The 36th Authentic Athens Marathon

On 11th Nov 2018, I completed my 20th marathon in Athens, my swansong. There was no better place to call it a day. The race retraced the route ran by Phiedippides in 490BC from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory at the Battle of Marathon. Athens is the hardest marathon I have run. 

The first reason is because of the long and gradual hills which seem to go on forever. The route is generally uphill all the way to the 28^th km, even if you can't see the slope. I thought that I had a very good half marathon as I felt strong.  When I checked the clock, I was shocked. I crossed the 21 km mark a good 15 minutes slower than my expected pace.  Hills also strain the quadriceps a lot more than flat ground. If I had to do this again, I would definitely train on undulating terrain. 

The second reason is because of the Mediterranean sun. It beats down on you relentlessly over the 42km. The route has no shade.  It was a cloudless, warm day (high teens low twenties) with the flag off at 9am.  This all combined to make the environment somewhat sapping. The low humidity worked both ways. It made it more comfortable to run in, but resulted in a larger loss of salts and fluids. I probably screwed up on my hydration plan as I was dehydrated.

Tim also complained about the early wake up to travel to the start line – we left Athens at 545am, and endured a long wait before the start at Marathon.  Not ideal, but not exactly sapping. I made sure I had something to eat to pass the time.

The highlights? There are three.  First, this is a large race. 35000 people ran the full marathon - first timers, high performance runners, Chinese man carrying extra loads, folks dressed up like a Greek hoplite and average people doing it for fun. Plenty of friendly faces cheer you as you past the towns with cries of "Bravo" - same meaning in Greek as it does in Italian or Spanish. I collected plenty of photographs. 

Secondly, things uniquely Greek. This is the first marathon where I had to take the Athlete's oath.  This was led by the Mayor of Marathon before the flag off. It reads:

"In the name of all the competitors I promise that I shall take part in this race, respecting and abiding by all the rules which govern the sport, in true sportmanship, for the glory of the sport and the honour of our teams and our countries."

Quite moving. Also, the 99 victims of the July Athens fire, which engulfed an area between the towns of Nea Makri and Rafina along the route, were remembered. The area is still devastated with the scars are clear to see. We all ran with green headscarfs to remember the dead.

Thirdly, there can be no better finish line in the world. The last two km take you down the wide boulevards of Athens to the grand and historic Panantheniac Stadium, the home of the first modern Olympic Games. No words can adequately describe the view turning the corner and entering the stadium for the last 125m. It was worth every penny of the price of entry. No other finish line comes close. 

I committed in my mid-thirties to run a marathon a year till I was 50. And I have done so. And so ends my adventure. Will I ever run the marathon again? Click on my next blog "What I have learnt about running marathons after 20 races." where I will consider this question.