As promised we started our Journey on the 1st of Jan leaving the Acropolis in central Athens at sun rise. Buoyed by the sense of adventure we made an early detour to visit the Athens 2004 Olympic Stadium 11km in and Ian was carrying the torch as we entered the Olympic Stadium and he won a prize of an Italian yellow race shirt.
Image from Olympic.org
Next we headed out east to visit the Marathon battle site where the Athenians defeated the invading Persians. Sarah carried the torch on to the battle site in Marathon, where we learned the real story of Pheidippides and his famous run. Herodotus informs us that he was nowhere near Marathon that day. He ran the entirely opposite direction, hot footing it from Athens to Sparta, 120 miles, to raise the Spartan army to help. The Spartans were full-on partying during a festival and declined, so he ran back on his own. Clearly, Pheidippides is father of the Ultra…. not the Marathon. So who can claim the Marathon? Herodotus recalls that the retreating Persians jumped back in their boats and set sail down the coast to sack Athens (after all their army was in Marathon). It’s the Athenian army that jogged the 42.2km lightening fast back to Athens just in time. The Athenian army are the true fathers of the Marathon. Thanks to Sarah for the detour and the history lesson for which you win a prize of a book about running!
Image from Etsy.co.uk
After the detour we set off north on the long march to the Alps. Three days of pretty impressive mileage by the team, has us camped at Trikala. Sid, our chauffer in the support car advised us the odometer read 350km for our effort so far. Unfortunately, Trikala has no rich Olympic heritage to share, however, it is the birth place of Asclepius, the Greek God of Medicine & Healing. The perfect place to be to get us patched up for week 2! Jackie carried the torch through the city walls and won a prize of an original Vancouver 2010 Olympics beanie for her efforts.
Asclepius God of Medicine from Wiki