Chilean miner invited to ING New York City Marathon

New York Road Runners will invite rescued Chilean miner Edison Peña, who ran every day during the 69-day ordeal, to the ING New York City Marathon.

Photo: Hugo Infante/Government of Chile

Karla Bruning

Edison Peña, 34, was the 12th trapped miner rescued from the San Jose mine near Copiapo, Chile on October 13, 2010. New York Road Runners will invite him to the ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 7.

He ran through dark mine tunnels a half-mile underground. Day after day, for 69 days, he ran to stay sane–anima sana in corpore sano. “A sound mind in a sound body” is the motto of ASICS, one of the sponsors of the ING New York City Marathon. Now Edison Peña could be running the world’s most famous marathon.

New York Road Runners will invite the rescued Chilean miner to the ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 7 as the club’s guest, the New York Times reports.

Edison Peña, 34, reportedly ran three to six miles a day while he and 32 other miners were trapped in a gold and copper mine near Copiapo, Chile for 10 weeks. His daily jaunts through the mine’s tunnels earned him the nickname “The Runner.”

Peña ran somewhere between 200 and 400 miles while trapped a half-mile underground, listening to Elvis Presley on his iPod. He became famous in running circles when a Runner’s World blog, RW Daily, picked up the story from a 28-word profile of Peña in the London Daily Telegraph:

“Edison Pena, 34 The fittest miner, he has reportedly been running 10km a day underground. Also requested that Elvis Presley songs be sent down into the mine. Rescued.”

NYRR, the marathon’s organizer, is trying to contact the Chilean consulate in New York with an invitation for Peña to attend the race either as a spectator or runner, according to the Times.

“We want to celebrate him here in New York City on the biggest weekend in running, as he seems to represent the very essence and best of the runner spirit,” Mary Wittenberg, the president and CEO of New York Road Runners, said in an e-mail to the New York Times. “He has taken the phrase ‘runner for life’ to a whole new level.”

Peña was the 12th miner to be rescued yesterday. The last of the 33 miners, who had been trapped since the San Jose mine collapsed on Aug. 5, was rescued late Wednesday night.

Karla Bruning is an award-winning journalist and running nerd. She has completed three marathons, trains with the New York Harriers and is a member of New York Road Runners. Follow Karla’s “Notes From a Running Nerd” at RunKarlaRun.com, Facebook and Twitter@KBruning. To listen to an interview with Karla, check out The Marathon Show, available for streaming or download on BlogTalkRadio and iTunes.

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Karla Bruning is the host of On The Run, a running lifestyle show from New York Road Runners. Her work has appeared in Newsweek, The Philadelphia Inquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, RunnersWorld.com, Active.com, The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, The Gazette in Montreal and two dozen other publications. Her work has also received mentions from The New York Times, Runner's World, Fox Sports, The Baltimore Sun, PBS, New York Road Runners and Brooks Running among others. She has appeared on "America's Morning Radio," "Good Morning San Diego," and "The Marathon Show." She also covered the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver for The Washington Times.

As a former Newsweek reporter, Karla contributed to cover stories for the International Edition and sat in as head of research and Periscope editor. She won a Fulbright scholarship for American journalists and reporting grants from the Scripps Howard, Carnegie and Knight Foundations. Karla holds degrees from Amherst College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

When not pounding the pavement as a reporter, Karla is often pounding the pavement as a runner. She has completed six marathons, two triathlons, trains with the New York Harriers and is a member of New York Road Runners. She is a writer, editor, and on-camera reporter dedicated to covering the sport of running from a runner’s perspective. Find Karla on RunKarlaRun.com, Twitter@KBruning and Facebook.

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