NEW YORK—Nothing could stop Chilean miner Edison Peña from running, not even the possibility that he may not live to actually compete in a race.
“I was running to show I wasn’t just waiting around. I wanted God to see that I really wanted to live,” said Peña, one of the 33 Chilean miners who emerged from 69 days underground on Oct. 13.
He cut his knee-high mining boots into improvised running shoes, donned his mining cap equipped with a lamp, wiped his brow in the 85-degree heat and ran and ran. Some of the other miners joined him as he raced through the dark network of cavernous mining tunnels.
Peña would run to school every day in Santiago simply as a means of transportation. Trapped in the mine, it became a means to endure, to not give up.
“I was going to beat destiny,” said Peña at a news conference for the ING New York Marathon, in which he will have a special place among 43,000 other participants Sunday afternoon.
“I was saying to that mine, ‘I’m going to outrun you. I’m going to run until you are bored of me.’”
Peña was not specifically training for the ING New York Marathon, but it worked out that way.
When New York Road Runner president and CEO Mary Wittenberg extended the invitation to Peña to come to the marathon, she said: “We were thinking VIP guest. We were thinking have a nice breakfast, sit in the tent, drive the course in a car. ... It didn’t strike us that he might want to run.”
With new shoes and a new Timex Indiglo watch presented to him by former New York Giants star Amani Toomer, Peña is ready to run his first marathon. The 41st annual marathon stretches 26.2 miles from Staten Island, through the five boroughs and to the finish line at Central Park on West Park Drive near the former Tavern on the Green. Peña has never run more than 10 miles, but he’s willing to give it a go on Sunday.
“I have a knee injury from being in the mine, but I am eager to cross the finish line,” declared Peña.
“I was running to show I wasn’t just waiting around. I wanted God to see that I really wanted to live,” said Peña, one of the 33 Chilean miners who emerged from 69 days underground on Oct. 13.
He cut his knee-high mining boots into improvised running shoes, donned his mining cap equipped with a lamp, wiped his brow in the 85-degree heat and ran and ran. Some of the other miners joined him as he raced through the dark network of cavernous mining tunnels.
Peña would run to school every day in Santiago simply as a means of transportation. Trapped in the mine, it became a means to endure, to not give up.
“I was going to beat destiny,” said Peña at a news conference for the ING New York Marathon, in which he will have a special place among 43,000 other participants Sunday afternoon.
“I was saying to that mine, ‘I’m going to outrun you. I’m going to run until you are bored of me.’”
Peña was not specifically training for the ING New York Marathon, but it worked out that way.
When New York Road Runner president and CEO Mary Wittenberg extended the invitation to Peña to come to the marathon, she said: “We were thinking VIP guest. We were thinking have a nice breakfast, sit in the tent, drive the course in a car. ... It didn’t strike us that he might want to run.”
With new shoes and a new Timex Indiglo watch presented to him by former New York Giants star Amani Toomer, Peña is ready to run his first marathon. The 41st annual marathon stretches 26.2 miles from Staten Island, through the five boroughs and to the finish line at Central Park on West Park Drive near the former Tavern on the Green. Peña has never run more than 10 miles, but he’s willing to give it a go on Sunday.
“I have a knee injury from being in the mine, but I am eager to cross the finish line,” declared Peña.
