[1] Carvajal was born in San Antonio de los Baños and lived in poverty his entire life before his death in Havana.

[citation needed] During his life he was a mailman who performed walking and running exhibitions in Cuba (including a journey across the full length of the island).

He arrived at the race dressed in street clothes and hastily cut around the legs of his trousers to make them more like shorts.

[4] Carvajal was selected to represent Cuba in the 1906 Olympic Marathon at Athens, Greece, with his expenses funded by the Cuban government.

[6] The Spanish language book Félix Carvajal, corredor de maratón, by Bernardo José Mora, was written on his life.