After 10 years and multiple operations following a serious skiing accident, sport-loving Charlie Lewis believed a leg amputation was the only way to begin walking and running again.
"I was desperate to run again, no operation could help me and when they offered me another, I said no, the only way was amputation," he says emphatically.
On Friday, the 31-year-old from London lined up at the start of Afghanistan's Bamiyan Marathon at the base of cliffs that once sheltered giant Buddha statues, which were blown up by the Taliban in 2001.
More than 100 runners, Afghan and foreign, male and female, took part in the 42-kilometre (26-mile) race, which stands as a metaphor for freedom in the conservative Islamic country where running in public is nothing short of a subversive act for women.
Bamiyan, perched in Afghanistan's central highlands, is a rare oasis of tranquility which has largely been spared the wrenching conflict that afflicts the rest of the country.
"My freedom is to run and to move. Running has become my way of exploring the world," says Lewis, his eyes lighting up at the deeply-carved, dun-coloured surroundings, "Being a tourist is of no interest to me at all."
In 2014, he demanded doctors amputate his lower leg, which had been the focus of operations and reconstructions for a decade. The decision stunned his doctors and also those close to him, although they respected his wishes.
"You can't involve too many people in a decision like this because they tell you what they would do for themselves. You have to keep it to yourself."
For the last 18 months, he has been wearing a running blade -- like the one used by now-disgraced South African athlete Oscar Pistorius -- and is back on track.
He has run a half-marathon in North Korea, a country "deprived of freedom" he says but one where he found his own again nonetheless.
Bamiyan was his first marathon and he was scared of not finishing.
"I know that after 20 kilometres, it's going to hurt because of the constant shocks against the knee," says Lewis, "That's why I have painkillers and I'll stop for a while."
The next test for him is the Baghdad marathon next spring, for which he needs to find sponsors, and he hopes to achieve a sub-three-hour finish between now and 2018.
"For me to run is to feel alive," he says.
"Being an amputee is a reason to get out there and move again. Until something is taken away from you, you don't really get how much you might miss it.
"Lots of people rest on their laurels, so I think get out there and move. Keep fit and keep healthy and keep moving."
Lewis finished second out of the hundred-strong field in Bamiyan.
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