Athens and THE Marathon

On Halloween I flew down to Athens, Greece. For the past four months or so I have been training for the Athens Classic Marathon – the original marathon. This year it was run on November 4, so I went to Athens a little early to get adjusted to the city and to see some sites. I arrived to discover I had done an excellent job of picking a hostel via the internet. I was right on the edge of the Plaka, the old, gorgeous, and most well-kept area of Athens. It is at the foot of the Acropolis and filled with great restaurants and interesting shops. It also turned out that my only roommate in the hostel was from Brisbane (Northside – Mitchelton, to be exact), so we had a lot to talk about. Her name was Rae and she has been traveling the world solo for 8 months (through both Americas, Europe, and then onto Africa). When we met she had just returned from the Greek Islands, which sounded very cool - another place I have to add to my list. Luckily she had previously spent a few days in Athens, so she had tips for restaurants and things to do. I went for one of my few remaining training runs through the National Garden, which was filled with fountains and statues, and old men playing chess, past the Parliament Building and the Temple of Zeus, and up towards the Acropolis. I watched the sun set over Athens and then returned to the hostel. Rae was gone but left me directions to where all the restaurants were. I wound up going to “God’s Restaurant” – it couldn’t possibly be bad, right? It actually wasn’t – it had lots of good home-style Greek food, like moussaka, souvlaki, lamb, stuffed peppers, feta cheese, cheese saganaki, Greek salads and OLIVES, baklava, etc. I had the moussaka, a glass of Mythos beer, and watched a Greek soccer game on TV. I even got free dessert because I was eating alone, although I’m still not sure what it actually was.

After dinner I met Rae at another hostel that had a bit more going on. She knew a bunch of people there since she had stayed there the week before. Everyone was dressed up and celebrating Halloween. Some of the Athenians led a large group of us bar-hopping through Athens. It was mostly Aussies, Brits, and Americans. And one guy from Uppsala, Sweden! It was a ton of fun. I think it’s the first time I’ve been hanging out with people my age since August (with the exception of the trip back to the States). Anyways, after a fun night out I woke up to breakfast at the hostel, which consisted of cucumbers, olives, hard-boiled eggs, and tea. I loved it, but other people didn’t seem too happy – they couldn’t figure out where the bacon and eggs were. After breakfast I grabbed a map and wandered around the city. I crossed back through Syntagma Square, where I had arrived on the bus the day before, and strolled through huge shopping streets until I stumbled on the flea market. You can find pretty much anything you want at the Athens flea market – food, furniture, clothing, Greek and Roman statues, an overabundance of souvenir shops and more. I didn’t buy anything, but it kept me entertained until I was ready to eat again. I picked one of the many street side cafes near the Agora – the ancient marketplace – and had stuffed peppers and feta cheese. I people-watched/browsed a book for a while until I decided that I wanted to see what the Athens coastline was like. I heard that it wasn’t that impressive, but was hoping whoever told me that was mistaken. And really, I just wanted to be down by the water. So, I took the train to the waterfront, walked around for about 20 minutes, and decided it wasn’t worth the trip. The beaches near Athens were not where I wound up, which was just a marina of construction and polluted water. I jumped on the next train back into the city, went for my LAST training run of only 2 miles, and had just enough time to take a nap before meeting Rae for dinner on her last night in Europe! We went back to God’s Restaurant since it was cheap, good, and we knew pretty much everyone who worked there. We were there for over 3 hours eating and comparing travel stories! Out of all of her travels, the worst hostel she has ever stayed in was not in South America, or some eastern European country, but in Denver, Colorado. Kinda surprising. The most boring place she had been to – Brussels. I have heard that from virtually everyone I have talked to. One place I do NOT need to add to my list of places to go.

After a good night’s sleep I woke up, checked out of the hostel and found the hotel I had booked for the rest of the weekend with Tim, Mom, and Jenny. Unfortunately, the Novotel was nowhere near as close to the Plaka as my hostel and in a rather run-down area of town, but it worked out. I then took the tram to pick up my marathon registration at the Olympic Fencing Hall at the Hellinikon Complex from the 2004 Olympics. It was conveniently one hour out of the city (sense the sarcasm); however, I did find the beaches that were worth going to. I got my bib number, racing chip, and commemorative shirt and towel – all very exciting! I made it back to our hotel in the “ghetto” and read for longer than I had planned while waiting for the family. Little did I know how difficult driving in Athens was, especially when you are given completely false directions. The traffic, tiny streets, and signs in Greek are bad enough to begin with. It took Tim, Mom, and Jenny three hours to get to the hotel from the airport! It only took me one hour to get into the city on the bus. Lesson – just use the train/bus in Athens. Once they arrived we took the Metro into the Plaka and wandered/climbed around the quaint streets and alleyways. We had a great dinner filled with Greek salad (which we learned does not usually contain any lettuce), stuffed vine leaves, moussaka, lamb, and souvlaki at a rooftop restaurant below the Acropolis. I have decided that Greek food is my favorite European food so far. I can’t get enough of it.

On Saturday we started out in the flea market. Our only purchase was what Jenny is wearing in this picture. Apparently she has always wanted one of these masks. I’m not quite sure what it says about her, but out of everything they have in the markets, this was the ultimate for her. I had saved going up to the Acropolis for when Tim, Mom, and Jenny got into town, so that’s what we did next. We had our own tour with a friendly Greek lady named “Kula.” I think we only understood two-thirds of what she said, if that, but it was still interesting. I was racking my brain to remember all the things we learned from Jacobson and Miller in Humanities, but a lot of that is gone now. Jenny snapped a picture of this dog up on the Acropolis. There is actually an abundance of stray dogs and cats in Athens. The odd thing is that they are fairly friendly and look as if they could lose a few pounds. Apparently the people of Athens feel bad for the strays and every once in a while the animals are rounded up, sterilized, vaccinated, and collared. They are virtually everyone’s dogs, and everyone feeds them, which is why many are overweight.

Back to our activities . . . we grabbed an earlyish dinner at a taverna on our favorite street in the Plaka. We had a cozy table next to a fire place and live, traditional Greek music played in the background. It was very relaxing. After the filling pre-race dinner we headed back to the hotel where Jenny and I watched TV until I could fall asleep, which was late – 1:30am – not good. I woke up at 5:30 to catch the train to the Panathinaiko Stadium for the marathon. Panathinaiko is the pure-marble stadium that was built for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and was used as the finish for the marathon in the 2004 Games, as well as annually for the Athens Classic Marathon. From Panathinaiko, all 4,000 participants were bused 26.2 miles, or 42.2km, out to the city of Marathon where the race began. I warmed up on the track and was running alongside the Kenyans who eventually went on to win the race. I thought that was pretty cool! I was amazingly calm before the race, which is totally unlike me. I wore a pair of UVA shorts, which turned out to be a good idea because I met a lot of people from VA and the U.S. that way. I even got some “Go Cavaliers” shouts during the race, which was an especially welcoming thing to hear when most other cheers were in one of 20+ other languages.

Overall the race went amazingly well – much better than I thought it ever would! Knowing that Athens was a difficult course, I had hoped to finish in under 5 hours, and I would have been extremely pleased with anything under 4:20, which is 10-minute-mile pace. In the end I wound up finishing in 3:35!!! That’s 8:13-mile pace! I was the 41^st woman across the finish line (out of 579). I powered up the hills like they weren’t even there, or I could also say, like Kate Meehan. And I ran negative splits – my second half was 7 minutes faster than my first. So, I’m happy. I had planned on this being the one marathon I ran in my life, but I have since figured out that I qualify for the Boston Marathon. I may be running two marathons in my lifetime now. Exciting though.

I hung out at Panathinaiko after the race as the soreness set in. For anyone who has run a marathon, you know what I am talking about. I managed to get a massage, but can’t tell if it helped at all. By the time I recouped and the massage was over I still hadn’t seen Tim, Mom, or Jenny, nor had I seen them anywhere along the course. I finally met up with them about two hours after I had finished. Athens traffic had come back to haunt them. They had tried to get to different points along the course, but missed me every time and arrived at the finish about one and a half hours after I had. I felt badly that they spent all morning in the car! So, we took a bunch of pictures after the big rush was over. We then went back to the hotel room, where I had never been so happy to see a bed and a shower! I fell asleep for a while before we went out for one last Greek dinner in the Plaka. Actually, I hobbled to dinner. It was pretty hysterical – you could instantly spot anyone who had run the marathon that day. We all had the same exhausted expression and pained gait as we trudged around that night. After dinner we grabbed one last glimpse of the Acropolis lit up at night, when it is most beautiful. We woke up early the next day and headed to the airport several hours earlier than necessary to make sure we could get through Athens traffic.

We all arrived safely back in Düsseldorf. Jenny is now at a soccer tournament in London and will return on Saturday. Tim took off for London for a day, too. And Mom, Shadow, and I are hanging out at the house. I can finally walk normally again, which is good. Hope everyone is doing well!! Drop us a line and let us know what is going on back in the States!! Miss everyone!