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His mother carried him across the Rio Grande. Now he’s in the Chicago Marathon

When Diego Estrada visited Chicago in early September, he was surprised to find that the discomfort he usually feels in big cities wasn’t there.

“I hate big cities because I feel out of place,” he said. “But [Chicago] felt very open. You can still breathe despite being in a concrete jungle.”

The 26-year-old Mexican immigrant is hoping he’ll breathe just as easily on his next trip to the city—though no one would blame him if he didn’t. After he competed for Mexico in the 2012 London Olympics, Estrada’s dreams of representing his adopted U.S. in Rio were crushed in February when heat and back pain forced him to stop his Olympic trial six miles short of the marathon finish line.

Now, Estrada’s looking for redemption as he takes a deep breath and tries to complete his first full marathon, in Chicago. This year’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon steps off Sunday.

Estrada came to the U.S. as a 13-month-old; his mother carried him across the Rio Grande. His four siblings were with them. Running didn’t come into the picture until his freshman year of high school, when honors program students at his school were required to join a club or sport and running seemed the least complicated option.

“I’m not that coordinated,” he said. “I can run straight.”

Running straight soon turned into trying to keep up with teammates, then doing well at state meets, and then a career at Northern Arizona University.

Growing up in Salinas, Calif., where there’s a large Mexican population, Estrada’s immigrant status never felt like an issue. But once his career took off, Estrada realized that if he wanted a shot at the U.S. Olympic team, becoming a citizen was essential. So he pushed the issue with his parents, crammed for the test and passed it in November 2011.

“I was scared at first [of taking the citizenship test] and then it was just an enjoyable, emotional experience,” Estrada said.

In London, he placed 21st for his native country in the 10,000 meters. Running for Mexico, however, never felt right to him, especially after becoming an American citizen. Competing for the U.S. was always the goal, which made what happened at this year’s Olympic trials especially devastating.

“I had put in so much quality work and nothing showed,” said Estrada, who won the 2015 U.S. half marathon championships in Houston. “I wouldn’t necessarily say that I was 100 percent sure that I’d make the team, but I believed that I was set up to do something well. The marathon is something I’ve been thinking about and looking forward to for years, and to have your first shot go that way, it was a big emotional blow.”

In the months since, Estrada has reset his goals and rebuilt his resolve with shorter races and lower-profile runs. Finishing the Chicago Marathon, he said, will require a more conservative mindset. But the training has been going well, and the city’s flat course seems well-suited for his running style.

On his September visit, in addition to running along the lakefront and, like a true Chicagoan, eating “a bunch of food,” Estrada spent time with local running clubs with predominantly Hispanic members. Running, Estrada said, seems to be gaining popularity in the Mexican-American community in particular. Both Chicago groups he is familiar with, the Little Village-based Viento runners club and Pilsen’s Venados Running Club, have loyal memberships. In California, Estrada said involvement in similar groups has ballooned recently.

Ismael Rubiano, a Mexican-American runner who trains with a group composed mostly of other Mexican-Americans, said he’s also seen an uptick within the Chicago community.

“Every time [I run] I see more and more Hispanic runners,” he said. “It’s a contagious sport.”

Rubiano won’t be running Sunday, but he’ll be cheering on Estrada and his own friends facing the course.

For Estrada, completing all 26.2 miles won’t just be a way to bounce back from his disappointing performance in February—it will mean moving one blister-footed step closer to his goal of running for the U.S. Olympic team and bringing his family’s story full circle.

“As a runner, it would just be a representation of my family’s life. Just [gaining] citizenship and coming here, going through the struggles and finally succeeding,” Estrada said. “If I make the U.S. team, it will probably be up there in the top three best moments of my life.”

Angry rhetoric about Mexican immigration and talk of building a border wall in recent months hasn’t fazed Estrada much. Though he experienced the temporary deportation of his mother at a young age, he said he never felt the fear others do.

“It was just part of life, I guess,” he said. “But now that I’m older, it is a bit scary, even though I don’t have to go through it.”

Assuming everything goes well Sunday, Estrada has a carefully crafted schedule to gear up for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He’ll be listening more carefully to his body as it adjusts to the longer distance and hopefully will challenge himself with another fall marathon next year.

While he’s in Chicago, Estrada plans to take in more of the city’s fresh breeze.

“Regardless of how I feel, even if I need a wheelchair, I want to go out and tour the town.”

Gwen Purdom is a RedEye contributor. @gwenpurdom