8 November 2015

Making as many friends as I can…

Talking to as many runners as I can. Asking them where they are from and how they got started running. I also told them that this is my first marathon. And that if they recognize me laying down on the side of the road, could they please hit the Pause button on my Garmin watch and THEN call for medical help? A heftily build German guy asked me if they could just drag me to the finish line.

I let him know it would work better that way 🙂

btw, I am yet to meet an Indian…

 

8 November 2015

We arrived at Marathon!!

The place where the Greeks beat the Persians! Where Pheidippides fateful run began!! We are still a couple of hours away from starting. Right now, I am shivering in the cold and talking to all the runners here. Meeting people from all corners of the world – must have talked to people from at least fifteen different countries.

But in my own mind, I am a Kenyan right now!!

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7 November 2015

One more observation about the Greeks

At eight pm I went around yesterday all over the crowded shopping streets. I was looking for a place to sit down and have a glass of wine. All I could see are coffee shops and pastry shops. Anywhere you turn around in Athens, there is a Cafe or a pastry and cake shop.

With this much caffeine and sugar in their system, no wonder they come up with crazy ideas like “Maybe we should run for 42KM” 🙂

7 November 2015

This is where we will finish tomorrow!

The Panathenaic Stadium. Built nearly six hundred years before Christ. The very first olympics were held here in 1896. Marathon was one of the first events in that Olympic. (In modern Olympics, almost always marathon is the ending featured event). I believe this is the only marble stadium in the world.

It is only 64 degrees but the direct sun is making it really warm on the skin! If I can manage thru the heat, hills and distance tomorrow, then this is where I will land up at the end of it all!!!

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7 November 2015

Old technology meets new technology

I stepped closer to the edge of the roof top terrace where I was having breakfast to take a picture of the Acropolis when suddenly I was struck by the duality of technology. There on the left is a specially constructed building on a hilltop going back over twenty five centuries. And on the right is a specially constructed spot to take “selfies”. I especially love the helpful diagram put there how to take a selfie… Except that the phone is pointed the wrong way!!!

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