The article mentions he's run into armed groups, but it hasn't posed an issue.

> Not infrequently, Silva said, he has been stopped at checkpoints manned by cartel gunmen. Once, in Durango, cartel members poured into the hotel where he and his crew were staying, guns slung over their shoulders.

> [...] But during each confrontation, Silva described his cross-country run, and the armed men let him continue on. In several cases, gunmen radioed ahead to other checkpoints, telling their comrades to expect a runner entering their territory. Sometimes Silva handed out running shirts to their children.

> “If they know you don’t pose a threat to them,” he said, “they don’t do anything.”

It makes sense. Why would they hurt a runner that has local and international press coverage, that would be idiotic and potentially bad for their business.

> “If they know you don’t pose a threat to them,” he said, “they don’t do anything.”

What a solid sentence.

I mean the article was pretty clear about that aspect of the run and the runner's thoughts