Early this morning while the rest of us were sleeping soundly, Eli caught an Uber to the city of Marathon to embark on his first marathon. And what an epic first marathon this would be. He said the driver looked confused about the location of the drop-off. Are you sure you want to be left HERE in this quiet town at 7am?
Over the past year Eli had researched the fabled path of Pheidippides, a Greek herald, who ran from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory over the Persians in 490 BC (he collapsed and died after arriving btw). It’s also the path of the first official marathon in 1896. The path is uphill overall, and not suggested as your first try hehe. But there is no stopping Eli once he has his mind set on something.
He texted a few times along the way. 7:41AM: “Mile 5, still alive”. Some of the path followed legitimate roads southward, parallel to the coastline.
8:11AM: “Mile 8, feeling great”. I woke up around here and checked his progress in Google maps. He’s doing it!
9:12AM: “I hit 13.1, I’m halfway done”. At one point he spotted an old Greek man watering his lawn and attempted to convince the man to spray him with his hose, but he was only met with “Sorry”, and the exchange failed due to the language barrier.
At times the pathway became more rugged. Eli described this section as “bushwhacking”. Mind you he was also running with a camelback backpack, additional frozen water bottle, phone, battery pack, energy gummies and an inexplicable falafel sandwich that slowly deteriorated along the way, and jammed every porthole of the battery I lent him! 🤦
10:14AM: “Mile 18, oh the sights I’ve seen”. Meanwhile, Damiana and I walked over to Panathenaic Stadium (the site of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896) where his run would conclude.
11:20AM: “My miles keep climbing, and I keep on rhyming”.
We purchased tickets into the venue, imagining that he might arrive and finish directly on the stadium track. But as he approached the outside of the stadium, exhausted to his core, his watch struck 26.2 and in that exact spot he collapsed under the hot sun. His water had run out miles earlier and rather than stop and buy some he just pushed through. Oh, to be 18 and reckless again!
The gift shop outside sold marathon medals so we had to get him one. I guarantee he was the only visitor there today who ran a marathon before arriving. It’s now 82 degrees at noon.
We convinced him to use his remaining strength to walk inside the stadium track.
Where he mustered the energy to step up and pose on the medal stand 🙂
While Eli chugged an ice tea from the gift shop I walked to the top of the marble steps.
Per usual, you can see the Acropolis off to the right. I think it’s visible just about everywhere around town.
Some of the stairs in the stadium were ridiculously steep. Where was OSHA in 144AD?
Eli finished with a time of 5:09. I’m impressed with your toughness, and independent spirit. You just dreamt up this crazy idea and made it happen all on your own. You should be proud, and it should make for a great story to tell when you’re old!
Writing on his Strava post, Eli had this to say: “Not as fast as I was shooting for, but not a terrible time for a first marathon, solo, lots of uphill, and down paths that can’t legally count as “sidewalk” (I was basically bushwhacking a couple times). All in all, that was a great adventure and I’m officially a marathoner!”
We’re off to Crete tomorrow for the final stop on this adventure. The plan there is to basically lay by the beach for 3 days and decompress! Surprisingly we’re not completely sick of each other yet 🙂 Will Eli be able to walk tomorrow? Stay tuned…
P.S. Obligatory loukoumades pic. Today’s dessert looked nicer, but wasn’t as tasty as yesterday’s:
