SEBASTIAN MESA Already up and running by Mario Mesa I am a marathoner, I live in Bogota, Colombia with my wife Maria Elena and my son Sebastian. He is year and a half old and has demonstrated, during his short lifetime, his love for exercise. He participated in the Athletics Grand Prix Series organized by BP Exploration here in Bogota at 8,500 ft. altitude above sea level in Simon Bolivar Park. The Grand Prix ended last March '05, Sebastian won the gold medal in the sub-three years old category. My dream (and I guess the same dream of many marathoners) is that as long as he will grow-up, he will keep as an active athlete, and why not, run with me at a big marathon like Boston, some 20 years from now. First two Sebastian Coe photos courtesy of atleticaleggera.com We named our son Sebastian after the famous 800 ­ 1,500 meters runner from England. He is my athletics hero. Seb Coe was born on September 29, 1956. He held eight Athletics world records between 1979 and 1981 including 1min 41.73 seconds for the 800 m which lasted for more than 15 years until 1997. He also won two Olympic gold medals. Curious thing is that his coach was Peter Coe, his father. Currently Seb Coe is leading the London's bid campaign to organize the 2012 Olympic Games. Editor's Note: I sat next to "Dad" at the Runner's World seminar in memory of Old John Kelley. Dad was laden with gifts for his family from the marathon expo. He was anticipating his run which he had done before. He finished with a great time of 3hours, 28 minutes, and 01 second. Congratulations to Mario. We hope that young Sebastian will follow in his footsteps. August 29, 1977 Photo by George Herringshaw Courtesy of sporting-heroes.net Email the editor at goodrow@infionline.net.