It seemed like a whimsical exercise at the time, but in an effort to answer this question we decided to look at a list of international marathons. Lots of possibilities were bandied about - Prague, Sydney, Kilimanjaro, and the pyramids in Egypt were just some of the locales that we considered. Alexandra, who is originally from Greece, suddenly suggested "What about Athens?". The idea of retracing the legendary journey of Pheidippides from Marathon to Athens immediately appealed to all three of us, and we tentatively agreed that we would all sign up for the Athens Classic Marathon in November 2003.

Months went by, and as the fates would have it (or was it Zeus?), it became apparent that Kate and Alexandra were not going to sign up for Athens after all. I'll admit that my motivation was also flagging, but I'd told a large number of people of my plan, in part to guard against the temptation to scuttle it. What finally motivated me to sign up was Randy Accetta's article on the Athens Marathon that appeared in the August 2003 Runner's World. No, not the chart that compared the elevations for the Boston and Athens marathons and concluded that Athens was a far tougher course. It wasn't even the inspirational tone of the article itself, based on the author's first-hand experience running in the 2002 Athens Marathon. Rather, it was the possibility that thousands, if not tens of thousands of fellow runners would read this same article and many of them would subsequently attempt! to sign up for one of the approximately 75 available spots. I sent in my payment the night I saw the article and was officially accepted into the marathon the next day.

The legend of Pheidippides is an amazing one. I'm not sure I believe it, but since I don't want to offend Asclepus (God of medicine and healing), let's pretend for the sake of argument that I do. It's 490 B.C., and 20,000 Persians have been sent by sea to the coastal town of Marathon to dislodge the Greeks. Realizing that their forces are outnumbered 2 to 1 by the approaching invaders, the Greek generals send the messenger Pheidippides to Sparta, 140 miles away, to request reinforcements. Pheidippides returns 2 days later (???) with the bad news that the Spartans are in the middle of a religious observance and are not willing to send the requested reinforcements until the next full moon.

Sensing that the Persians probably aren't willing to wait for the reinforcements to arrive before attacking, the undermanned Greeks launch a preemptive strike against the vulnerable Persian flanks and achieve a stunning victory. Of course, Pheidippides also fights in the battle (the second event of his personal duathlon?). Before the battle begins, the citizens of Athens, some 25 miles away, have decided to burn their city to the ground if the Persians are victorious at Marathon. Obviously, not wanting that to happen now that they've won the battle, and apparently believing that Pheidippides hasn't done his share yet, the Greek generals send Pheidippides off to Athens (run, fight, run!) with the good news.

So let's re-cap: Pheidippides has already run 280 miles in 2 days, fought in a tremendous battle, and now is being sent on what amounts to a 25-mile cool-down run with the small task of telling the nervous Athenians to call off their impending pyrotechnics. No padded running shoes, no friendly volunteers handing out water or Gatorade every mile, nobody calling out splits, no name on his tunic, no crowd of spectators to cheer him on, no gels or goos, no paved course, nobody tracking his progress on the Internet, no chip time, and certainly no Mylar blankets, medals, goody bags, medical staff, or massage therapists awaiting him at the "finish". Little wonder then that immediately upon delivering his message ("Rejoice, we conquer!") to the jubilant Athenians, Pheidippides drops dead on the spot.

But I digress. Hoping for some training tips for the hilly Athens course, I approached (not-yet-the) Coach Toby Tanser after the Rockefeller Trails Run and asked for some advice. His response, "Athens? The air quality there is terrible! Go out at the hottest, most humid time of day, find a taxi to run behind, and inhale as much exhaust as you can!" Not quite the encouraging words I'd been hoping for, but I got the point. Other than a Thursday night hill workout, which consisted of 4 counterclockwise laps of the Harlem Hill - 102nd St. transverse loop, I really didn't do anything new or unusual in my training. One highlight in the months leading up to Athens was meeting 1972 Olympic marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter at the expo for the Philadelphia Distance Run. Shorter and Dave Wottle, the 800 meter champion from the same Olympics, were my biggest inspirations when I started running competitive! ly in high school.

Finally, the time came to leave for Athens. I had signed up through Apostolos Greek Tours, the tour operator mentioned in the Runner's World article. I opted for the 11 day/10 night package, figuring that as long as I was traveling that distance, I should see something too after the marathon was over (the race took place on Day 5, so we had almost a week's worth of sightseeing left after that). Most of the runners in our group were Americans, including residents of running meccas such as Kentucky, Montana, and Anchorage, Alaska. However, we also had a healthy-sized international contingent, including runners from Canada, England, Germany, New Zealand, and Saipan. Most of us arrived on Thursday morning for the Sunday race. The time difference between NYC and Athens is 8 hours; the biggest challenge for me was forcing myself to stay awake until nighttime the day we arrived to get used to th! e new time zone. Thankfully, I succeeded and didn't have any further problems with jet lag the entire trip.

On Saturday, the day before the race, we did a drive-through of the course. Amazingly, most of the 42 kilometer markers had not yet been set up; it was then that I realized Toto and I were definitely not in New York City any more. Those of us who cared to do so were reduced to noting visual cues and guessing at the corresponding kilometer markers. Still, I was grateful for the chance to see the course before actually running it. The Athens course can be summed up pretty simply: the first 10K are flat, the next 22K (slighly more than a half marathon!) are almost entirely uphill, and the last 10K are downhill (whew!). My strategy could also be summed up pretty simply: settle into a comfortable rhythm during the first 10K, keep a good, steady pace on the uphill part of the course, then attack the last 10K with anything and everything I had left. The race packet distribution ! and obligatory pasta feeding frenzy both went off without a hitch, and we were able to get to bed at a reasonable hour.

Finally, the big day had arrived. Our group arrived at the marathon starting area a very civilized 30-45 minutes before the start of the race - another sign that I wasn't in New York City any more! With a field of approximately 3,500 the Athens Marathon is roughly the size of a typical weekend race in Central Park. Even with the small field (compared to NYC), many different languages could be heard, and it was fun to listen to all of them and realize that people had traveled from all corners of the globe to challenge themselves on the course which gave the sport its name. The only concern was the temperature, which was 65 F at the start of the race and reached 85 F by the end of the race. Obviously, not a day to push too hard too early in the race. A horn sounded at exactly 8:30 am, and we were off. Finally, months of training coming to fruition!

The first 25K were run primarily in the countryside with sparse crowds. Saying "Kalimera!" (good morning) or "Yassas!" (hello) was generally enough to elicit a greeting or some encouragement from the spectators when I felt I needed it. Early in the race I met several interesting characters, including Nicki from Minnesota, who was way too perky to be running a marathon, and Paul from the Bronx, an Army soldier currently stationed in Belgium who was running his first marathon in 12 years. Although I consider myself to be a decent hill runner, I was surprised by how good I felt as I climbed the hills in the middle part of the course, which I would compare to the hills on the west side of Central Park if you're running the Outer Loop clockwise. I held back some because of the heat and the hills ahead, and when I hit the half marathon point at 2:06, I realized that my dream of breaking 4 hours was going to remain a dream until at l! east my next marathon. Still, I was enjoying myself, and every so often I'd look at the surrounding mountains and olive trees and imagine that I was Pheidippides, carrying an important message to the Athenians up ahead, who were eagerly awaiting my arrival. Ah, the mental games you play with yourself to get through a long race or a hard workout!

The weather was definitely a factor, but fortunately the rumors I'd heard of the Spartan conditions with respect to the water stops proved to be unfounded (can you say "I.O.C."?). Every time I felt the heat starting to get the best of me, a water stop would appear up ahead, almost as if by magic. The field had definitely thinned out by the halfway point, and the runners around me didn't appear to be in the mood to exchange pleasantries, so I got through the rest of the hilly section by thinking about music. What do Frank Sinatra, Rachmaninoff, Oscar Peterson, and Madonna have in common? Through their various musical contributions, they all helped me get through the toughest part of the course by allowing me to focus on something other than the heat, which seemed to be getting more oppressive by the minute. Finally, I made it to the 32K mark and knew that it was literally all downhill from there.

Picking up momentum as I "sped" down the hills approaching Athens, I had no problems with the air quality (or lack thereof). I felt great as I entered the historic Panathenic Stadium for the last 200 meters of the race and even better after crossing the finish in 4:03:28; definitely one of my biggest thrills as a runner! Not even the inability to find my bag after the race could dampen my mood (like many other runners, I didn't get it back until the following Wednesday!). After the race we returned to our hotel in Vouilagmeni, a coastal resort town about 15 miles east of Athens and site of the Olympic triathlon. We had to go through metal detectors to get into our hotel; the hotel's security team was apparently doing its own preparations for the Olympics. After my customary post-race ice bath, I flipped on the TV, and sure enough, there were the lead women runners in the NYC Marathon coming across the Queensboro Bridge (followed c! losely by P. Diddy, judging by the time devoted to his exploits by the German station carrying the race)! Unfortunately, I had to miss the rest of the race in favor of our banquet, which featured Greek dancing with audience participation!

In case you're curious, the winners of the 2003 Athens Classic Marathon were Zerebayo Bavo from Tanzania in 2:16:59 for the men and Nadja Wijenberg from Holland in 2:43:18 for the women. Neither course record was threatened (2:11:08 for the men; 2:29:48 for the women). Amazingly, the men's record has stood since 1969 - I can't even begin to imagine what the weather conditions must have been like that day! Bavo was followed across the finish line by 6 Kenyans - impressive enough, but even more remarkable when you consider that the Kenyans' A-team was dominating the New York City Marathon the same day! I'll definitely be watching this year's Olympic marathons with great interest. Given the huge improvement in the women's world record the last 4 years relative to the men's, I'd guess that an Olympic record (2:09:21 for the men; 2:23:14 for the women) would be much more likely in the women's race. However, given that the race wi! ll be held at a time of year when the daytime temperatures can easily approach 100 F, I think it's unlikely a record will be set in either race. We shall see.

The best finisher in our group was a woman from the Central Park Track Club who owns a Japanese restaurant on the Lower East Side. She finished in 3:20, almost 25 minutes faster than anyone else in our group, and gave her amazing performance the following 2-word review: "I suck." Hopefully, she would give her restaurant a more favorable review. Later I found out that she had gone on the trip for free, thanks to winning a drawing at the expo for the 2002 New York City Marathon. In her mind I guess she got what she paid for.

The rest of the tour was also a great experience, featuring sightseeing in Athens, several of the nearby islands, Delphi, Epidavros, and Mycenae. It's hard to imagine a civilization that was at its peak (in terms of influence) several thousand years before our country was even an inkling in anybody's imagination. The preparations for this year's Olympics leave something to be desired. Although the Athens Olympic Organizing Committee continues to insist that everything will be ready for the opening of the Games in August, rumors persist that the International Olympic Committee is pushing to import workers from other countries in order to make sure that everything gets done in time. Case in point - the subway stop that will serve the Olympic Stadium is not yet operational. Oddly enough, this apparently minor detail didn't prevent the subway tollboth clerk from selling me a ticket to get there. Hmmm.

All in all, the Athens Classic Marathon and the accompanying tour of Greece was a wonderful experience, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone. Even if Greece isn't on your list of must-see destinations, I'd still suggest trying an international marathon and combining it with some sightseeing if you have the opportunity to do so. This adventure has definitely given me a new perspective on my running, and others I've talked to report similar experiences. Good luck!