The gurus say that destiny is a good card player and it saw the hand clearly in 1987, when it marked Felipe's destiny. A child who began to enjoy other pleasures in life, different from the practice of an endurance sport, such as running.

The name Felipe is of Greek origin and means "Horse lovers", in numerology Felipe is #1.

Do these facts serve or describe our character in any way? I, who know him halfway, could dare to say yes, that this man is right, he runs so fast, he is of Greek origin, where the marathon was born, “Horse Lover”, the horse runs like a beast, and reaches a maximum speed of 88 km/h, and in addition in numerology he is #1, Felipe Richard is clearly a Felipe.

Felipe Richard Londoño is a 33-year-old administrative engineer who, outside of working and fulfilling his work day, is a professional amateur runner, as I call them, disciplined, methodical, passionate, dedicated and focused.

Felipe's story inspires and motivates many runners. He was obese in his childhood and adolescence, but after living in the United States, he found in running a way to enjoy life and set challenges for himself to feel alive.

Felipe's starting point was the Lima Marathon in 2017, from there his sporting achievements began, then came the Majors, the qualification for Boston and finally his PR in the Berlin Marathon in 2019. Four Majors and all under 3 hours, who would have imagined that Felipe would have such talent in his head and in his legs, he went from being obese to being one of the best professional amateur runners in the city.

Felipe, why Letras running? I asked him surprised, and look at the story, it was all a confusion of your coach Santiago Rodriguez.

While the two were setting goals for the first half of 2021, Felipe said: climb letters, to which his coach replied: running? But what Felipe really meant was to climb the Alto de Letras, but by bicycle, not running, but given the confusion and without any fear, he said: ready, running... That's how this lovely challenge was born.

Altimetry Alto de Letras, from Mariquita

It's time to train, it's time to run a 40-kilometer uphill race.

It's a Saturday, any other week, and it's five in the morning. Felipe has just woken up and there are no dark circles under his eyes, and no complaints. There's no time for breakfast either: " There are some training sessions where I run on an empty stomach, I just take some electrolytes before going out ," Felipe explains.

At kilometer 28, the engine is already starting to burn out, but the good sensations from the training feed the fatigue of a session that will last at least three hours . After the session, on the way back home, he will have breakfast and then take a nap or have a recovery session with his compression boots. In the afternoon, he will spend time with his family, go out to eat and finally go to sleep, because tomorrow is another hard day.

At full power and with competitions on the horizon, Felipe accumulates many weekly kilometers , plus the days of 'gym' and complementary exercises. Felipe has his plan, although everything has changed a bit in recent months. Every cloud has a silver lining, and 2020 being an atypical year with a pandemic, did not let him run the London Marathon; but he returned to the basics in an endurance sport: training, improving and enjoying.

The fear of failure prevents many runners from developing their full potential. But this is not the case: “I am not afraid of running up the ladder.” Pushing his limits, Felipe shows that, with passion, discipline and dedication, nothing is impossible.

This is the character behind the challenge of running up letters.

Felipe Richard Londoño, an ordinary person, who one day made the decision to run and meet personal challenges, which positioned him as one of the best runners I know.

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By: ORTEMAN10