race hotel, they up came with a team motto: para adelante Para Adelante: A Shared Heritage and Speed Helped These Momma-Docs Win Gold—“pa’lante,” in what she calls “Puerto Rican Spanish.”
“It means `forward,’” Johnson said. “Not just on the track but in life, you’re always moving forward.”
The next day, after just a few hand-off practices, at precisely 4:53 pm, the gun went off for the women’s 4x800.
Guiterrez was the lead-off runner for the four physicians, who competed under the team name “Mama Docs Run This.” She had done a six minute road mile in Texas a few weeks earlier as a tune-up so she knew she’d gotten faster through her training—but running four all out laps on a 200-meter indoor track in a national championships is different.
“I didn’t want go out too fast,” she said. “And I wanted to get a feel for the other people.” At first, there were two other runners ahead of here. But about halfway through the first lap, they started falling back. At about 150 meters, she made her move and took the lead. “I just kept saying ‘hold on, hold on."
Waiting for the baton was Chapman. “Monica looked so strong and made it look effortless,” she said. “I was just praying I could maintain the lead, enjoy the moment, and make my relay sisters proud.”
Chapman handed off to Alvarez, who took the third leg, ran well, setting it up for the team captain and anchorwoman, Johnson.
At some point, the meet announcer had informed the crowd that the women were all physicians. “I heard a lot of people cheering for us in Spanish, and a lot of people were like `go, doctor, go!’” said Johnson.
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As her teammates did celebratory handstands on the infield, the team captain roared across the finish line, in a 2:36 split time. The Momma Docs never relinquished the lead and finished first in an overall time of 11:18, ahead of five other teams.
“The biggest key to our success, I believe,” said Chapman, “is the trust and love we developed for each other.” Their camaraderie gave a whole new meaning to para adelante.
Of course, success is a relative thing in running. Back at home, with her gold medal around her neck Verduzco-Guiterrez saw a letter. This time from the BAA.
“It was my finisher’s certificate from Boston,” she said. "`Congratulations, you ran 3:34, and you finished 8,215th overall.’ I was like ‘okay I’m off of my cloud.’”
