Day #231 - Athens Marathon

Before the race

After race photo

Success in Athens - nice medals

Some celebratory drinks

Sunday, October 31st

I'm going to make this one short and may come back to add more details.

Up at 5:00am. Breakfast in the hotel from 5:30-6:00am. Leave by bus at 6:30 for the city of Marathon (where the race begins). Arrive in Marathon just shy of 8am. Dump our checked bags at the truck. Then, hit the corrals and await the 9am start time.

Difficult, hilly course. All 5 of us finished successfully. I was disappointed with my time of 5:05. I was hoping for much better - it wasn't in the cards today. I was feeling really nautious and sick from miles 14-19. I'm just happy to have survived.

The absolute best part of the race for me was the end. I will remember it always. I came around this corner and could see the Olympic Stadium. It was filled with people. About 50 yards before I entered - the song "Chariots of Fire" came over the loud speaker. I ran onto the track and finished the last 100 yards with the fans cheering. It was emotional and rewarding to say the least. Today was one of the toughest runs I've ever had. I struggled so much - I didn't know if I could even continue at one point. I was minutes from getting sick and I will never forget the feeling I felt on that track. Black and white images of pictures from this stadium flashed through my head. If for no other reason - all the training and effort leading up to today--- that last dash through history will always be apart of my memory.

I had to lay down for about 3 hours in my hotel room before I could funtion properly. We then had a nice dinner, followed it up with some drinks in the concierge lounge with good friends and family, then we called it a night.

Excellent, exhausting, difficult, and rewarding day in Athens.