It is a chilly, mid-November early morning. I have the privilege to eat the breakfast from 05:00 AM, as the hotel staff is aware that, until 06:15 the latest we need to catch the busses to… Marathon. Not that I am thrilled to ingest anything at that hour, but, guys, starting 09:00 AM I’ll start a 42.195-kilometer run. Basically a… marathon! Yep, the marathon from Marathon, as you see. Now, some feta fat delicious cheese, a big fat Greek yogurt with dried fruits and a cup of delicious coffee is exactly what I need to get started! In 2022 I wanted to go for the authentic and the prospects didn’t look to be the best. Around 400-meter climb, most of which between kilometer 20 and kilometer 31. The profile looks brutal so, the almost two hours spent at the Marathon stadium premises were both painful, because a relative cold, normal for an early morning and also… anxious. Many claimed to climb is brutal and to expect for the worst. I am trying to get rid of all bad thoughts and so I am set to start, from the second block – out of ten. Hope I’ll be OK.
Athens Marathon is not that… authentic! 🙂
The plan, until the 21st kilometer or so is to keep a steady under 4:40 / kilometer pace, even though there is one more small but quite abrupt climb on the way, at about 15 kilometers. The plan is sustainable, I am actually below 4:40 which is good. At kilometer 5, I enter a loop which is pretty clear to be the extension of the original trail, which was not even 40 kilometers, because the marathon length was established in Sweden, at 42.195 kilometers, in 1921. What an irony! Regardless, it is just something to make me smile about. I am progressing and see a lot of locals on the way, many of them with olive tree small branches. I take one, put it on behind of my head and progress with my pace. It feels good! The cap I am wearing helps a lot. I cannot say it is hot, but at 20ºC neither can I say it is an ideal temperature to run such a distance, at least for me. I start tacking water just to don’t risk anything so in no time I am at kilometer 21, halfway, where the climb supposed to start.
I am done, let the descent start!!!
It did! It isn’t easy, but it is not as bad as I thought. I can still sustain a under 5:00 / kilometer pace, and I feel strong. Very strong. I like to high-five most of the small children on the sides, it gives me energy, I take advantage of the near 20 hydration stations on the way. I walk for a few seconds when I decide to stop. No problem, I can pick up my pace easily after. Easier than I have imagined. When I hit the most brutal climbs, I suffer a bit. I am screaming, just for respiration purposes. I sweat a lot. It feels like one liter sweat / every half liter drank! But I am almost at kilometer 31!!! Now, the descent starts. I still feel strong, confident, I don’t see any reason for which I won’t finish under 3 hours and a half. Maybe even below 3:25! I feel my feet very strong as I am progressing through Athens now, my spirits become higher. I accelerate, but at kilometer 36 or so I feel a soft pain in my thigh. Oh, no! No, you don’t! I take the last magnesium flacon I have and hope for the best.
Personal best! Personal best!
It worked, nothing happened, my muscles become stronger, I step on it, I see a personal best and that drives me nuts. I am telling myself that, if I will end the distance of 42.195 meters below 3:23:04, as I had in Prague, I won’t push in the last kilometer. But once this done, at 3:21:14 I decide to accelerate! There are 500 meters more, because since I didn’t follow the path strictly, I have gained some meters and went, I think, near 4:00 / kilometer. The finish line is there, my clock is stuck at 3:23:33 and I realize what I am achieving. A personal best, in the Authentic Marathon! There is room for improvement, but now I am enjoying the moment. Well, as much as I can… I gave a tour of the Panathenaic stadium to pick up my medal, to move a bit my sour feet and to look for my beautiful supportive girlfriend that is always there for me, with a big smile of course! I am tired, but happy. One more goal achieved, and it feels sooo good! Now, I am looking from where to pick up my clothes.
Could you do the Athens Marathon, the Authentic? Of course!
I don’t find the location very easy, so I become nervous, I swear a bit, I just want to go and take a shower and after going to eat something properly. The fear I had at the beginning transformed into determination and desire that helped me finish in 672 place out of 10.117 male runners and 2 place out of 67 Romanian male runners. I got a race-time to be really proud about. And do you know what is the best part here? The experience? No! The after lunch? Nope! The sensation? No! I mean, all of them are superlatives, but… no. The best part is… if I could do that, anybody can! Well… training and discipline. If you have these two you can arrive where I am today and, perhaps, you can follow me in the future. Athens Marathon, the Authentic, in 2022, was a real boomer!