Happy couple
As husband joins her for first time, Degefa regains Houston title
Husband serves as pacesetter for women’s champion.
The race rendered her sweaty, crouched, sucking in air and wiping vomit from her lips, but it did not drain the brightness from her face.
Biruktayit Degefa straightened up with a gleaming smile and, unknowingly, won the heart of a spectator who would become her husband.
“How come she’s smiling like that?” Abinet Adraro wondered from the sidelines of the 2015 Chevron Houston Marathon. “When the people are finishing marathons, they’re tired. They’re weak. But she’s smiling, and still she looks strong.”
Adraro, an Ethiopian immigrant living in Houston, attended that race with friends to help their fellow Ethiopian runners.
He witnessed that same smile Sunday as Degafa won the women’s marathon in 2:24:51 — her second Houston victory (joining 2016) in five tries. Adraro — now her husband — was beside her the entire time. Fittingly, Sunday’s Chevron Houston Marathon was the first marathon the couple ran together.
“I feel a special joy because I consider Houston as my hometown, as if I am coming to a family,” Degefa said through a translator. “I came here very prepared, and I knew how to win today.”
Adraro, 30, ran as his 27-yearold wife’s pace setter Sunday. He took her directions to slow down, speed up, go wide, close the gap and vault at the halfway point from fourth to first place. He shielded her from the chilly wind kicking up on Allen Parkway.
In the final stretch, Degefa sped away from her husband, tapped her chest and finished with her winning smile.
He caught up to her moments later as she crumbled and threw up but quickly shook off the nausea.
Adraro impressed his wife. He had not finished a marathon before.
“I’m surprised,” Degefa said later, turning to Adraro and inspiring an exchange of playful smiles between them.
Love blossoms
The couple’s love story has set a brisk pace since the 2015 Houston Marathon.
That night, an enchanted Adraro helped deliver dishes to an Ethiopian community dinner at Blue Nile. He took advantage of the chance to serve Degefa, who watched mountainous portions of siga tibs and kitfo rise from the injera on her plate.
They stayed connected online when Degefa returned to train in Addis Ababa. Friendly messages over four months turned into heartfelt ones in 10 months. They started talking over the phone twice a day. Adraro’s odd hours as a taxi driver helped him manage the nine-hour time difference between Houston and Ethiopia.
Degefa visited Houston near the end of the year. Before Adraro, she had little interest in relationships. She needed to make sure he understood her vigilant focus on training.
“You have to get the right person,” Degefa said.
“I have an awareness of running as a fan, and I’m coming from a runner’s family,” Adraro said. “I know everything that the athlete needs.”
Degefa returned to the U.S. a month later. The couple relocated to Albuquerque, N.M., and married.
Albuquerque appealed to her for its high altitude and elite runners community. It also upgraded Adraro from his life as a cabbie.
A word for Trump
The American Dream that Degefa and Adraro achieved also flourished among foreignborn athletes who competed in the Chevron Houston Marathon days after reports about President Donald Trump’s disparaging remarks about Haiti and other African countries.
“We know the other presidents, Barack Obama and even (Bill) Clinton. We know the American nation. We know how they treat other people,” Adraro said.
Although he said Americans do not share Trump’s sentiment, Adraro considered the president’s words damaging.
“He has to think about the children,” Adraro said. “He has to know he’s the American president. He has to know what he’s saying. Everyone in the world is listening.”
Setting pace for Degefa on Sunday made Adraro more involved than usual in their marathon habits. He rarely watches his wife compete. They spend so much time together that he feels helpless during her 26.2 miles of agony.
“I’m nervous,” he said. “It is hard to see her when she’s struggling. I’m just all the time thinking she has to be safe. She’s good, but a marathon is a long journey. You don’t know what can happen in 2 hours, 20 minutes.”
At least the couple endured this marathon together.
Any pain felt could not match the comfort of a husband glancing over his shoulder to make sure his wife kept her winning pace of 5:32 per mile.
“Anyone who sacrifices for me and focusing for my running,” Degefa said, “I’m lucky.”
New hat welcome
As a Chevron Houston Marathon tradition, Degefa was awarded the first place prize of $45,000 and a cowboy hat. She was delighted. She is tired of wearing the hat from her 2016 victory.
“I make my family laugh,” she said. “It wore out.”
After her news conference, Degefa sat beside her husband. She wiped something off his face and then placed her hat on his head. She knows he is better than a pacer. Adraro wants to compete in next year’s men’s marathon.