Page 19 - HCPVitalityChronicles

Con/nuing Her Runner’s High from 2012: Dorothy Marquez-Maneja, MD,

Pushes Her Own Envelope

When someone posted “Is any- physically ac/ve. She
body streaking for 2013?” on a started doing Internet
Facebook group, Dorothy Mar- searches to
quez-Maneja, MD, HCP Anaheim, find runs taking place
responded with a resounding Yes. throughout Southern Cali-
“Streaking” is running one mile fornia. While s/ll on ma-
every day of the year, and so far, ternity leave, she
Dr. Marquez-Maneja has kept true completed a half
to her word on Team Victorious, a marathon in Orlando on
Facebook runners group she Jan. 5, 2012, followed by
joined last year. the Nike Women Runners
half marathon in San Fran-
It’s not always easy. Some/mes cisco shortly therea er.
she has to get that mile in on the Although she had previ-
ellip/cal while her baby is sleep- ously joined Vitality, she
ing. But a er running 23 races in also became more consci-
2012—a combina/on that in- en/ous about gaining
cluded seven half marathons, two points for all of her ac/v-
10Ks and fourteen 5Ks—she Top left: the medal rack holding Dr. Marquez-Maneja’s finisher ity. From April to Decem-
is bound and determined to keep medals, as well as her husband's medals (she has ber of 2012, she clocked
more than him). Bottom left: Dr. Marquez-Maneja wearing all of
it up. the finisher medals she earned in 2012. There were more than 379 miles run-
so many medals that they filled up her Christmas tree (right). ning.
“2012 was definitely my most ac- Even the star at the top, the Hollywood inaugural, is a medal.
/ve year,” said Dr. Marquez-Maneja, who ran her first half Soon running became a family affair. “It’s tough trying to
marathon, the Disneyland half marathon over Labor Day find a babysi0er so that my husband and I can do half
weekend, in 2008. “Before this, I had never run more than marathons together, so instead, we have chosen local
a mile in my life,” she said. A friend of hers created a train- races that are stroller friendly,” she said, adding that an-
ing program for a group of runners back in 2008, and Dr. other posi/ve from this is that their child sees physical ac-
Marquez-Maneja also used Disney’s online training pro- /vity as a regular, normal part of life. The excitement of
gram, learning to do interval running/walking. running also spread to other family members, including
her cousin and her husband’s cousin. A mini family reunion
But as o en happens, life got in the way. She didn’t do any in Las Vegas last year gave the runners in the family the
runs in 2011, the year she both got married and had her chance to do a half marathon together.
son—three months prematurely. “My husband and I spent
three months visi/ng him in the hospital every day un/l he Although there is a bit of friendly compe//on between her
finally came home in December,” she recalled. “Needless and her husband, for the most part, Dr. Marquez-Maneja
to say, I got zero training done in 2011.” competes only with herself. “I’m not an elite runner and I
will never be an elite runner,” she said. “My goal is to com
The new year gave her a new chance to start being more Con nued on page 2