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This is the story of a financial analyst who one fine day decided to exchange Excel charts for some running shoes.

And the comforts of an office due to the uncertainty of the most remote places on the planet.

Clara Ruiz

(Madrid, 1985) had a brilliant career in banking and, although she enjoyed her day to day life, "I liked

running and traveling more"

.

In October 2019, she saw her dream materialize,

Kilometers to the world,

a personal project that would take her to different corners of the planet combining

sport and adventure

: Ruiz runs in stages of about 15 kilometers a day giving visibility through her website and the social networks (@kilometrosparaelmundo) to the diversity of cultures that he encounters on his way.

His initiative started in

Nepal

and has already taken it around the world.

So far, he has visited

twelve countries

and has run more than

3,500 kilometers

("I travel from one country to another by plane," he clarifies).

After Kathmandu came

India

, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand.

"With covid-19 I was trapped on a Thai island paradise but I was able to reinvent myself and continue," he says.

The pandemic altered his plans and he had to leave Asia to return to Europe.

TRAVEL IN THE FULL PANDEMIC

"I had to reinvent myself and began to travel the Balkans. Every time I travel to another country I have to make sure of the restrictions that apply so as not to get scared and change my route many times. But it also has its positive side: now traveling is much more Authentic because you find very few tourists. In addition, the locals take great care of you. Both with the prices, which are lower, and with the services, which are more personalized. "

Sunset in the port of Karsiyaka (Turkey).

In Eastern Europe he ran through

Croatia

, Slovenia,

Serbia

,

Montenegro

("here I found my favorite place in the Balkans: the Bay of Kotor"), Albania and Macedonia, "where I spent Christmas surrounded by snow."

Ruiz is now in

Turkey

.

"From here I'll go to

Greece

or

Georgia

. With these times, who knows? And then why not cross the Atlantic and start running through the Americas?" He continues.

TRAVEL COMPANIONS

Although his adventure started alone, he meets more and more people who keep up with him.

"Both friends and family have accompanied me in various stages. In addition, in the

hostels

where I usually stay, it is common to meet travelers and agree to do something together. It's the good thing about not having the destinations planned too much. And when it goes well ( almost always), we try to meet again more times ".

Ruiz is not lacking in optimism, who despite the pandemic is enjoying this adventure

without major setbacks.

"My kilometers run are not usually complicated, apart from getting lost a little more than expected on the route, sometimes running out of battery in my mobile (and without GPS to guide me) or it gets dark or it rains suddenly".

Clara Ruiz with her backpack in Berat (Albania).

In fact, his biggest challenge at the moment is being able to continue with

Kilometers for the World:

"I am going to run out of funds sooner than the energy to carry it out. So I am looking for external financing:

sponsors

who like what I do and who I can help them by advertising their brands in a different way. I hope to find them soon ".

And it is that Ruiz also runs with an altruistic purpose.

"I began to collaborate with the GAEM Foundation in May, when isolated in Thailand by the pandemic I decided to give solidarity content to my project. They have an initiative, #YoDoyMisPasos, which was very much in line with

Kilometers for the world

. It consists of donating the kilometers traveled (running, cycling or walking) through an application, and those kilometers are transformed into money through sponsoring companies for multiple sclerosis research. When we got in touch, they automatically made me an

ambassador

because I do a lot! of kilometers! I have already donated more than 2,000 with them ", he points out.

Ruiz's short-term goal is to run another 3,000 kilometers before jumping to the American continent.

Whoever dares to accompany her, will find more information about her project at kilometersparaelmundo.com

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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