The marathon with love and without worrying about Silvia and Eric's MS

Some people drown in water. I'm a little fish: I don't drown even in the ocean.

Teresa Perales

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When I bend down to shake Silvia Roldán's (61) hand, the woman looks at me and smiles and says:

–I can’t move, excuse me.

He does the same thing later, when Ana Jiménez, the photographer, appears and also bends down to greet her.

There is nothing artificial in the naturalness of his gesture: I interpret it as a humorous trait, a sign of intelligence.

"What's the point of worrying?" she replies later, when I ask her about her illness, the multiple sclerosis she was diagnosed with twenty years ago, a prison cell that, ever since, has been narrowing day by day. "You know what? I felt tremendously indecisive at first, when I went from doctor to doctor and no one knew what was happening to me. But when I received the diagnosis, everything became easier. I studied it and dealt with it. And that's what I'm doing. I have Mapi, who cares for me in the mornings. Another woman comes in the afternoons. I have Rafa, my husband. And I have Eric, my son."

Eric Domingo (32) looks at his mother, he looks at her with admiration and love, when they are together everything is fine.

Eric Domingo has a master's degree in digital marketing and social media, leads the PC Team athletics club on the Can Dragó track, is a personal trainer, and is as strong as a bull. When he sets his mind to something, he goes for it.

Seven years ago, she decided to run a marathon while pulling her mother's wheelchair. The challenge went viral, the project grew, and today the duo has already competed in ten marathons and broken the Guinness record for the discipline: in December 2024, in Valencia, they ran in 2:42.

I repeat: 2h42m.

More or less, 3m50s per kilometer.

"A dream to fulfill together? The New York City Marathon. Let's see if we can get a good sponsor to help us out!" Eric Domingo Long-distance runner

I ask Silvia Roldán:

–You'll be well tied to the chair...

–When I was young, I was crazy about motorcycles. I rode a Vespa. I raced up Montjuïc, up and down the Alt de Santa Fe del Montseny, and down the Rabassada road...

Now Rafa, the father, intervenes. He says to me:

–Do you know what Silvia did when she got the diagnosis? She called me from the dealership: she'd bought a 50cc motorcycle.

–...?

"I was thinking of giving it to Eric when I couldn't carry it anymore," she explains, as if apologizing.

"Everything we've been through together, right, Mom?" Eric says.

(Race after race, the duo has raised nearly 10,000 euros in the fight against multiple sclerosis.)

Last year, at the start of the Valencia Marathon, Silvia and Eric got into a bit of a rut. They got distracted and found themselves too far back on the podium. They started after the three-hour mark, when they were aiming to break 2:40.

"I was so stressed!" Eric Domingo tells me. "After the shot, we started zigzagging through the crowd to make up time. I was ringing the chair bell to get the other runners to move aside. And my mom was shouting, 'Watch out, we're coming!'"

"When we're running, I'm yelling, of course," Silvia says. "I shout: 'Head! Left turn! Pass the water! Stay calm!' I encourage Eric; that's what I have to do."

(I can easily imagine her as Luis Moya, co-driving Carlos Sainz).

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–And do you get nervous?

–The day before, I feel tingly all over. I think about Eric, that he's feeling well, that the chair is in good condition (the chair is a magnificent Vipamat prototype, a kind gift from the company), that the terrain is with us...

–What do you have left to do together?

"The New York City Marathon," Eric replies. "We want to do it on November 2nd. I'm not worried physically; I'm more than ready. It's just that we're missing a good sponsor."

Silvia Roldán smiles.

She can already see herself in her chair, visiting the five boroughs at 3:50 per kilometer!

(This Sunday a new edition of the traditional Mulla't per l'Esclerosi Múltiple is celebrated, a solidarity campaign promoted by the Fundació per l'Esclerosi Múltiple that brings together thousands of bathers in 500 Catalan pools; at 12 noon, Eric Domingo and Silvia Roldán will jump into the pool of the Club Natació Atlètic Barceloneta).