My sporting experience began eight years ago, a little more by will than by pleasure. Even though now, looking back, I thank my father for encouraging me to put my first foot in a habit that would remain forever.
But don't think it was all a bed of roses! The first time I went for a run, with those three kilometres in twenty-seven minutes, half running and half walking, I thought I wouldn't survive even the first training session. I must say that my first races were not much better. In the first years I tried to quit several times. One of them was not long after I started running. I had made the decision that this was too much effort and sacrifice for me. Then something happened that changed everything.
At that time I was at the club de atletismo Friol, my coach Felipe Barata had invited a former pupil of his and a great high jumper, Saleta Fernández, to train with us. For me that was inspiring. For a girl of nine or ten in her first contacts with sport, to be able to meet an international athlete in person was incredible. That day I was aware of all the effort and dedication it required to be where she was. When she told us that she had started the same way we had, something changed in me. I realized that if I quit I would be losing the race before it started. And I kept running, now forever.
How true is the phrase of American baseball icon Babe Ruth: "It's hard to beat a person who never gives up.
See you soon!
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