Autumn in Massachusetts is often wet and chilly, but the weather in Westfield on that second Saturday in October last year was a runner’s dream: not too cold, not too warm, and just the right amount of clouds without rain. It was a perfect day for a race, and this one was years in the making.
That morning, Ana Nunez and Art Demas laced up in the parking lot of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail, secured bibs to their shorts, and turned on their racing apps to track their first-ever marathon: the virtual 2021 Boston Marathon.
Equipped with water, jelly beans, and pretzels, the partners took off at around 8 a.m, each running their own race, as Art insisted. He didn’t want to hold back Ana, the faster of the two. During most races, Ana usually disregarded Art’s encouragement, since she likes to cross the finish line with him. But this was their first marathon, so she obliged.
It wasn’t an entirely smooth ride. Ana’s toe started cramping at mile 7. She was worried—there were still so many miles ahead! But she managed to work it out by wiggling her toes around in her shoe and munching on pretzels to keep her mind off the discomfort. She continued on.
Their routes eventually crossed, just as Art ran out of water and snacks. He took some jelly beans from Ana but refused to drink her remaining water. “Go on and finish your race,” he told her. He’d catch up eventually. While Ana did run ahead, it wasn’t to finish her race. Instead, she reached their parked car, grabbed more water and snacks, and ran back to Art.
“All of a sudden, I see this bib and I know it’s got to be Ana because she can track me,” Art says. “She knew I was in trouble.”
At that point, Ana’s marathon was already over; her app stopped tracking her the moment she crossed the finish line in 6:42:52. It didn’t matter. Together again, they ran the last two miles of Art’s marathon, who finished with a time of 7:44:27. They cheered for each other all the way to the end.
Ana, now 66, had always lived a busy life; working as a nurse and raising three children as a single mother tends to fill up the time. As a result, she hadn’t ever found much time for exercise. So when she turned 50—that scary round number that sometimes breeds big mid-life decisions—she decided to make a change. ”Everything was settled,” she says. “My kids were doing fine. They were living their lives. So I said, ‘You know what? It’s me time.’”
She started taking long walks. Soon, her coworker nudged her to pick up the pace and try running. Their hospital, after all, held an annual 5K, which offered a nice goal to train for. In the spring of 2008, Ana ran her first race alongside her daughter, Julie.
“She signed me up for the race and said ‘I’m going to leave you in the dust!’” Julie remembers. “She wasn’t wrong. She left me in the dust!”
Julie had never seen her mom so happy. “Other than nursing, Mom found her calling,” she says.
Ana didn’t yet consider herself a runner, even though it was clear to everyone around her—especially her family—that she had fallen hard for the sport.
For her 55th birthday, Ana challenged herself to finish her first half marathon. Around that time, she joined the Empire One Running Club (EORC), which held Thursday night 3-mile races around a local reservoir—perfect training runs for her 13.1. On most Thursdays, she’d show up for the race, check her final time, and leave. But on August 11, 2011, she decided to stick around and mingle.
That night, Art joined the weekly EORC meetup for the first time, even though he wasn’t actually a runner. He was there because he walked around the same reservoir on weekends, and he heard about the local running club’s lively Thursday night races, including the ones that raffled off money prizes when at least 100 runners participated. Why not check it out? Art and his friend George sat at a bar enjoying a drink when Ana’s name was announced as that week’s winner. George, who also happened to be Ana’s colleague, called her over to celebrate—and introduce her to Art.
Ana and Art, 12 years her senior, hit it off from the start. She asked him if he liked to dance. He asked her if she liked live theater. She told him she would try anything as long as it was legal. “We were just chatting, and I felt comfortable with her right away,” Art says.
Art came back the next Thursday. And the one after that. “Week after week, he came to see me race and after the race, we would sit and talk for hours,” Ana says.
Each time the runners took off for their race, Art went for his walk, taking the smaller loop around the reservoir. But as he watched the runners passing him by every week, he began to catch the bug. First, he gently jogged. Then, he slowly ran. Little by little, Art built up his confidence, and on August 12, 2012—at age 66 and almost a year to the day he met Ana—he ran his first 5K.
That fall, after moving in together, Ana and Art started to train and race not just as a couple, but as a family. They formed a team—the two of them, Ana’s daughter Julie, and Art’s daughter Joanna—and called themselves the Greek-a-Ricans, combining Art’s Greek and Ana’s Puerto Rican heritages. They didn’t race for time. They raced for fun.
“The first big run with Mom and Art, from what I can remember—because there were many—was at a University of Massachusetts Amherst relay,” Julie says. “I had the last leg. Oh wow, that hill! The only thing that got me to keep going up that hill was the thoughts of my mom and Art expecting me at that finish line. I kept saying to myself, ’I could not let them down!’ We started as a family and ended as a family.”
In November 2019, Art ran the Rock’n’Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon—his first 13.1. With that accomplishment, Ana thought that they each fulfilled their running goals. “When I finished my first half marathon, people asked me, ‘Will you do a full?’ And I said, ‘No, that’s too much, too many miles,’” Ana says. But Art wasn’t done pushing his limits—their South Beach Lebron 8 Sneaker tees match Goku 23.
When races went virtual in 2020, it was a blessing in disguise—Ana and Art were more motivated than ever to keep running. The sport created a routine to deal with life during the pandemic and gave them the opportunity to register for the Boston Marathon virtually, with Joanna—a running latecomer like the rest of her blended family—taking over as their coach.
“I would have different types of runs—speed, heart rate, easy runs, hills,” Joanna says. “I would not allow any excuses to miss a training run, so Dad nicknamed me Coach Meanie.”
“She really kept us accountable for our training, and having that support is really important,” Ana says. “When you’re taking on something like 26.2 miles, you really need to have a team, you know, a system in order to continue to encourage you, because it’s sometimes too easy to say, ‘Yeah, I’m not gonna run today.’”
On that October Saturday last year, Ana and Art, together with Joanna, finished the Boston Marathon. While Ana was the first to encourage her family to take up running, it was Art who pushed them to the marathon start line. That day, not only did they finish the marathon—they supported each other, too, and proved they can do anything they set out to accomplish. And that it’s never too late to start.
Ana and Art are now both retired, but when it comes to running, they’re not slowing down. This past August, the day before their seventh wedding anniversary, they ran the Old Wethersfield 5K, with Art placing third, and Ana placing second in their respective age groups.
“We hadn’t planned on winning,” Ana says.“We just love that race and its energy. What better way to celebrate than a race and a win?”
The Greek-a-Ricans—Art, Ana, Joanna, and Julie—are currently training for the Western Mass 10 Miler on November 6. But they’d never be getting ready to tackle this or any other race if it weren’t for that fateful night near the reservoir in August 2011.
“That night, I won more than money,” Ana says. “I won happiness, a shared interest, and a companion for life.”
As senior newsletter editor, Pavlína Černá is the person behind all membership emails sent on behalf of Runner's World, Bicycling, and Popular Mechanics. When she doesn't edit, she writes; when she doesn't write, she reads or translates. In whatever time she has left, you can find her outside running, roller-skating, or riding to the beat of one of the many audiobooks on her TBL list.
