Classic

Running: It's one of those things I will always love to do, even if I put it to the back-burner at times. Before I came to Greece I looked for a race that I could run while I was here. Who would have thought that I would run such an amazing race: the Athens Classic Marathon. Registration was at an all time high for their 2,500th anniversary over 25,000 people.

A couple of my friends and I arrived in Athens and made our way to the Petrides lovely abode. We stayed there over night and took the metro in to the city in the morning. When we got there the amount of people was incredible. Of course we got up early so we could enjoy the beginning festivities. . . we found it and we were safe. Little did we know our whole 'before race prep time,' would be interrupted by something all us girls can relate to: The Toilet. We waited in line for about 40-45 minutes to relieve ourselves before we had to barrel out a 10k. We began the race without really stretching, and just jumping right in. . . This happens much too often with me. Note to self: get to the race 3 hours early next time.

The race started with thousands of balloons released into the air. The route of the race was nice, but running the 10k we didn't run the actual 'marathon route.' But the marathoners were able to take their legs through the historical ground. This is how the story goes: A Greek soldier Pheidippies ran while delivering a message for the battle of marathon to announce that the Perisians had been defeated. After he ran his 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to deliver this message he fell to his death::::Marathon.

I finished in the Olympic stadium with hundreds of people sitting in the stands me cheering on. I finished the race in the same stadium gladiators fought in years before.

We moseyed around the town of Athens for a bit before heading back home to Paros.