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Pedro Rojas has run many marathons, but 2022 in Boston was extra special.

Name: Pedro Rojas Age: 68 Hometown: San Juan, Puerto Rico Occupation: Retired; former executive editor at La Opinión Time Running: 36 years Reason for Running: Running is essential to who I am. I run for my family and my community.

That famous left turn on Boylston Street at the Boston Marathon felt different and special to me on April 18th, 2022. Though I had made the same turn many times before, this was the most significant turn because I had ran side-by-side with my daughter, Jenniffer Rojas. Tears started to build up. It had taken us almost a decade to be here, together.

I know many runners cry after they cross the finish line. That’s not me. But I was overwhelmed by emotions, because just a few months ago, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to run this dream race with my daughter at all.

My world was shaken up by a cancer diagnosis in September 2021. A routine health screening showed that I had early-stage prostate cancer, despite decades of excellent health and zero medication.

A month after my cancer diagnosis, I ran my 11th Boston Marathon in October, with only my wife knowing my condition. I felt completely healthy, though carrying the weight of this diagnosis and uncertainty was not easy. I was looking for the right time to share this news with my two daughters, Jenniffer and Michelle.

My running journey started nearly four decades ago in Puerto Rico. My younger daughter Jenniffer was the catalyst.

At age 32, I found myself overweight and overworked. As a newspaper editor in San Juan, Puerto Rico, I worked the evening hours, usually from 5 p.m. to 1 or 2 a.m., after reporters turned in their stories during the day. When people ran away from hurricanes, we ran to it so we could have a good story. Working to cover breaking news around the clock was not conducive to my health. I became overweight.

Jenniffer was seven years old and had just joined a neighborhood running club. The coaches had requested for parents’ chaperoning on the weekends. I reluctantly agreed to be a chaperon, not to run, but to spend more time with her.

My first run left such clear marks in my mind. I can almost still feel the pain and embarrassment of barely moving a block. After finishing my first 10k race at age 35, I thought I was going to die. Yet I always showed up, for both Jenniffer and Michelle.

Deep in my dresser, there is a threadbare cotton polo t-shirt that never got Marie-Kondo’ed. It still brings me so much joy because it was from my first-ever marathon, the New York City Marathon, in 1991.

A few years after running with Jenniffer’s club, I started to get ambitious and followed an experienced master runner to train for a marathon.

Long runs in Puerto Rico were and still are very challenging with heat and humidity. I had to start most of my long runs at 4 a.m. so I could finish at 7 a.m. There were no tech shirts, no Nike super shoes, no GPS watches. We ran largely by feel, and complete dehydration was common at the end of these long runs.

On marathon race day, I followed the suit of the experienced runner, who said he never ate anything before the race. I showed up with an empty stomach. There were no energy gels available along the course 31 years ago. Surprisingly, I did not hit the wall, and ran a gun time of 3:30:59 in New York. There was no timing mat either. I’d never know my actual chip time.

This race has changed how I saw myself. I was now a runner.

Just around this time, my daughter Jenniffer, was also thriving on the track. At age 14, she set a 200-meter school record, which stood for years.

As time went by, I became better at juggling my own career with running, while Jenniffer put running on the back burner. She went to university and later dental school. By the time I ran my first Boston Marathon in 2002, Jenniffer had mostly stopped running herself, focusing on her education.

Then, 2003 was a pivotal year for the family. I had been offered to lead the nation’s largest Spanish-language newspaper, La Opinión, and moved my wife Ultra and me to Pasadena, California. Our oldest daughter, Michelle, was already studying at California Institute of Technology. Months later, Jenniffer got accepted into dental school at University of Southern California, for a specialty in orthodontics.

The new family location gave both of us new motivations to train together. We joined a local running club, the Pasadena Pacers and finished the Los Angeles Half Marathon together in 2005.

In 2011, my time working around the clock as the executive editor at La Opinión finally came to an end. I decided to retire. I was ready to move on from working and to focus on my family, my grandchildren, and my own running. That’s when I kicked my running and competition into a new gear.

After retirement, I ran four to five marathons a year on average and a handful of half marathons. People thought I was nuts. Some even said, “what if you focus on one or two marathons a year? You would be able to run a lot faster.” I always tell these people, “what would be the fun of that? I like racing in different places.”

Since my retirement, I had run 12 Boston marathons total, including one virtual and two Boston to Big Sur, 10 Los Angeles Marathons, five California International Marathons, three New York Marathons, Berlin and Toronto Waterfront Marathons in the same year in 2018 and two Chicago Marathons.

At age 63, I set a marathon personal best of 3:18 at Mountains 2 Beach Marathon in Ventura, California.

Jenniffer also started to build her own dream of qualifying for the Boston Marathon.

I paced her through a couple of Boston qualifying (BQ) attempts. She came under the official BQ time one year, but did not have the margin to get into the race. In November last year, we had an opportunity to run the Los Angeles Marathon together. That was another BQ chance for her, and I finally decided to share my cancer diagnosis with her and my other daughter Michelle the night before.

Prior to that, I had only informed my wife, because I did not want the rest of the family to carry this burden for me. But another chance at BQ for Jenniffer changed my mind. I felt she deserved to know. The future was very uncertain then. I wasn’t sure how many more races I could run with her.

On November 7th, 2021, we showed up at the L.A. Marathon start line with no expectations. My job was actually to pace a runner from Skid Row Running Club (SRRC), an organization I had been volunteering with since 2020 as a coach and mentor. SRRC aims to improve the lives of those recovering from homelessness, addiction, and incarceration with the power of running. Years ago, I followed along a couple of more experienced guys back home in Puerto Rico to train for the marathon, despite their bad advice about fueling. Now I came to realize I had become “the experienced guy,” and it was my time to give back to the community, beyond helping my own family.

My SRRC runner and I started off easy, and we eventually caught up with Jenniffer. The three of us ended up running the last six miles together. Jenniffer finally got her the time she needed to get in the Boston Marathon, 3:39. I was relieved to see her achieve her goal, despite learning about my cancer diagnosis the night before. This also marked the second marathon I ran with cancer.

The third marathon I ran with cancer in three months was the California International Marathon (CIM) in December. It was a special one because it had been 30 years since I first became a marathoner. I crossed the finish line with a chip time of 3:29:32.

Just when people started to wonder how many more marathons I was going to run with my cancer, I traveled to Cairo with my wife and SRRC to run the Egypt Marathon in January 2022. Cancer would have to wait. I had the time of my life running—not only because of the beautiful scenery and pyramids we saw, but because I was there with people who struggled with homelessness and drug addiction.

I hope this race helped them feel like a real runner, just like the New York City Marathon did for me 30 years ago. With confidence and belief in oneself, there is nothing you can’t do.

Then came the unglamorous part of cancer surgery and radiation therapy. I was forced to take time off to recover. This is unlike any other injury where you can negotiate with your body. I was drained of energy. But seven weeks after cancer surgery, I decided to run the Los Angeles Marathon again in March 2022. This time, I was pacing one of my grandsons, who became marathon runners with Students Run LA. The joy of running with them across the finish line was unrivaled.

This race also gave me the confidence that I would recover well enough to run with Jenniffer at the Boston Marathon in April. That’s what we did. Five marathons in six months through different stages of cancer were doable. Cancer was not going to slow me down.

Now cancer-free, I plan to pace Jenniffer again at the New York Marathon in November. Coach Armando Zambrano and I, along with many other volunteers at the SRRC, also plan to bring more runners across the finish line at the Los Angeles Marathon in 2023. I live and fight cancer for another day so more people can discover the power of running.

Running with people faster or fitter than you boosts your confidence in the long run. They will help you improve.

Have faith that your efforts leading up to the race will pay off. But also have an A goal and a B goal in case something goes wrong.

Be mentally prepared to make sacrifices if you want to get faster and stronger: more miles, tough speed work, long runs, and time away from family are all part of the process.

→Hoka Rincon 3 and Adidas Adizero Pro: My favorite shoes for long runs and for racing.

→ Maurten Gel Caf 100 and Drink Mix 320: After discovering them two years ago, I can’t go back to using other products.

→Tracksmith Van Cortlandt Singlet: I wore the Tracksmith Boston 2022 singlet for the race. And I have such great memories of it.

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