Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  You might see them running up and down on our mountain roads, looking like two teenagers training for their high school cross country team. They are both small and wiry, with runners’ bodies, and they look serious as they conscientiously work at the high altitude regimen.

They are actually Olympic-quality runners, have masters’ degrees and are engaged to be married. One of them is representing his home country of Venezuela this year and the other is hoping to represent her home country of Sri Lanka in 2020. They both also run for the University of Kentucky, where they attended school on scholarships.

Luis Orta and Hiruni Wijayaratna are staying in a home in Gilpin County where Luis is high-altitude training for a month before he moves down to the flatlands in preparation for the summer Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 5 to August 21, 2016. He will be one of 10,500 athletes fighting for one of 306 sets of medals. Although he is training to win a medal, he said realistically, his hopes are to be in the top 30, knowing the Kenya runners will be the top finishers.

Unfortunately, Hiruni missed making the Olympic trials in Denmark by one place and will be cheering Luis on this year, with every intention of making it to the Olympics in 2020 in Tokyo.

This week, Luis and Hurini are staying with a Gamble Gulch resident, Angelika Sabine, who had put an ad on Craigslist for people who needed a place to live in the mountains. It was perfect for their needs.

Luis did not run seriously until he was 14 years old. His parents were both doctors in Caracas, Venezuela, where he was born. When he was 14, the country was steeped in political problems involving the oil industry and for three months, the teachers went on strike. There was no school.

“This happened during the school year,” says Luis, “And there was nothing to do. No gas. We couldn’t drive anywhere, so I started running.”

The temperature of Caracas is nice all year. It is in the higher part of the country and therefore cooler. At the time, Luis had basketball shoes, the kind of shoes ‘normal’ kids wore. He found he enjoyed running and signed up for a local road race.

“I knew I was good. I knew I had potential as I began to outrun my friends. It felt good.”

After winning the local race, he began to train and when he was going on 16, he began looking for a coach.

His parents thought he was avoiding school. When he discovered a well-known track coach lived half a mile from his house and trained kids, he felt very lucky.

The coach saw the boy’s talent and recognized his discipline. His slight, light build, 5’4” and 110 pounds, was helpful in distance running. He said not carrying that much weight makes it easier to run 26 miles.

When Luis was 17, he made it to state competition, winning the 3k in 8.41 minutes, a time that took him to the nationals, where he took first place.

“Then I went to the South American Championships for all the kids in youth group. It was the first time anyone in his city had worn a Venezuela jersey.” He won the championship, beating out all the other runners under 18 years old. Now he was fired up. He wanted to get better. There was a glimmer of the Olympics on the horizon.

When he graduated from high school, he wanted to leave immediately and head to the United States but his parents pressured him to go to college. At the end of his first semester, he had flunked out of every class. He continued training and running and his mother helped him finish a scholarship application to send to the states.

“We made it happen,” says Luis. In 2009 he was offered a scholarship to the University of Kentucky where he pursued a double major in Hispanic studies and International Commerce. He went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Sports Administration.

During college he ran in the NCAA and in international competitions for Venezuela. He competed in Kenya, Poland, France, Columbia and Denmark, winning three championships: Brazil, South America and Denmark.

Now he had to decide what came next. Did he want to keep running, to make a try for the Olympics, or should he get a job. His parents told him he was wasting his time, that dreaming of the Olympics was not realistic.

He continued to run. He trained and went to Rotterdam a year ago April, but he didn’t qualify. After that he went to Kenya for altitude training at 8,000 feet, but this time he was hit with Malaria.

“It was scary,” he said. “I didn’t trust the doctors or the medicine which came from China, but I still ran, still trained. When the race came, I wanted to still give it a try even though I was weak and tired. I didn’t achieve the standard, was one minute off.”

Although Luis was disappointed, he knew if could run that well when he was sick, one minute off the marathon standard wasn’t that much, he could achieve his goal when he was well.

He came to Boulder to train, running Magnolia, Gold Hill and Sugarloaf. When he went to Rotterdam in April his time was 2:18.49. To qualify for the Olympics, he needed 2:19.00. He had time to spare. “I knew what I was doing,” says Luis.

Hiruni, born in Sri Lanka, lived there for four years before moving to Melbourne, Australia where her mother taught in a Montessori School and her father had an insurance company. In 2000, she moved to Virginia where she says, her memories began.

In fourth grade, in her physical education classes, she excelled and thought someday she would be a star, but she put that aside while she was in school. The first time she ran cross country in a structured setting she knew she would never play high school again. Her coach, an Olympic candidate, began her training, bringing her along carefully, preparing her to win.

She won the State Championship with a time of 10.26. Her running prowess earned her a scholarship to the University of Kentucky. She was the first person in her family to attend college.

The couple met in their freshman year and began dating.

“I had speed goggles,” she says, “And he was fast. He was not a typical college student.”

Hiruni earned her master’s degree studying business administration. When the couple left Kentucky she had some injury issues and struggled with an emotional growing curve and wasn’t running. When she and Luis left Kentucky she knew she had to make a choice and decided to pursue a career, becoming an executive team leader for a Target Store in Indiana. After 18 months, she was transferred to Superior, Colorado.

They arrived in January. She returned to running.

“After college, my running career had blossomed. I have a great engine and the marathon has been a great jump for me. Runners have the flexibility of choosing what race they compete in and I like it flat and fast.”

In 2013, Hiruni ran her first marathon in Indianapolis. She ran 2:43.34, but the Olympic qualification didn’t open until January. She missed it by a month, but the time qualified her for the US Open Trials. At this time, she was working 50-60 hours a week.

This past February she went to Los Angeles to attempt to make the US team for Rio.

“I was not very good. The American marathon team is strong, professional athletes. I am not seeing how far I can go while I have a full-time career. But I am not totally bummed. I wanted to succeed for Sri Lanka, which never had a woman represent them until this year.”

Hiruni ran a marathon in Ottawa in May and came in 11th, needing to be in the top 10, she missed it again. She says she will try to make the team in 2020 in Tokyo.

“It is not the destination, but the journey,” she says.

Luis and Hiruni became engaged in Boulder. He proposed to her as they ran around the reservoir. He stopped and said, “Look what I found,” and showed her the ring in a box.”

They haven’t set a date, saying things are kind of complicated now. Hiruni will not go to Rio with Luis, saying it is the busiest time of year for work, but they will be take a vacation in Costa Rica after the race.

Luis says he doesn’t know, what’s next, it depends on what happens in Rio. “Maybe I will start a career soon.”