Loss inspires Valley Stream mom and daughter's goal: a 2nd New York City Marathon

For mother and daughter, sometimes life is about challenging themselves, and inspiring each other, to do big things, hard things. So Kenia Nunez and one of her daughters, Natalia Suaza, will challenge themselves, by once again running in the New York City Marathon on Sunday.

And both say they'll derive their inspiration from Nunez's late husband, and Suaza's father, John.

"My first race was in 2012 when my husband was diagnosed with cancer," Nunez said in a recent interview in her Valley Stream home. That race was a 10K for a lymphoma organization that she ran "in his honor."

John Suaza was 39 in 2013 when he died of the disease.

Until she ran that 10K for her husband, running hadn't been part of her fitness regimen.

Meeting a challenge

"I did a little track in high school," but that was it, said Nunez, 50, associate director of Student Access Services at Hofstra University, where she helps students with disabilities. 

"That was just something I went out and just challenged myself to do," Nunez said. "I didn't even train properly. I just went out there and I did the 10K. And I was super proud of myself for that, and it just felt liberating."

She never seriously considered running a full marathon — 26.2 miles — but "leveling up and wanting to challenge myself" led her to finish a half — 13.1 miles — then in 2016, the New York City Marathon.

"So that was something that just evolved through the years of me working out," Nunez said, "and being inspired by other runners."

Said Natalia Suaza, 20, a junior at Hofstra: "I was introduced to running when I was 8 years old through my dad, and less than a year later he passed away from cancer. So running, I felt like, was always my outlet and a way to feel connected to him."

An inspiring sight

Suaza also gained inspiration by her mother and the sea of others who ran the 2016 marathon.

"I remember watching all of the runners and being in awe and saying, 'That's something I want to do,' " she said.

For her 13th birthday, Suaza recalled, she announced she wanted to run a half-marathon taking place in Miami.

"So my mom and I hopped on a plane, flew to Miami, and ran the Miami half-marathon," she said.

Afterward, "Even though I couldn't really walk," Suaza said, "I decided that, for my 18th [birthday], I wanted to do the New York City Marathon because 18 is the minimum age requirement."

Suaza ran it in 2022.

Her mother added, "She ran 13.1 miles on the day she turned 13 [in 2017] ... which was pretty cool."

'We're doing this'

Nunez recalled telling her daughter at the starting line, " 'We don't have to do this. It's OK.' "

Besides, Nunez said, she was "tapped out" anyway, disconcerted by the chilly and rainy South Florida weather that January day.

This time it was the daughter who inspired the mother to press on.

" 'No mom, we're doing this,' " Nunez said, reciting her daughter's firm declaration.

"But it was just an incredible experience to do it with my daughter. And I'm really excited to be part of this incredible journey of doing it again together," she said of Sunday's marathon.

Nunez is running as part of "Fred's Team" at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, raising money for cancer research. Suaza is running with another team, WilPower, headed by Wilton Tejada, who is a personal running coach.

"We won't run together," Nunez said, "but we'll experience the start line together." 

Personal goals

The women have just over a dozen medallions between them showcasing their running history, half-marathons and marathons included.

Both have set personal goals for Sunday. Suaza said her "amazing dream goal" was to run the marathon in under five hours. Nunez hopes to run the entire 26.2 miles, and not walk any portion, adding that she has ramped up to running 20 miles continuously in her training.

"So the goal is, for me, at least to make it to the higher mileage," Nunez said.

Nunez said she's concerned about the 59th Street Bridge, though.

"That's a big deal. It's an uphill climb. So for me, that's when I will reassess where I'm at, and if I have to walk the bridge, I'm ready for that," she said.

Nunez also stressed how taking on such challenges can be liberating and empowering.

"I always share with Natalia that in life, hard things come your way, death or loss in any capacity," she said. "But when you choose your hard, there's a different resilience that is built."

The marathon, Nunez added, "is our hard."

'Out of my comfort zone'

After running the 2022 marathon, Suaza said, she "was on a high doing things out of my comfort zone," and entered the Miss Long Island Teen pageant. She was crowned the 2023 winner. 

Nunez authored a self-help guide in 2017, "Savvy Gems: A Girl's Guide to Choosing Happiness," and established a business providing personal development and professional development training for teachers in New York City schools. 

Nunez, who has three biological children, since has remarried, to James Leon, and has two more "bonus children" in their blended family.

She said her inspiration comes from the legacy her first husband left his family. "Something just cracked open in me ... You can always reinvent yourself," Nunez said.

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie