Jesús Hernández wanted to find a way to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month while raising awareness and supporting expanded health and wellness initiatives for Buena Tierra Run Club, a nonprofit organization he co-founded more than three years ago.
The South Side resident decided that pushing himself to his physical limits in a unique and attention-grabbing manner was the answer.
Hernández, 31, ran the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon earlier this month pushing a fully loaded cart – at the start at least – filled with Mexican-style popsicles, known as paletas, donated by Paletería Yayo in Lincoln Village.
Hernández figures the cart, while fully packed, weighed close to 200 pounds. He initially planned to run the half marathon course, but figured he’d make a bigger splash running the full marathon and ended up handing out 200 paletas, free of charge, along the 26.2-mile course.
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It marked just the second marathon run by Hernández, but it wasn’t his first eye-catching effort in a running race. He previously took part in a 5K dressed in a full suit as punishment for a lowly finish in his fantasy football league.
Attracting attention is something Hernández seems to enjoy, as evidenced by his noisy arrival at a Walker’s Point coffee shop for an interview with Milwaukee Magazine, on his motorcycle with a skeleton dressed in a Milwaukee Brewers jersey as his passenger.
Hernández said he wanted to run the marathon to highlight the concerted effort that goes into running along with the hard work of the paleteros, the traditional Mexican street vendors who sell paletas and are often seen pushing their carts through South Side neighborhoods.
“That’s what I grew up with,” said Hernández, a son of Mexican immigrants who has served for more than a decade in the Army National Guard, earned an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and has worked as a corporate talent recruiter and personal trainer. “It’s all about that work ethic and how you’re going to push yourself each and every day.”
Hernández knew he was in for a challenge when it came to pushing the paletero cart along the marathon route.
“I kept thinking, ‘This is going to be too much. I’m probably going to be hurting for a bit,’” he said. “But that’s what I was talking about, going all in.”
The cart features specialized wheels designed to endure the rigors of the road.
“But, like anything else, there were issues when it came to wheel alignment, so the cart veered left all the time. I always had to make sure to keep a stern right hand,” he said.
Hernández spoke with exasperation about pushing the cart up the steep incline of the Hoan Bridge and the windy conditions when he reached the top. He said the marathon took a toll on his lower back and knees, mainly because pushing the cart didn’t allow him to complete each stride he took, forcing him to alter his gait.
“I had to figure out different ways to run with it,” he said.
Hernández said he drew a range of reactions, vastly positive, from spectators and other runners on the course.
“But some racers said I was just showing off,” he said. “I was like, hey man, I’m just I’m running my own race, and you should be running your own race too. You should be pushing yourself.”
Several competitors ran alongside Hernandez to grab one of the frozen treats he had in his cart to cool off.
Hernández finished the course in five hours and 10 minutes, an average pace of 11:38 per mile, which he said he considers to be an unofficial world record for a runner pushing a paletero cart.
“If your mind can handle it, your body can follow suit,” Hernández said. “It was tough, but tough is going to make you better and stronger for the next day.”
He’s hoping that his effort in the marathon will boost the profile of Buena Tierra, a Latino-based running club aimed at making health a priority in the community.
“We want to immerse ourselves in the community,” Hernández said, while noting that the club attracts runners of all races and from various parts of the Milwaukee area.
The group gathers on Sundays at La Finca coffee shop at 3558 E Sivyer Ave. in St. Francis and on Thursdays at Zocalo Food Park, 636 S. Sixth St.
“We bring high energy,” Hernández said. “We’re a group made up of people from different cultures and backgrounds respecting each other and hopefully making things a little bit better.”
