Pilgrimage Marathon – Athens November 2016

Pilgrimage Marathon

Athens November 2016

Every marathon runner versed in the history of this sport would like to run and outran the marathon in Athens. And if, in addition, he is an historian and has not previously been in Greece this desire becomes many times stronger. Running a marathon on the so-called classical or authentic trail falls into a kind of pilgrimage. Just as Christians go to Israel or Palestine, where Christianity was formed to visit the cities mentioned in the Bible in order to consolidate and refresh their faith and pray, or like Muslims go on the hajj to Mecca, so do the marathoners who hold to some traditions go to Greece if they are in position to do it. Marathon and Christianity are somewhat connected and this statement is not to say that all Christians are marathoners or that they should be and vice versa. The event which took place immediately after the famous battle at Marathon in 490 BC, when the Athenians led by Miltiades defeated outnumbered Persians, and one messenger Philippides or Fidipid after heavy battles ran into town located about 40km or slightly less from the respective field to tell the good news of the victory, inspired by the “divine baron” Pierre de Coubertin ” the father of the modern Olympic movement to establish a marathon as an athletic discipline that is now running worldwide. For Christian missionaries this event also served as an example or paradigm for preaching of Christ or the Gospel or good news. To understand this we need to know Greek to some extent. The Greek verb “angeleo” means to inform, or reporting, while the word “eu” means good. That’s exactly what Philippides was reporting after the battle to the Athenians, good news “euangelion” of the victory over the enemy. For this good news he has laid down his life, and died of exhaustion. To some extent the Christian missionaries took this and called their message about Jesus by this very Greek word and in the first decades after the birth of Christianity they carried the good news to other people often giving their life for this news to reaches the people. Although this story about Philippides was mentioned by Herodotus first who actually thinks Philippides ran up to Sparta, which is much further away, about 250km, and later Plutarch who thought it was “only” to Athens, and some suspect that Philippides actually existed. After all, some suspect that Jesus ever existed, despite the New Testament and Christian missionaries. In fact it seems that it does not matter to most people and their faith, because as Christianity despite all the human frailties is still the most dominant religion-faith on earth, and today’s marathon movement slowly acquiring some form of a new religion, some might even say ” Newage “. All in all, if we neglect to prove the origins of both movement and its origins in ancient times, the fact is that the first official marathon race in honor of stories about Philippides held on the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 (there was a trial-qualifying race just before the games also), when a Greek Spiridon Louis triumphed in less than 3 hours and write his name into the history of sport and Olympism. This year, 2016 was a small jubilee, 120 years after the event, so that this year’s marathon in Athens had a specific weight and symbolism, although this was 34th race in a row.

This trip to Greece started in Subotica on Thursday 10th November in the afternoon with perhaps the best marathoner from Subotica currently, and my club co-member Edvard Halas. The first phase of the trip is with the Lasta bus carriers up to Belgrade, from where we aimed to Athens. Trip dragged because the bus went through an old road. At the bus station in Belgrade we bought greasy cheese pie (burek) and rushed on foot with a lot of things over the bridge on the Sava to Belgrade Arena, where was the starting point for a trip to Greece. Thanks to Edward’s GPS and by mingle navigation through wide boulevards of New Belgrade on a cold November evening we succeeded, almost at the last minute just before 20 h we arrived at the destination. And while other companions slowly boarded we quickly ate burek. The expedition or pilgrimage, as preffered, began a little after 20h. A small bus led by the two drivers and 39 passengers, about 30 runners and a few others, accompanied by the organization of Active Traveling agency, resolutely headed towards the south. Night Ride through Serbia and Macedonia as usual lately has not done good to me, because I can not sleep at night in a bus on a seat. Doze off a bit, and sometimes my head clones or rather say inflame the seat in front, so that the consequences of that I feel even now, a few days after the trip. Wonderfully sunny morning welcomed us at Greece along with moving the clock forward one hour, but there was still a lot of travelling because from Greek border to Athens has more than 500 km. Soon we saw the beautiful Aegean Sea, while we remained east of Thessaloniki on the left. We quickly passed Aegean Macedonia, and in the distance to the right we saw the majestic, snow Olimp, which for a moment and from this distance did not impressed me much. We left all its gods to feast in peace and enjoy the nectar and ambrosia, and we continued towards the center of Greece. We have long traveled through Thessaly, which is dotted with plains and mountains and bordered by the sea. We made a break in a small village restaurant near Larisa, even morning coffee was delicious. Finally, a little after the noon we came through Boeotia and Attica and arrived to Athens itself. We were greeted by a proper spring weather and temperature over 20 degrees, people in short sleeves, while in our country temperature barely exceeded zero these days. We went to the Expo-Fair, which is a grand looking, and is not far from the airport and probably Falerone harbour, where we took the starting packages for the marathon. The exhibition was with a lot of sports equipment, various energy and all kinds of natural drinks and food. All this was a feast for the eyes and very tempting, but the prices were quite high for our standard so that I did not buy anything. At individual stands, known European and world marathone events shared their promotional material and publicize its races. After this tour, and photo sesion, we went again by bus to another part of the city to our hostel. We were accommodated at a decent and nice hotel called the Marina at Athens’ Omonia, which I must admit, is not at all a good neighborhoods. It is full of dark-skinned migrants, Pakistanis, Indians, African blacks, few Chinese and Russians, mostly in the lower social classes, it is a gathering place for drug addicts and prostitutes, as we were soon convinced in. But lets not exaggerate, we had no problems those two days, the hotel is clean, tidy, modest rooms with bathroom and TV, and has its guards who watch who enters. We decided pretty much that in the evening we would not wander around the streets. That night I lay down very early and slept quite long, almost 11 hours.

It dawned Saturday morning. Edvard and I decided to do a small training. We were running nearly half an hour at lighter pace through main streets, first to Omonia Square, then down the Stadium street to the beautiful Syntagma square where the parliament building is. The traffic is very dense, allong with the main streets there are lots of side, narrow and small streets with tangerines and Mediterranean plants, in some places there is a lot of monuments but on this occasion I could not look around. After showering, we rushed to breakfast in the form of a buffet. The choice is really a good range of dishes and is quite sufficient for most people. I would single out only the Greek cheeses, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers and honey. It was a day of sightseeing and relaxation ahead of us. Edward, Ljubo and Branko agreed to go along with me. They respected my opinion about what should be visited despite that I’ve never been to Athens. The first choice was certainly a magnificent Acropolis. In the hotel were free maps of Athens in English and Russian, but I prefer to bring my guide Top 10 Athens, which I bought at the Belgrade Fair, and which was very helpful. We decided not to use the metro, which was close by, but we’re going to walk through the city, because there are not very long distances involved and I think we made a good choice. I found a very busy street that were likely led us to the Acropolis hill. We came across a Pericles monument at that same street, which make me very happy so after a photo I decided to briefly tell to my companions about this great statesman and the golden age of Athens in the 5th century BC, although I was not at classroom. We passed by a very busy Athens market, which reminded me of Kapali – bazaar in Istanbul. We stopped at the Monastiraki square next to a beautiful church, and we stayed at the nearby souvenir shops for a little bit. In front of us were the remains of Hadrian’s Library and ancient Agora, but since it was paid entrance, we decided to go first up on the Acropolis, and we’ll look after the rest. Half an hour we were waiting in line for tickets that are not even a cheap ones. Cheapest costs 10 euros, a mass of tourists waiting for the same occasion. At the top we met fans of the football team of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was playing the next day with Greece, and quite warmly greeted us with regard to the Ljuba and Branko are both from Herzegovina. View from the Acropolis at Athens and sea is magnificent view. It Clouded over and the wind strongly blew, but the temperature was favorable. Perhaps because of the wind, I hed a headache up there, so I could not fully enjoy the remains of ancient temples. Its in the course of restoration again, and a huge crane device spoils the view of the mighty Parthenon which can not be totally approached. I explained to friends the importance of the temple, we passed through the Propylaea, the monumental entrance gate, photo sessions begins here, photos of us and ancient buildings alike. At the top we met some of ours. I was impressed by a small but graceful Erechtheum with beautiful caryatids instead of columns. I remembered when I was a first year student at the Department of History, so on archaeology exam I was able to describe in detail the Parthenon and its friezes and metopes, reliefs and Fidias Athens, but now I have already forgotten some of the details. The old archaeological museum on the top did not work, but from that direction, was a magnificent view of the ruins of the temple of Zeus, and the Theatre of Dionysos under the Acropolis. We went down to the other side of the Acropolis, and passed through the narrow streets full of exclusive taverns and restaurants exotic looks from where we were a bit shamelessly invited by restaurant staff and almost pulled us to just have lunch with them, and many have asked us rigt away if we are marathoners and offered us authentic marathon lunch straight away. We refused all and through the beautiful national park we came to the Stadium or Kallimarmaro also known as Panathinaiko Stadium where the finis line of tomorrow’s marathon is. Preparations were under way. From that point we went to the hotel following the map so that we can memorize it for tomorrows return to hotel after race finishes. We have had enough of any tours since we were expecting a busy day tomorrow. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out in the room, and I read a bit of Athens, having started strong headache and I took a painkiller. I shared the room with my friends from Subotica, Edvard Halas and Pero Stevic. Edward and I have decided to subscribe at a modest pasta-party, which was very tasty, but a bit thin. For 4.5 euros we were served with spaghetti napoletano, a banana and orange juice. After dinner I went with Edward to nearby shops to supply him with bananas, he eats them abundantly, but we did not mingle alot due to higher mentioned situation in our area. At one point when we run into a street, I said it seems to me as if we were in New York’s Harlem, although I’ve never been there, but Edward commented a couple of times that he hopes that none of pedestrians we meet wont just explode in front of us. Pero was almost asleep when we arrived.

It’s Sunday morning, the day of the marathon race. The previous night I slept poorly because I slept quite long first night, but enough to gather strength. Wake up in our room was early, around 4 am, breakfast was arranged for 5h due to marathon race. My choice was a pair of olives, banana, bonžita that I brought with me, a little juice and cheese. I can not eat much before the race because of the stomach and toilet necessity. We already chose our running equipment previous evening. Starting package was really helpful regarding that issue, because there were two high-quality shirts and a cap. In addition to the aforementioned equipment, I opted for the plain blue shorts from Subotica’s flea market, where I train often and in which I already ran some good races, as well as lightweight, minimalist reebok shoes. A group of us, runners from Serbia, gathered in the lobby at 5:45h and led by our tour leaders Keti and Srecko went on foot to one of the major squares, from where the bus drove us to Marathon village, after which the discipline got its name, and where the start was. It was still dark, and as we drove through the Atica it was slowly dawning, it was emerging a beautiful, sunny dan. Trip dragged, miles are passing by, we drove more than an hour. The idea that all this path needs to be re-run soon, all the way back to the town, seemed too hard for me, along with hilly and demanding terrain. After 8 am we arrived at Marathon, where the buses left us, a river of people flowed into a small stadium where start was scheduled for 9am. I decided to leave a piece of clothing in the mobile wardrobe – DHL trucks that will drive it to the finish. It’s a bit cold, the wind blows from the hills of Attica, the mood is good, toilet lines are quite long. We got 8th starting block, which we were not thrilled with, since we were practically the last one, although it is envisaged 10. My starting number was the 13,809. I was warming up very little, it was more joints exercising, the time was, as usual, slowly passing before the start, and without any jitters, the start of our block was scheduled for 9 and 24. Briefly, I thought there were Miltiades hoplites fought against Darius Persians, but I didnt care much about history at that moment, and I was not in the mood to imagine a battle.

The race was started. As usual, I remained surrounded by strangers, because our group scattered, but it didnt struck me, I focused on the race and various obstacles. The first 5 km it was not difficult, but not especially comfortable, because the crowd was so huge I ran on the side of the pavement and cobblestones many times, so I overcome many of them and caught my rhythm, even nearly missed a check point on the fifth kilometer, yet I passed through it at last moment. Eventually there was more room later. Its prety fascinating to watch so many, many people, in fact runners, over 14,000 that were headed towards Athens. I caught the desired tempo. Refreshments were well organised. Hydration tactics proved to be very successful at the end. The first half of the track I refreshed myself without stopping, every 5 kilometers, plain water only, for 5th, 10th, 15th kilometer. At 20th km I took a couple of sips of isotonic, for the first time, and then every 2.5 kilometers combined, at 22,5km water again, and again at 25km isotonic and so on up to the 40th kilometer. Just avoided the gel on the 20th km, because its bad for my stomach. The temperature was a little high for running, over 20 degrees, but the wind was blowing from the surrounding hills and the sea, when blowing in my face it was slowing me down, but I felt good and was quite chilled with it at times. We passed through several small places where people in the gauntlet cheerfully greeted on the streets. Some of these settlements are Nea Makri, Rafina, Pikermi… Route have many climbs, but they are not very steep, they did not represent a problem, because I trained a lot on the slopes of Fruska Gora, which are still steeper. In the half marathon I had a time 1:41:50 and I thought if I manage to finish at 3:30’ll be fine. But isotonic probably gave me the strength and freshness. We passed near the road to Athens International Airport. We pass through the wide suburban neighborhoods of Athens. The last kilometers were before me, I was tired, but the terrain slowly descends. People at the streets are thrilled, kids are throwing us a five. I’m feeling well psychologically, didnt have any major crisis as I would usually expect. I passed the gate for 40 km. I feel that I even have the strength to accelerate. Last mile, it’s pretty easy. Street goes downhill pretty wide, before me is Kallimarmaro Stadium where the first modern Olympic Games held in 1896. The scene is magnificent. On sunny stands hundreds of people are watching and greeting the runners. Im crossing the last meters with the pace of about 4:30 per km. I am satisfied, happy. I continue to walk to another part of the stadium towards the exit, where I receive a participatory medal, package with nourishment. The result is better than expected, one of my best, if it is not a personal record, time is 3:23:50 per chip. I am very pleased, this is so far the best race in the tactical sense, I thought if it was not so crowded on the first kilometers, I might have been on the level of personal record, but lets not be too immodest, if this time was offered to me before the race, I would not be thinking much to accept it. Im working quadriceps exercises by the fence, finding clothes and get my things in a moment, the organization is really good. Since I have not found the locker room, Im changing at a beautiful park, which has a lot in Athens actually, and went for a walk to the hotel for a shower, where I arrived around 14h after half an hour of walking, and departure for Serbia was scheduled at 17h.

This time, nausea is not tortured me much, therefore I eat good lunch soon enough, and honored myself with one Greek beer. Edvard has achieved excellent results of about 3 h and 5 min., but not quite satisfied, because of a bad starting position and the crowds he could not run faster, despite the fact that he can run under 3h. Our roommate Pero went 4:05, which is solid for him, while Ljubo set a record of about 4 hours. For some people from our group this was the first marathon, special place belongs to the young Dzenis from Novi Pazar, who is 18 years old, and on his first marathon with time 3h: 45min. We had to hurry up with our luggage from the room because it has expired. Finally around 17 h and 30 min. We left Athens with the first dusk and went to Serbia by night driving. The return was faster, but was very difficult, I enjoyed coffee at the motel Predejane paid by Bojan from Belgrade in the early morning. Edward and I have been lucky enough and we got our hands on Niš Expres bus at the last minute, and quickly arrived to Subotica, around the noon on Monday 14th November, while Pero remained in Belgrade.

This marathon pilgrimage is a successfully completed for me, and it was as a whole a nice racing autumn for me, during which I ran two oldest marathons in Europe, Košice and Athens, and improved personal record in the half marathon. There remains, because hope dies last, the famous Boston marathon, if I ever get lucky regarding that, one day perhaps.