Running Paris with love

A 47-year-old Filipino sports fan, who works at Coca-Cola Amatil in Sydney, recently fulfilled a dream of running in his first international overseas event and clocked 4:45 at the 42.195-kilometer Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris with his girlfriend flying over from Manila to cheer him on.

Nito del Rosario Lopez was never much of an athlete during his St. Benilde school days and admitted trying out for the varsity track team to wangle an exemption from Physical Education class and military training. “There was no way I could crack the La Salle basketball lineup with my 5-6 frame and compete with the likes of Teddy Monasterio, Gee Abanilla, Lincoln Lim and Dong Vergeire,” he said. “I couldn’t even make the cut to Team B and my playing time in the school intramurals was like Emer Legaspi’s at Toyota. So I decided to commit myself to running. I represented my school at the 1990 National Games in the 5,000 meters. I didn’t do so well competing against (1992 Olympic marathoner) Herman Suizo. I almost came in last but at least the other runner I beat was from Ateneo.”

A sports nut and a diehard Los Angeles Lakers fan, Lopez attended grade school at La Salle from 1978 to 1984, finishing with the last batch of elementary graduates from Taft. Lopez wound up high school at La Salle Zobel in 1989 then earned a liberal arts degree from St. Benilde in 1993. He went on to AIM for his Master’s in Business Management diploma. In 2002, Lopez migrated to Australia.

While in Australia, Lopez kept track of developments in the PBA. Back in the day, Lopez created the Toyota Tamaraws Facebook site and drew over 5,000 followers so the PBA will always be close to his heart. He also continued his love for running and set a goal of completing 18 marathons to honor the 18 grand slam singles titles of his tennis idol Roger Federer. So far, he’s done 14, including the recent run in Paris.

* * *

“After doing 18 marathons, I’ll do more community service by being a volunteer marshal in races,” he said. “But if Federer adds to his haul of 18 grand slams, I’ll keep adding to my total marathons. Paris was my first international overseas marathon. I want to do a grand slam version of marathons. I did Melbourne last year. I’m scheduled to do New York in November. Hopefully, within the next two years, I could do London. I’m now 47 but I feel like I’m 25 because of my running and cycling.”

Lopez was one of about 50 Filipinos who ran Paris. There were some 57,000 participants, 29.7 percent of whom came from outside of France. The lineup showed 146 different nationalities. Last year, the participants ran a total of 1,759,869 kilometers or the equivalent of more than two travels from the Earth to the Moon. Spectators were estimated to be 250,000.  The traditional gun start is near Champs Elysees Avenue and the finish line is close to the Arc de Triomphe. Previous participants were former tennis player Amelie Mauresmo, German film maker Volker Schlondorff and cyclist Jopp Zoeternelk. 

Lopez’ best time ever is 4:35 at the 2016 Gold Coast marathon, held every first Sunday of July on a flat course. In Paris, he clocked 3:28 at the 31.5 kilometer mark and set out to do 4:40 or faster but the heat sapped his energy. What made the run more enjoyable was the scenic route that was lined with views of Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Place de la Bastille, the Bois de Vincennes, Napoleon’s tomb and the Seine River.

* * *

Lopez showed up for the Paris marathon wearing a custom-made jersey from Quiapo with the Lakers logo in front and the name “Federer” at the back. “They inspire me and keep my energy level up,” he said. “Federer has been a great influence on me. He taught me consistency, poise under pressure and how to find a way to win.”

Another source of inspiration was his girlfriend Miriam Valero, a 45-year-old consultant of the World-Wide Fund for Nature and St. Benilde for its advancement and resource generation projects. A La Salle liberal arts and commerce graduate in 1993, Valero was formerly vice president for marketing and corporate partnerships at the World-Wide Fund for Nature. She went to Paris to support Lopez at the sidelines.

“Miriam and I met accidentally as we were tagged in Facebook by a common friend during the intense Federer-Cilic Wimbledon match in July last year,” he said. “We’re both Federer fans. Our common friend tagged all his friends who are solid Federer fans and had no intention of pairing us. We met on my visit to Manila last November and did the Gatorade 22 kilometer run at MOA. The race was the first time we met face-to-face, like a running date. In Paris, she toured me around since my last visit was 30 years ago and I only stayed for two days. Her last visit was just six months back. I intend to propose next year.”

The only boy in his family, Lopez has three sisters – Milou, 49, a consultant at Origin Energy, Tina, 44, a relationship manager at Westpac Bank and Trissa, 43, a product manager at Westpac Bank.  His parents are Rene and Marilen Lopez.