First I want to thank you for stopping by and taking your time to read my bio.
The beginning
Let me introduce myself, I’m Jean Otero and I want to begin letting you know how proud I’m from being from “La isla del encanto”, that’s how we call Puerto Rico 🇵🇷. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico in a small town called Orocovis, “el centro y corazón de Puerto Rico” or “the heart of Puerto Rico”. I started mentioning my small town because it was there where everything started, at age of 8yrs (1998) was when I started running just because my older sister {Keysha Otero} started running as well. It was just for fun, but like always happens people around you are looking and if they see the talent they go after you. That was my case and a family called “Los Lopez”, (Lopez because of their last name) saw future in me especially Jorge Lopez. “Los Lopez” wasn’t any common family in Puerto Rico, they were around 10-12 siblings and everyone was a runner, yes everyone. With that being said, they knew about running and they saw talent in me. They opened the doors for me and I started training with Jorge Lopez and her daughter Jannice Lopez. I spent around 4 years running with them learning a lot and taking any advice as possible. A lot of people helped me out in this process and another person I need to mention is Juan “Juancho” Jimenez, a great human that always was there for me and taught me a lot at the beginning of my career.
Middle School
At age of 12yrs, I moved to a running club called “Club Yartai” led by coach Felix “Canito” Ortiz, it was there when I started emerging as an athlete representing the club in different races around the island and winning a couple of them as well. One of the most important races at that time was a 3 kilometers race in my home town Orocovis, “El maratón del niño” I won that race competing with great athletes at that time. I also started showing up my talent in the track, I did compete in a lot of track races from 1km to 3km and the club gave exposition to participate in all of them and demonstrate my talent.
High school
It was here when all the blessings started happening. At age of 15yrs, I decided to make a change and I started training with a person who I still consider like a second father, Felix Rivera. He was the person who exploded my talent and put me on the map. From the ages of 15-17yrs, I became one of the best youth athletes in Puerto Rico. I won two consecutive years the National Cross Country Championship of Public Schools (2006-2007). I also won the same year (2006-2007) the National Track and Field Championship of Public Schools, running 3,000m steeplechase and 1,500m. I also won the Youth National Championship in Track and Field (2007) in the event of 1500m and the Youth National Cross Country Championship in the same year. That gave me the chance to represent Puerto Rico in two different races. The first one was in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Foot Locker South Regional Senior Boy's Race, I finished 1st place at the 5k with a time of 15:52. The second one was in Orlando FL, at the NACAC Cross Country Championship 2007 here, I finished 10th overall and 1st Puerto Rican in the 6k with a time of 18:37. In June 2008 I competed at the Caribbean Scholastic Invitational finishing 1st in the 1,500m and breaking the meet record with 3:56.08 (preview was 4:05). Closing my career as a youth athlete in 2008 I won the highest prize for a youth athlete in Puerto Rico, “The most valuable youth athlete of the year” moments that won't forget.
College
Everything was going great in my career, a lot of universities tried to sing me but only one capture my attention. The University of Puerto Rico at Bayamon (UPRB), this university had everything I need and I choose to represent them, I also obtained a full scholarship. But things do not always go like you expected, after four months of being signed I had a car accident. I broke my right ankle and they had to put three rods to fix it, as you can imagine I was heartbroken, my first taught was “it's over, my career is done and I won’t ever be the same again”. But when God has a plan for you we must obey. After a couple of months of therapy and recovery, I was back, in march of 2009 (5 months after the accident), I was competing in my first track race for the UPRB, it was at the (4th Annual Carolina Spring Classic 1,500m) and I fished 3rd with a time of 4:03. I was getting back in shape and in march 2010 (a year later) I won my first major race representing UPRB, I dominated the 800m and the 1,500m at the “Justas Invitational Sistema UPR”. I won the 800m with a time of 1:54 and I won the 1,500m with a time of 4:02. One month later (April 2010) I finished second in the 1,500m (3:54.78) at the highest level of college competition in Puerto Rico, “Justas LAI” (Liga Atlética Interuniversitaria). A year later (2011) I finished 3rd at the same race (LAI) in the 1,500m (3:56.82). In 2012 was my year in the LAI, I won the 1,500m (3:52.35)PB. At this moment I had already three medals at the LAI and we only had four years to compete in this league, as you can imagine my next goal was to finish my four years of competition winning four medals, and in 2013 wasn't the exception, I had the privilege to finish 3rd in the 1,500m (3:53:56). My experience at the college level doesn't end here, I had the opportunity to compete in three Grand Prix in Ponce, PR, 1,500m in 2010 finishing 5th (3:59), 800m in 2011 finishing 8th (1:52), and 800m finishing 5th (1:51.46)PB. One last experience I had during my college career was a 1500m at the FSU Relays in Tallahassee FL, finishing 10th place with a time of 3:54.10.
You can click here to see all races I competed in during my college career.
After College
Since I finished college in 2013 my career as an athlete decreased a lot. I decided to focus on completing a Master's degree in Education (Management Leisure Services) and during those two years (2013-2015) I didn't run much. At that time (2015) I got married and I moved from Puerto Rico to Texas, a big change in my life. After I moved I briefly ran, not much at all. In 2017 (two years since I moved) I decided to continue my education in Physical Therapy as a PTA (Physical Therapist Assistant), during that time my first child was born, and at that moment I thought “my career is over” I never thought to make a comeback and I didn't have any motivation. Everything happened in 2019 after I ran a 5k for fun and I did win, by that time my little one was around 1yrs old and it was that moment when I found my motivation, it was my baby. I wanted to give her the opportunity to see daddy run again, but I didn't want to do it in track, I wanted to challenge myself with the big race of all time, a marathon, 42 kilometers of pure pain. So, I started training and I did my comeback on June 19th at the 2020 Chevron Houston Marathon, I finished with a time of 2h:40:04 not bad for being the first one and being “retired” for more than 5yrs. After that marathon, my desire to keep running was bigger and bigger and I decided to register for the Boston Marathon since I had the qualifying time to run. Due to the pandemic couldn’t run in 2021 and during that time like everybody else, I couldn’t train as I wanted. Around June 2021 I did my move again and I started to train again for the 2022 Boston Marathon. During my preparation, I ran the BWM Dallas Half Marathon (13.1 miles/21k) in 1:13:32 (Bib.14269). A fun fact about this race that not many people know, but you will, is that I got lost during the race, yes, I got lost. Between mile 6-7 I got confused with an intersection and I surrounded a block that I wasn’t supposed to, I ran roughly around 300-350m more but at the end of the day the time was on my expectations, and super happy with the results, 12th place overall and 2nd place on my age group (30-34).
After a month a ran a 5k just to see how was my speed and I ended up winning the 2022 Hotcake Hustle with an official time of 16:05. I still focus on my upcoming races, London Marathon 2024 and New York Marathon 2024. My goal is to complete all six major marathons and left a legacy to my children. I will continue to update my biography as soon as I achieve a new goal so stay tuned.