Athenaze and Ariobarzanes
This post continues our description of walking the Athens Marathon.
Our previous post took us as far as Yannis Souvatzoglou’s sculpture, “The Three Runners”, near the 18km mark of the race. Up to that point, we had done well, averaging a pace of about 9 minutes and 40 seconds per km. Over the rest of the 42km race, our pace would gradually slow, thanks largely to “the Hill” and its aftereffects.
Before we get there, however, we would like to thank the many people who made this event possible: the organizers; the bus drivers who shuttled us all to Marathon; the medics stationed every few hundred meters; the volunteers staffing both the aid stations every 2.5km (where they handed out treats like flat Coke) and the stadium at the end of the course; and the many spectators who turned up to cheer us on.
Onward!
The Athens Marathon is infamous for “The Hill”. Beginning just before the halfway point of the course, “The Hill” is a sustained climb of about 210 meters over 13km of distance. The high point, at an elevation of 247m, sits in a saddle between the north tip of Mount Imittos, visible here in the distance, and the southernmost spur of Mount Penteli, which lurks off-camera to the viewer’s right.
In an absolute sense, “The Hill” is really not that much of a climb for anyone who hikes regularly. But as part of a 42km walk at a fast clip, it becomes surprisingly exhausting. We overtook a number of of runners from the previous starting group as we made our ascent, even though our own pace definitely fell off.
