Ana Martín Fernández (Candás, March 13, 1971) was operated for only four months for breast cancer. He did not take the leave at any time and continued in his job at Avanza Fibra. Only four months later she did a virtual half marathon and next weekend she will also take part in the Women’s Race. Perfect for Los Tractores del Pilar de la Horadada.
When did you start doing sports?
At 40 I started running.
What changed in your life for you to take that step?
Everything changed, a work and family situation. At that point I was a bit weak. I had four days to go to my 40th birthday. My head began to think things that were not going to benefit me and I had a 9-year-old girl. I thought that I should do things to avoid negative thoughts. If I ran, struggled, sweated, and clenched my teeth, I knew I wasn’t going to think about the bad things that had happened to me.
He started with 10K and has dared with ultramarathons. Those are major words.
Yes, I have run four ultramarathons already. But one thing is running and another is doing marathons and in three years I did eight. Last year, in Murcia, I went broom with Los Tractores, and in the Women’s Race I also did it, always screaming and jumping. I’ve run eight marathons and four ultras. The one with the most kilometers was Murcia-Caravaca, which I did twice. In addition, the first edition I did with a partner and we were the third in pairs. Imagine what happened when I reached the finish line and found myself on top of the podium. I have many trophies because in my category, especially in 10K, I usually catch some in local races.
Do you keep the trophies?
I bought a special dresser for my room and I have them right next to my bed, I sleep with that next to it. And let no one touch them. It is a daily motivation to remind me where I have been, what I did, what I have achieved by myself and where I want to go. And all that makes me have evolved in every way.
But the worst moment of her life I imagine was when she was diagnosed with breast cancer four months ago. How did you experience that moment?
At that moment, as we are with the masks, what I did was get up to go to the next office and breathe. The world did not come to me, and I told the surgeon to do what he needed now. After a few hours, as soon as I began to assimilate everything, what I knew was that this was not going to stop my life. Nothing stopped me. If he couldn’t run, he could walk; if he couldn’t pick up weights, he would squat. They adapted my yoga so as not to force the upper part and I did not take even a low. It was clear to me that this was not going to stop my life, that the days I was well I would do twice as much and that the rest would do half.
Did you still want to go out to play sports on days when it was bad?
Yes, because it is scientifically proven that sport boosts the immune system. And since it was clear to me, I went ahead. Also, the oncologist told me that chemotherapy and sports are fifty percent in the process of recovering from cancer. It was very clear to me that cancer was not going to stop life for me or my family. In fact, no one found out until the day I took a picture of myself in the hospital after being operated on. I did not stay on a sofa to lament.
But you have to have a very cold mind to face this like this, because it also involves a physical change.
Well, I have been very lucky because I have a scar and nothing else. I found a very good physical equipment and I keep my mother, but I did not care, I just wanted to take that away from me. Cancer, if detected early, has a curability of more than 95%. So I was going to fight more for the things I had, to show myself that I was ready for that. My head was not furnished that day, but had been furnished for years thanks to sports.
How did you detect cancer? Did you notice anything on your body?
A routine visit. It was through an ultrasound. They detected it in July, they did a biopsy and it did not come out that it was bad, but it was repeated after three months and then it was already seen that it was bad. At that moment I was a little scared because I thought I already had it in July and that they detected it in October. When I entered the operating room, I did not know if my lymph nodes were affected or not. When they woke me up I asked ‘do I have a tit?’. It did not matter, what I wanted is to have it taken away from me and I did not care about the physical consequences. One message I get across a lot is that women need to have annual checkups because early detection is so advanced. And the regional governments have to change because they are sending mammograms and ultrasounds from 45 and 50 years of age. One in eight women will suffer from cancer throughout her life and without reaching 45 years of age, a fact that confirms that the statistics do not add up. It hurts me a lot that a woman dies of breast cancer because the check-up has not been done. The radiodiagnostic tests that they do to us do not coincide with the statistics of women who have cancer.
Last year, in the Women’s Race, I really liked the philosophy of Los Tractores, which helps the last of each race. Isn’t it a frustration for people like you running?
It is not a frustration, it is hard because a marathon in six hours is hard, and on top of that, when you go broom, you are cheering. But it is very satisfying. Before entering Los Tractores he also did it with the Running Warriors. It is super exhausting, but very rewarding.
The one who arrives first makes as much effort as the one who arrives last.
No, excuse me, it is worse for the last one because whoever is running a marathon for two and a half hours is not as long as one who arrives in four and a half hours. We are not athletes, we work and we go out to train because we want to. But thanks to sport you incorporate healthy lifestyle habits into your life.
In any case, I continue to miss more women in racing.
We are still few, we have not even reached 30%, and in long distance races I don’t even tell you. We have not evolved yet.
Isn’t it because this society is still macho?
It is because in the end, the weight of the family falls on the women. In the end, it is the woman herself who says she cannot leave the children. It is difficult for ourselves, apart from the medical losses due to pregnancies. Many think about doing it when their children are older, and then they are 40 and believe that they are no longer capable. Many women tell me on Instagram how it is possible for me to do these things, but I answer that it is by force of will and that it is manufactured. Who has not tried it and does not know what it is, does not have the willpower to do so. A week ago I did a half marathon and I thought that I was not going to be able to finish due to the effects of radiation therapy, but since the head is furnished, I succeeded.
Is it the first thing you have run after the operation?
I go out one day a week and Pedro, from Los Tractores, encouraged me to do it because this year it was for the fight against cancer. They were very excited for me to do it. I cheered up and finished it in 2 hours and 18 minutes.
And what careers do you have more present?
My first marathon, in Valencia. At kilometer 36 I started having cramps, but at kilometer 41.5 I collapsed and I don’t remember anything. I was 700 meters from finishing. When I woke up five hours later, I found that I was in the hospital.
Weren’t you afraid to keep running marathons?
They told me not to run because it could have been due to dehydration. So I asked if I could do half marathons because I wanted to continue. Within 48 hours of passing out, I was home. They told me that I had run without being prepared and it was not because of that, it happened because I did not hydrate well. Three months later I did the Women’s Marathon and I was greeted at the finish line by Katherine, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. The next marathon they invited me to run again in Valencia and the cameras followed me and they took me on television.
After overcoming cancer, have you set yourself a challenge?
Now I’m going to do a milk ultramarathon. I have to think about which one I want, but it has to be a good one. I like how I feel when I go out you have to run more than 100 kilometers. The asphalt doesn’t give me anything new, but the hard part about ultramarathons is preparing them. I need to do it to see that I am the same, that the cancer has not cut me.
Do you feel weaker now?
Yes because I could not run ten days before the operation and I re-engaged a week later. I couldn’t do it during radiation therapy either, but if I couldn’t run, I walked. I made up my mind to be the same and made a hiatus in my life, but I didn’t stop, and that’s why I ran the half marathon last Sunday.
Do you look at the time a lot?
It depends on the objective, but I don’t think about times when I train, although when I run I do.
What is the feeling after running 90 kilometers?
It is when you are most with yourself, it is when you really become aware of who you are. And if you don’t finish it, it’s the same, because last year I retired 80 kilometers from the Transilicitana, I was just as satisfied. When you reach that goal, you are aware of who you are and that you are a person who can achieve whatever he wants. Obviously I cannot pretend to be Amancio Ortega, but it is when you become aware of what you are capable of doing.
And at home, what do they say?
They accompany me. My daughter is 19 years old and she says she will never do those things. My husband encourages me to everything. And he has two sons and the one who is 20 years old did his first half marathon and marathon with me. It was brutal.
That unites.
It’s that sport unites, except football, which I don’t understand, sport unites people. When you run an ultramarathon with someone else, imagine joining that.
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