Presta Tu Pierna 11k Run, Bogota, Colombia

Around mid March while at work one day, I had a call from the Achilles office with a completely unexpected and exciting opportunity: how would I fancy going to Colombia with a group of Achilles athletes to run in a race in Bogota in aid of land mine victims?  The prospect of combining two of my passions - travelling and running - was irresistible, so after deliberating for all of about 3 seconds, I said yes, and a mere two weeks later was packing my bags and getting ready for my first trip to Colombia.

The trip was from Thursday to Tuesday, leaving 4 full days in the country.  On my first full day in Bogota, I went into the city centre, checked out the gold museum, then took a cable car up a very steep cliff for an impressive view of the city.  It was a good thing just to walk around to get used to the altitude; Bogota is 8,675 feet above sea level, meaning that just going up a flight of steps on the first day left me feeling a bit dizzy and puffed.  I quickly fell in love with the city - what's not to love about a place with a mixture of beautiful women and lovely old colonial buildings?

On Saturday, there was a workout session with the group that had travelled down from the States, along with some of our Achilles Colombia hosts.   Our group was around 15 amputee or paralyzed hand-crankers; all vets from Iraq, Afghanistan or Vietnam.  While they did a few loops of the park, I ran with Gerle and Robbie from the NY Achilles office for around an hour.  It felt good to stretch out after not running for a couple of days.  Not so good was the sunburn I realized I had after!  Saturday evening was a meal with around 100 people associated with the run (terrible food, great company), where we also go to meet the members of the US Embassy and head of the Anti Narcotics agency based in the city who were helping fund the race.

Sunday was race day!  The start line was close to our hotel; so we headed over early to soak up the pre-race atmosphere with the 4,000 or so other runners.  The event was based in a kind of plaza, with a stage with people leading a fitness class to music, and lots of booths around for other organizations associated with the run.  The run itself was a lot of fun.  Everyone had shorts with one leg cut off at the knee to symbolize solidarity with amputee runners.  There were plenty of prosthetics on display on the course.

According to the Mine Action organization,  the Colombia government estimates that over 10, 560 Colombians have been killed or wounded by landmines since 1990, including approx 1,071 children. I got to see some of these people as I waited for the race; one memory that will always stay with me was an exhibition sitting volleyball game, a beautiful Colombian teenage girl with missing limb and a sweet smile on her face.

The rest of the trip was taken up with lots of cool sight seeing - a trip to an underground cathedral in the salt mines with Robbie and Gerle; the Botero museum, a money museum, shopping for souvenirs, and on the last night a meal near the hotel provided by Achilles before we all went our separate ways early the next morning.

This trip was an amazing experience:  an opportunity to visit a new country, a chance to meet a lot of cool people, including all the veterans from the US Achilles team, and an experience of being part of a race that raised awareness for land mine victims.   It was good to see what Achilles is doing outside of New York;  helping to get people with disabilities active, while showing the rest of society that having a leg missing, or no use of your legs does not need to be a barrier to participating in sport.