Couple of more minutes and off we will go…
Sea of humanity…
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…
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!!
All of us piling on to buses in the dark
That is my competition today.
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” 🙂
Acropolis in brilliant evening hues
Picking up bib number and T-shirt was a little chaotic
The good news is even if the airlines had lost my suitcase, I could have bought here anything and everything a runner will ever need. It is a huge expo – the local crowd has shown up in full strength…
Interesting name – “Ergo Marathon Expo”. Roughly it should mean “There is a marathon. Therefore this Expo” 🙂