Proving his point that yes, you can, Chilean miner Edison Pena ran the New York City Marathon on Sunday, just weeks after emerging relatively unscathed from two months' captivity underground with 32 fellow miners
Proving his point that "yes, you can," Chilean miner Edison Pena ran the New York City Marathon on Sunday, just weeks after emerging relatively unscathed from two months' captivity underground with 32 fellow miners.
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| Miner Edison Pena at the finish line of the New York Marathon on Sunday. Pic/AFP |
Pena, one of 43,000 participants in the 26-mile (42 kilometer) foot race, was feted as a hero here as one of the running world's most celebrated events got under way.
"I want to show that it can be done," Pena had said on the eve of the fabled event. Pena, 34, battled a knee injury and some pain but finished in 5 hours and 40 minutes a bit under the six hours he said he expected.
In his dark glasses, wearing a knee support due to an injury in the mine, and carrying a Chilean flag, Pena crossed yet another daunting finish line.
Organisers piped in some music by his favorite, Elvis Presley, over loudspeakers and the crowd cheered him on wildly.
Pena said he ran up to six miles (9.7 kilometers) a day through a series of tunnels in the mine during his 69-day ordealu00a0-- an achievement that inspired race director Mary Wittenberg to invite him to compete.
