Day 686 – South America – Argentina [Merlo to Buenos Aires]

08/03/22

36km

  From Merlo (Argentina) to Buenos Aires (Argentina)

South America

International Women’s Day, a grand welcome in Buenos Aires by the Embassy and International French School – and by the Atlantic Ocean

With Ambassador Claudia Scherer-Effosse, Laurence Leyendecker and Arnaud Moucaud

I started very early to make my way to Buenos Aires and the International French School. Since I had contacted them, the French Embassy in BsAs has been very enthusiastic, especially as it coincided with International Women’s Day. The Ambassador (Claudia Sherer-Effosse) is a woman, and so is Laurence Leyendecker, the head of the French-Argentinian Lycee in BsAs. What a team of strong women willing to welcome me on the special day!

To my standards, a crowded welcome!

When I arrived at the school, over a hundred children were awaiting me. Claudia and Laurence, as well as Arnaud (head of the French-Argentinian College) led me through the park for a loop, followed by dozens of children. Then into the school yard, which was decorated with balloons reading “23,800 km” and “587” the number of marathons I have run. What a warm and friendly welcome.

Children of all ages

Onto lunch with the school team and then I headed for a 2hr session with children of various classes. They had prepared questions, around the run but also and mostly about the International Women’s day and my involvement with “Women for Women International”. I don’t often get to talk about it, what a pleasure to share this with them. Children are studying gender equality as part of their curriculum. I wish we had that when I was their age.

At the end of the afternoon, we headed to the Embassy. The Ambassador held a reception to honour women on International Women’s Day. She presented me as part as her speech and I spent the rest of the evening sharing about the journey with others – and sampling the delicious food and champagne!

What a great day… I was very tired when I headed home, but it had been well worth it. The next two days, I will run to tally up the number of km on the South American continent to 3000km. Two “smaller” runs to come then!

Enjoy the video of today’s run: https://www.relive.cc/view/v26MXKAppEO

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: