One of the daily activities I enjoy most is arriving home in the evening after a long shift at the office, grabbing my iPod and going out running. It makes me feel good, keeps me active, and more important still, it banishes all of the stress of the day.
But I don’t like running in a park or some other quiet place, much less shutting myself away in a gym to jog on a machine, which bores me very quickly.
What I love to do is run through the city, through the streets, without worrying about the traffic, skipping around pedestrians on the sidewalks. I always thought I was a bit crazy because of that, and then a friend told me about a big group of people who don’t just run in the streets, but they do it in packs at night. So I decided to document them.
I’ve lived practically my whole life in Caracas, where I’ve witnessed many changes as this turbulent city grows – and one of the things that has struck me most is that there are more and more people in the streets every day doing some sort of exercise to stay in shape, without caring whether they can find the perfect spot to work out.
I’ve seen many different strategies to keep fit used by people of all different ages and social backgrounds. Starting with things like the “Cota Mil” – one of the city’s main highways which is closed every Sunday morning to let citizens ride bikes, jog or just walk the dog below the Avila Mountain, turning it into a great avenue of sports activities once a week.
