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Aroa Yeso

.

37 years.

She works as an administrator for the Commonwealth of Montes de Vigo and in the afternoons gives private lessons to teenagers.

She doesn't do any sports, she smokes a pack of cigarettes a day, she drowns going up a few stairs.

Aroa Yes.

43 years.

He lives by running in the mountains, in fact, he has a three-year contract with Craft.

This summer he has completed the two best-known 170-kilometre races, the American Western States and the Montblanc Ultra Trail (UTMB), where he finished eighth.

How do you understand such a change, so drastic, so late?

«Now I live another life, a dream.

A few years ago, after a divorce, I was working long hours, I could barely see my daughter and I decided to prepare for a police exam.

They asked me to run a kilometer in less than four minutes and I managed to do it, I complied, but I almost died trying.

The fatal pass.

That's when I realized that I had to change.

If he continued down that path at 50 or 60 years old, he would have problems, for sure.

I went to the GP to help me quit smoking and started exercising, going to the gym, cycling... But I didn't want anything to do with running.

For months some friends insisted and insisted that I go out with them through the mountains until one day I accepted and I was blown away: we left at six in the morning and watched the sunrise from the top of the mountain.

Whoa!

The creeps.

And since then I haven't stopped”, explains the feeling of trail running, surprise at the last UTMB.

A debutant ahead of more established figures such as the American

Hillary Allen

.

Miguel RúaCRAFT

His career breaks all the paradigms of elite sport, denies the importance of early specialization, although he has a trick, the best known trick: talent.

A podium to start

Because Aroa Sío started training at the age of 37, but as a child she had already practiced athletics and excelled very soon, as soon as she took strides again.

In her first race, of 45 kilometers, the Somiedo Challenge of 2016, she finished third practically unintentionally.

«I was happy, super calm, freaking out.

I did not expect that result at all, more so competing with

Uxue Fraile

, who the previous year had been second in the UTMB.

There a coach I knew,

Javier Laburu

, told me I was a diamond in the rough and we started working together", recalls the runner whose life the mountain also changed in many other aspects: up there she met her current husband,

Abel Noé

, also a runner and up there, inspired his mother, over 60 years old, who has become a runner.

Now Sío, with the peace of mind of being able to dedicate herself 100% to trail running, is preparing for the end of the season with a World Cup at stake and looking far, far away.

Despite her age, she is a newcomer to the elite and she does not want to know anything about the withdrawal.

«I will continue until the body gives, I will leave it when I see that I am stagnant.

I know that I will not always live on this, I am enjoying it.

Sometimes I think what would have happened if she had started at 20 years old, but maybe she would be much more tired now.

I am 43 years old and I feel very fresh », she finishes the most unexpected mountain runner: from smoking and sedentary lifestyle to the top.

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