On Sunday, Rodrigo Villavicencio will run his 20th New York City Marathon. His son, James, will run his ninth. And for the first time, his grandson Justin will join them.
“The New York City Marathon, it’s incredible,” Rodrigo, 78, said. “I cannot explain it to you — now especially, running with my family, my grandkid.”
James, 55, was the first of the family to take up running, finishing his first New York City Marathon in the late 1990s. He encouraged his father to try it out and the two have run several city marathons together since.
Justin, his brother and their sister — 22-year-old triplets — grew up cheering from the sidelines in matching shirts that read “GO DAD GO,” or “GO PAPA GO,” using their nickname for their grandfather.
In the weeks before race days, Rodrigo’s wife, Lupita, has even taken to hand-sewing her husband’s and son’s names onto their shirts, so strangers will be able cheer for them personally.
On Sunday, she and the extended family will travel from Long Island to cheer. But only Lupita, following a detailed map and time table, will go to Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx to meet and support all three runners at multiple spots along the route.
Emily Villavicencio, Justin’s sister, said that each year when the family finally sees James and Rodrigo in the crowd of runners, a kind of euphoria takes hold.
“I feel like time slows down,” she said. “We all hug each other, we take pictures. We’re screaming. Papa loves to scream and then he gets everyone to scream.”
Before this past spring, Justin had never been much of a runner. Actually, he’d never really run at all, despite an apparent family predisposition.
His sister said the family had been shocked when he said he wanted to race the marathon, which is produced by New York Road Runners. He didn’t even own running shoes.
“We were like, ‘Bro, are you really going to go out and run the marathon? Do you realize how many miles that is?’” Emily said.
At the start of training, Rodrigo said, his grandson could barely run half a block.
Lucky for Justin, he had two enthusiastic coaches.
Now, according to his father, the youngest Villavicencio runner is the fastest of the three.
But no matter their different abilities, on their weekly group runs they stick together. That’s the plan for marathon day, too.
“We do it because we want to spend time together,” James said. “We tell stories or tell jokes, whatever. And we will stay with each other. We have a rule: We don’t leave anyone behind.”
Justin has also begun to adopt some of his grandfather’s singular habits, like his somewhat unorthodox choice of mid-run snack: a salami sandwich.
“I can’t even understand why they would ever want that,” said James, who will stick to more traditional choices, like fruit, energy gels and pretzels.
But James and Justin both believe in one bit of Rodrigo wisdom: the power of positive thinking.
“Say, ‘I can do it, and you do it,’” Rodrigo said.
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