Comrades

Today at 5h30 the 98th Comrades marathon got underway. Still in Athens Shirley had a bit of FOMO but we did have a full itinerary ahead of us. The early start was a short 2 klm walk to the ancient Olympic stadium where the plan was to run 🏃‍♂️ on the track. The stadium is so impressive in exceptional condition and completely made out of marble. The stadium is huge and holds 80000 spectators. The bends at the two ends are shorter meaning the straights are a lot longer giving an oblong look to the perfect track. we had fun running and standing on the podium. The museum of the Olympic stadium was not fully open when we arrived. The impressive main auditorium, accessed up a tunnel carved into the rock, has private rooms leading off it, each dedicated to each 4 year games event. The story of the distance of the marathon was interesting, it was Originally 40 klm long and the distance decided by the distance run by the Greek soldier in 490bc. Pheidippides ran in full armour from Marathon to Athens to tell of the Greek victory over the Persians and then dropped dead from exhaustion. At the 1908 games in London the Queen wanted the start to be at Windsor Castle, which added the extra distance to make the race 42.195 klm. Shirley stood at the top of the podium. Great start to the day, we had a coffee and headed to the free 3 hour guided tour. The guides name was Stefan a French man exported from Paris to Athens as he puts it. The walk was filled with excellent commentary and information from this lively little man, What a great way to explore a city Changing of the guards was precisely executed but it’s the background info that really makes it memorable. The Guards are all doing their national service. Being a ceremonial guard is a one year stint and it’s considered very prestigious. The guards stand absolutely still like a human statue for 1 hour at a time. They may not move a muscle and stare straight ahead, if the guard wants to make a report they stamp their rifle and the commander then approached,stands in front and asks questions. The guard answers by blinking 1 is yes 2 is no and 3 is I don’t know. The 8 klm guided walk covered so many sights and went by quickly. 🤨 midday heat and a short rest was followed by wine and beers on an iconic hill, Areopagus, watching the sun set and the Parthenon lighting up. Our first home made meal of the weekend was a toasted sandwich and then falling into bed .Read more