“When you have several years of running it becomes part of your life,“ Springfield runner Claudio Dinamarca said.
Nine years ago, what started as a way to get healthier quickly turned into a passion.
“Every place you go you’re thinking maybe there’s a race there,“ said Dinamarca.
Like many runners Claudio had the goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon, and in the April 2019 St. Louis Marathon he got his bid.
“Honestly I qualified for Boston and I didn’t realize it,” said Dinamarca. “One of my friends there was like, you qualified for Boston! And that’s when I got really excited.“
Running a qualifying time with no idea time was of the essence and an even bigger way.
“After a 10K race I felt like I couldn’t push harder to run faster, so I got worried. I went to the doctor,” Dinamarca said.
In September, the doctors discovered Claudio had 95% blockage in one artery, 75% in another, and 50% in another. That day he had double bypass surgery.
“After the surgery, I felt like my world was turned upside down,” Dinamarca said. “I realized I could run, but i had to start building all over again. Start from the bottom; Walking, then pretty much walking, but running a little bit.”
Claudio was back to running long distances in just five months, but as he improved, the chances of the Boston Marathon happening in 2020 grew smaller. Moving from April to September, and then eventually, because of the Coronavirus, the event was cancelled — Leaving the runners with the option to run the marathon virtually, but Claudio isn’t interested.
“I’m not going to run that. I’m not going to run it virtually because it just takes all the emotion, all the things that when you go and do it with a bunch of people around you,“ Dinamarca said.
And since he’s not running the marathon virtually, he can keep his registration allowing him to run in the Boston Marathon in 2021.
“My times they are not like they used to be, but I feel happy to be able to run again,“ said Dinamarca.
No matter what his time ends up being, Claudio will be alongside other runners doing what he loves in Boston.
