Nigeria Content Online

Chilean
miner Edison Pena plans to run the New York City Marathon on Sunday,
less than a month after he was rescued from a collapsed mine that
trapped him and 32 companions for 69 days.

Pena was the 12th
miner brought 2,050 feet to the surface in a tight-fitting metal
capsule on October 13 as part of the stunning rescue in Chile’s far
northern desert that was watched live on television around the world.

Running to stay alive

Pena ran 6 miles
daily through the mine’s tunnels to beat the anxiety, wearing cut-down
boots until rescuers sent him a pair of sneakers through a narrow bore
hole that served as the miners’ umbilical cord to the surface.

“When I ran in the
darkness, I was running for life,” Pena, speaking through a translator,
told a news conference in New York. “I was running to show that I
wasn’t just waiting around. I also wanted God to see that I really
wanted to live.”

The New York Road
Runners, which organises the marathon, had invited Pena to be a guest
at Sunday’s race, but he said last week he did not want to watch – he
wanted to run.

“I was very eager
to take on this huge challenge,” he said. “I wanted to show the world I
could run it.” Pena, 34, who ran in the mine wearing a head lamp, said
he hoped to run the 26.2-mile (42-km) race in about six hours. “I have
a knee injury from being in the mine, but I am eager to cross the
finish line,” he said.

Pena will be among
about 43,000 people competing in the marathon. Last year, Meb
Keflezighi won the men’s marathon in two hours, nine minutes and 15
seconds.

An Elvis Presley
fan who asked rescuers to send the singer’s music down into the mine,
Pena broke into song at the news conference with the Presley hit
“Return to Sender.” The miners were discovered alive on August 22 – 17
days after the mine collapsed – but it took two months for rescuers to
bore a hole big enough to bring them out.

“People say that we were heroes, but I don’t think we are,” Pena said. “It’s just what destiny had in store for us.”