This is it. My 56th marathon right here in Athens. Where it all began. The story of a brave Greek soldier who ran from Marathon to Athens (40km) in 490 BC to bring news of the Athenian victory and then expired. Just the thought of it gives me goosebumps.
To the uninitiated (just like me) i later found out the distance we run today at 42.195km was immortalized when the Olympic committee decided to standardised THE distance which starts at Windsor Castle and finished in front of the royal box in the stadium (1908). Hmm… now, i will be equally satisfied to run a 40km and named it a marathon distance 😃.
Nostalgia aside, now about the event.
Pre race
It took us 20 minutes to get to the bib collection area. First impression i had – chaotic! The throng of people. One long queue. Signages would have really helped.
The A4-sized race bib. Huge for a race standard. It covered my entire chest! The entire bib printing and timing chip (literally a stick on) was processed on the spot. Hmm.. Different. Well it worked.
We start in Block 3. They defined this block as ‘advanced’. I quite like that😃. A small recognition for the hard work of previous years. We had to submit a recent run time to be placed in this block. I guess it does matter when you start as there were 12 blocks and the start time ranges from 9 to 945. We start at 0905. Phew. Imagine the waiting time otherwise. It gets warmer through the day and everyone has to arrive at the start line before 8. And we arrived at 0715.
The expo spread over 2 floors. A labyrinth of exhibitors. The race T-shirt was located on the second floor. Genius. Made us walk all the way.
Communication from organiser was commendable. Kudos.
Race
0545. Awake. Too early for a race that starts only at 0905. The start & finish is at two different locations. A bus from the organisation operates between 0545 to 0645 at 6 different locations around Athens ferrying 21k runners to Marathon.
The drive was almost 45 min long. The town looks quiet except on Athens Marathon day. It was cold when we arrive. I had 3 layers on including a puffer jacket. The organisation gave us a blue poncho which was handy as we need to deliver our bagdrop by 0820. I look for spots where i could stay horizontal given the long wait. Found one behind the trucks in the field. 10-12 trucks in total i reckon for each block. Very well arranged i thought.
It was a slight downhill start. I was cruising. As usual the (left) calf pain was apparent. Helaas. But it did not worsened and the downhill helped me get into the rhythm. I looked at my watch and saw myself running a tempo of <521. That gave me a lot of comfort and confidence. My heart rate felt low and it felt easy. I cruised for a good 21km and hell broke loose after. Between 22 to 31km it was rolling ‘hills’. The varying strides and tempo started straining my (left) ankle. I did a noob-ish mistake running in the Altra shoes which i have never ran a marathon with. At km 32 my right feet started blistering and at km 38 i could literally feel the blistered skin split. Dragged on anyway as it is only 4 km left and the burning sensation was bearable.
The entire route was traffic free with a distinct blue line. Superb. Huge plus point. When you have the entire road to run on sometimes the blue line comes in really handy. A way to keep your focus on the ground.
Water stations were at every 2.5km, gels at km10 and 20, electrolytes and banana starting from km 15 (i think). It was indeed convenient for the runners but a full 500ml bottle at every 2.5km seems rather wasteful to me. Most of the time, when i grab one i could only take 2/3 sips from the bottle and had to discard it. There were plenty of medical booth along the route. I stopped at 2 of them and applied cooling gel on both my calf and hamstring. Also stopped at one potty.
I took a total of 5 gels at km 10, 18, 25, 30 and 35. This must be the first time i was so diligent with taking gels and i must say it helped for the run (28km dip) felt manageable and the eventual recovery bearable.
You know when you enter Athens. The tall buildings, the cheering crowd. 1km to the finish i forgot how tough the last 10km were. As i turned the corner and stepped into the Panatheniac Olympic stadium my heart skip a beat. The 1896 open stadium which housed 70k spectators. My my my … what a wonder, stepping in it and crossing the finish line felt mega & victorious. It is really something.
I clocked in a 4.03 hr. Very happy that it is a big improvement from Jersey & Chisinau where i clocked in 4.31 and 4.23 (a back to back marathon in Sept). I mean given all the drama with my injury since the whole year, this felt like a huge victory. Celebrate small progress.
Other touristic info:
We stayed on the Veikou street area. 400m away from Syngrou-Fix metro line for bus pick-up. It is centrally located. A stone throw away from Acropolis (the site/ metro) and there were plenty of nice restaurants to choose from.
meysrunningjourney.com 