My Athens Marathon Trip 

When I first started running in 2009, I never thought in a million years that one day I would run a marathon, let alone 21. To celebrate my 10th marathon, I decided that I needed an EPIC marathon – running the Athens Athentic Marathon was a nobrainer !

Some facts about the Athens Athentic Marathon  

Known as ”The Authentic” because it is the origin of the modern marathon, the Athens Authentic Marathon was established in 1972. It is held in Athens, Greece, usually around the first week of November. The marathon course is based on the myth from which the race gained its name: Pheidippides, a messenger in Ancient Greece ran 42.2km from the Battle of of Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek’s victory over the Persians. The Athens Authentic Marathon was awarded Gold Label Road Race status by the IAAF and has since become very popular and an item on every marathoner’s bucket list. There are concurrent 5 and 10km races as well as a racewalking competition.

Pre-Race Activities

After almost 12 hours of flying , I finally arrived in Athens on the Thursday afternoon prior to the race. I took the subway from the airport to the Monastiraki Subway Station, near my hotel. After having dinner, I went to bed early as I was exhausted from the flight. However,  I got up at 3:30am in the morning and could not go back to sleep. This would be the pattern for the rest of my marathon trip.

Friday morning and part of the afternoon would be all about the Expo. The Expo was quite far from my hotel and downtown.  I actually had to take the  subway to the Syntagma Subway Station and then a tramway to where the Expo was held. Great expo, not huge but lots of international brands like Gu, Mizuno, etc.  Bib pick up was easy and I was able to efficient visit all the expo booths in less than 2 hours.

After arriving at my hotel, I had to dress up for the evening that was to come. Since 2007, the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races has organized an annual International Marathon Symposium on the Friday prior to the race. Among others, race organizers who are on the Board of the association meet here to strategize. There is also a Gala where the best female and male marathoners of the year receive an award.  International  runners have an opportunity to get a ticket for this event, but it’s on a first come, first serve basis, so those interested must quickly reserve a spot ! 

It was a pretty glitzy affair with lots of personnalities from the Greek media and the international marathon community.  Among others, I met Mark Milde, the Berlin Marathon race director and John Halvorsen, the Ottawa Marathon race director.  I also met and took a picture with the winner of the 2014 Male Marathoner of the Year award, Dennis Kimetto from Kenya. Dennis had just broken the marathon world record in Berlin the prior September (he was the world record holder in the man’s marathon with a time of 2:02:57, a record which he held until Eliud Kipchoge broke it this year in Berlin with a time of 2:01:39). 

Saturday would be about resting, getting my outfit and race fuel ready and buying bottles of water and any other food for my pre-race breakfast. As  I always do for international marathons, I bring my race fuel – be it bars, gels, powder, etc. I never leave that to chance – it’s too important. I also bring my own vaseline, bandaids and anti-friction stuff  in case I cannot find it at the local drugstore. 

By 6pm, I was ready to carbo-load so I went in for an early dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant. I remember that as I was starting my meal, it started to pour heavily and it wouldn’t stop…and I was wearing my race shoes ! One of the waiters at the restaurant had the brilliant idea of giving me a couple of plastic bags and some elastics to put around my shoes and that did the trick !

Went to bed, barely slept because of the excitement and because the jet lag had my system all confused. Woke up again at 3h30, couldn’t go back to sleep and then it was time to get ready…

Race Day

And it would be a hot and humid race day !!! Around +21C at the start of the marathon and full sun.  The race starts  in the town of Marathon, 42.2 km from Athens, so the race organizers provide chartered buses to take runners to the starting line. After having breakfast at my hotel, I took a taxi to the area where the chartered buses were waiting for us. Grabbed a coffee at one of the little cafés nearby and boarded one of the buses for the 1hr journey.  In the bus, I met some fellow destination marathon crazies like myself who had come all the way from Minessotta, Singapore and China. We all walked from the drop off to the Marathon Stadium where there was a fleet of DHL trucks collecting and bringing our drop-off bags to Athens. 

We all got into our corrals and off we went !  The course goes along the coast all the way to Athens and…..this race is NO joke !  It is one of the hardest marathons I’ve done: uphill from km 10 to km 31. Add to this, the heat and the humidity and you are in for a great challenge ! Following the uphill, the course goes lightly downhill towards Athens until you reach the finish line at the Panathenaic Stadium : the MOST epic finish line I have ever experienced in my entire athletic journey, EVER. 

Yes ! THIS Stadium ! I still get chills when I remember spotting IT from afar and then approaching IT and running the last 100m on the track of this magnificent building…UNFORGETTABLE ! The Panathenaic Stadium is one of the main historic attractions in Athens. It is the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble. It hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1986 and was once again used as an Olympic venue in 2004 as it would be the finish line of the marathon event in the Athens 2004 Olympics (where American Meb Keflezighi would go on to win the silver medal). It is also the last venue in Greece from where the Olympic flame handover ceremony to the host nation takes place. Important Tip: Please DO NOT visit the Panathenaic Stadium BEFORE the marathon. You want to come into this incredible building and see it for the first time as you run the last mile of the marathon.  You want this to be THE highlight and THE ultimate reward for having completed one of the a toughest marathons of your life !

Anyways, as I approached the Panathenaic Stadium I got teary eyed. I couldn’t believe that I was actually running my 10th marathon AND that I was running it in such as historic venue to boot ! I made a dash to the finish line, ate what was given to us at the finish, retrieved my clothes from the DHL trucks, streched a bit and….went back to the stadium to cheer on the runners and to soak up the atmosphere one more time. At that moment, I felt so privileged and grateful that my running had allowed me to have such a priceless experience. Yes it is a tough marathon, but you don’t come to the Athens Authentic Marathon for a BQ or a PB but rather to experience history. In my case, this marathon was done entirely for fun without any time expectations as three weeks before I had run the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon for time. 

After the race, my new found friends and I went for a nice dinner of traditional Greek specialties in the quaint district of Plaka. We went to restaurant Oplatanos where we had  arni tou fournou lamb plates, moussaka, yemitstès and drink some retisina wine.

Sightseeing in Athens

As it is my tradition when I race international marathons in new cities, the day after the marathon is all about sightseeing.  Ideally this is done via the local Hop On/Hop Off bus. Athens is one of THE most incredible cities to visit. First on the agenda for me was to visit the Acropolis and the Parthenon. Still very sore from my marathon but knowing that I would be off to Montréal the next day, I made a special effort to walk up the stairs to the Acropolis and visit this mythical place. As we say in French, The Acropolis ”est un incontournable”, meaning that it is a ”must see” when you come to Athens.

The Acropolis of Athens is an UNESCO World Heritage site. The Acropolis sits on a flattish-topped rock that rises 150 m above sea level and it is visible from everywhere you go in Athens. It is composed of several marble temples and majestic buildings such as the Temple of Athena Nike, the Temple of Erectheion, the Dionysos Theatre, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus Theatre and of course THE Partenon.  Here are some pics. 

After the Acropolis I did most sightseeing from the bus. Passed by the Panathenaic Stadium and saw it in all its glory again, went by the Greek Parliament and saw the changing of the guard. I also walked around the Plaka district for a bit and finally stopped at the Monastiraki Flea Market for some souvenirs to bring back to the boys. Here are more pics of my afternoon. 

And that was it !! My Athens Authentic Marathon trip would be over after five days but the priceless memories would stay with me FOREVER !! A challenging course with tough conditions (heat and humidity) but TOTALLY bucket list worth it !

M