Aqens Maraqon (Athens Marathon)

By Duncan Stewart

I recently returned from a trip to Greece with my family, and we had a great time, despite numerous travel-related curve balls. First, the plane was 3 ½ hours late leaving Dallas, which caused us to miss our connecting flight in Zurich. Luckily, we were able to get to Athens on Olympic Airlines (Greece’s national airline), and didn’t have to wait for the next Swiss Air flight. Our first exposure to Greece! I don’t think the flight attendant was too impressed with my Greek but was polite nonetheless. However, our bags didn’t make it with us. Fortunately, I anticipated this and had my race gear in the carry-on. After a ludicrous exchange with the Missing Baggage department, we hailed a cab for the hotel. From the cab window, the hills look significant. The traffic in Athens is incredible! It makes NYC look tame in comparison. In addition to the cars zipping all over, there are zillions of motorcycles of all shapes and sizes, lane-splitting with abandon. We arrived safely at the hotel, made our way to the room, and crashed for 12 hours straight, got up, had breakfast, and slept some more. We awoke to rain, which was to continue for the next three days.

On Saturday, we did a little recon. That is, we figured out how to get to the Olympic Stadium, which is where the marathon finishes. We finally found it, snapped a few photos, then headed over to the Plaka for some sight-seeing and shopping. At the packet pick-up/pasta dinner, the speaker said that the course was the hardest he’s ever done and that we should expect to run 30 minutes slower than normal. Gulp! At 10 pm that night, our luggage finally arrives.

Sunday morning brings more rain. It’s also cold and windy. Yuck! On the bus ride to the start, we plow through several flooded sections. This is the route along which we will run on the way back. There were a few Americans on the bus, and I talked to these four girls who were making this their first marathon. One them told me she did one “long” run of 9 miles, but didn’t think the distance would be a problem because she spends a lot of time on her feet. I was thinking, “Boy, are they in for an surprise!” I mentioned to her that she would be covering about triple that distance today. After we arrived at the start, everyone headed for whatever shelter they could find in the semi-finished stadium.

Finally, it’s about time to go. As everyone is huddling out in the street, the “organizers” have everyone go into the stadium, so we shuffle down the stairs, through the mud, and onto the track. While on the track, I’m looking around for the large entrance that we’ll be running through to exit the stadium, but don’t see one. Somebody “in charge” evidently realizes this, and we are told to go back out into the street. Did I mention that it was cold, raining, and windy?

OK: ready, set, and Go! We had chips on, but there was no mat at the start. I guess everyone gets the “gun” time. We head out and soon take short out-and-back detour off the main road. I see the Kenyans go by, and they do not look happy! I tuck my wet gloves away, and discard the trash bag too, since I was already soaked. We plow through a 100-meter section of flooded street where the water was over our ankles. We then pass the 3K mark – only 39 more kilometers to go. Yippee! So much for the racing flats and a fast time! This would be the first, but by far the last, time we would be splashing through the streets. As a matter of fact, it rained during the entire race. The wind was variable: tailwind, cross-wise, in the face, and back again. The course topography is simple – there’s only one hill. It starts at 20K and ends at 32K, and is about 200 meters (650 feet) tall. I could definitely feel it in my calves! It was a lonely marathon as there were very few Americans. Mostly Greeks (no duh), Italians, Germans, and Frenchmen. As we pass the crest of the hill and FINALLY start going down, I’m able to pick it up, and pass quite a few people in the last 10K. Spectators were pretty minimal, probably due to the weather. The course is less picturesque than I had imagined. This impression also may have been due to the weather.

1:35:22 at the half and 3:12:24 at the finish, and 103^rd overall out of about 2000. (Yes, I deducted the time it took me to reach the start line.) In the rain, I collect the finisher’s medal, blank certificate, Powerade, and my clothing bag. Then hobble back to the hotel for a hot bath and nap. (Blank certificate - does this mean I can correct for rain, hills, etc, and put the time I should have run? OK, let’s call it a 2:42. After all, the guy did say we would run 30 minutes slower!) In sum, I was very happy with my time considering the conditions, and I would recommend this marathon as a one-time experience. The big plus is that there are a lot of neat things to do in Greece, and we had lots of fun for a week after the marathon.