CHINATOWN — It was a far cry from the rugged 100-mile forest treks he's used to, but for the first time in nearly a year, Alfredo Pedro got to feel the wind on his face again.
With the help of his wife, some friends and an adult-sized stroller, the 46-year-old ultramarathoner participated Saturday in his first race since being diagnosed with ALS seven months ago. After some deliberation, Pedro made a last-minute decision to let three friends — fellow runners, all — push him through this year's Chinatown 5K.
Even with a disease that makes a struggle out of the smallest of movements, Pedro managed to flash broad smiles at other runners and well-wishers during the event. But after the race, when asked how it felt to roll past the finish line in Chinatown Square, he couldn't help but cry.
"It's really emotional. ... There's so much happiness that comes just from being around runners again, feeling the road beneath me and the wind in my face," said Pedro, who's run four 100-mile races since 2010. "But it's hard, knowing that I was running marathons this time last year — in this chair, it just feels hard for me to be me."
Alfredo hadn't planned on joining the race until Thursday, when Pedro's friend Carina Borst mentioned that she'd be running in it.
"He said he'd always wanted to run [the Chinatown 5K], but he was always busy, or running other races," Borst laughed. "Like this one was too short for him."
Borst offered to push Pedro in the large stroller she often uses to push her son, a 13-year-old with Down syndrome, while she runs.
Borst called race organizer Anita Luk late Thursday night, and she said Luk called her back with good news "within 15 minutes."
Not only would Luk cover the cost of Pedro's registration, she said, but she'd also invite him to participate in the "lion dance," a Chinese cultural ritual preceding the race. During the show, Pedro "fed" the performers an envelope of "lucky money."
"The idea is that you're giving the money to the lion so it doesn't eat you," Luk chuckled. She invited Pedro to do this, she said, "as a gesture that he has to be strong — that he's surrounded by people who support him."
That support, Pedro said, was what ultimately allowed him to get past the idea of being pushed through the race.
"I've been wanting to be 'pushed' in a race for some time, but, didn't think it would happen," Pedro was quoted as saying by his wife, Kiki Ciesielski, in a Facebook post Friday night. "I was embarrassed but, after seeing and feeling the loving support of my friends, family, strangers, I'm at the point where I see there is nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of. I feel the LOVE all around."
For Borst, pushing her friend through the course was hardly a physical challenge — she'd pushed her son through half-marathons, after all — but that didn't make it easy.
"It just felt so weird, I couldn't get over it. ... I mean, a year ago Alfredo and I were running on forest trails together," said Borst, who met Pedro at a race in 2012. "Sometimes you get injured running, but even with the worst injuries, you know you'll get better ... and it's hard to think that Alfredo won't get better."
Still, the Chinatown 5K was far from Pedro's last race. He'll be pushed on Tuesday through the Les Turner Foundation 5K, an ALS fundraiser race, at U.S. Cellular Field. And after that, Pedro said, he hopes to keep going.
"I'm very proud, and very happy to be doing this — it brings back a lot of great memories," Pedro said. "I want to keep doing this, and I hope that, maybe someday, I can run again."
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