Dr Sisyphus

My tryst with History !

1] Runner :

a person who runs competitively as a sport or hobby.

2] Marathon :

a long distance running race, strictly one of 26 miles and 385 yards (42.195 km).

3] Bucket list :

a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime.

4] Athens Marathon - the Authentic :

an annual Marathon road race held in Athens,Greece,in early November, starting from the town of Marathon - with a course based on the historical myth from which the race gained its name. It follows the course taken by the ancient messenger Pheidippides,to run all the way from Marathon to Athens, to announce the Greeks' victory over the Persians, in the battle of Marathon in 490 BC.

So, putting two and two together, its not very difficult to imagine the name of the race that should be at the top of a Marathon runner's bucket list of marathon races to run!

I was privileged to be one of the 15000 odd runners in the full marathon event at the 32nd edition of the Classic Marathon on Sunday, the 9th of November 2014.

Starting this year,the organisers have started calling it Athens Marathon - the Authentic , to account for its historic roots and to emphasise the pride [ completely justified ] that the Greeks feel about their culture and tradition.

I consider myself truly blessed that I was privileged enough to be running, literally in the footsteps of history.

What else can I say , when you consider that I started running only three years ago.

During that short span of time, I found myself graduating quite rapidly, from running my first half marathon, somewhat on a whim [April 2012 at Corbett National Park] - to my first Full Marathon [ Hyderabad, August 2012] to my first Ultra marathon - the Comrades marathon in South Africa,in June 2013.

In between, I helped to organise a half marathon [ http://satarahillmarathon.com/ ] along with my wife and friends, in my hometown Satara on 7th October 2012.

Having just successfully concluded the third consecutive edition of our homegrown half marathon on 14th September 2014, I heard about the Classic Marathon in Athens from Norrie Williamson, Coach and Mentor of Pinnacle Satara Hill Half Marathon.

He suggested that I should attend the 8th Annual Marathon Symposium organised by AIMS

[ Association of International Marathons and Distance Races ] for Race Organisers, held during the build up to the Athens Marathon.

So it was that I decided to participate in the symposium, to gain useful experience and new ideas to implement for our event. Now I wasn’t going to miss the chance to run in the marathon too, even though I hardly had any training due to the hectic preparations for our own event. I registered myself for the full and my wife Suchitra for the 10k, and the rest , as they say , is History [ pun intended ]

I really feel that this race is THE ONE RACE that every runner worth his salt should be running at least once in his lifetime [ as early as possible too ]

The urge to share my wonderful experiences during this amazing trip to Athens was strong enough to force me to overcome my usual procrastination [ especially when it comes to writing about something ]

So here I am , writing my first ever blog !

I still cannot believe I am doing this .... God alone knows if I will even continue doing it ;)

Right now, I am feeling relieved that I am coming to the end of my introductory writeup at least!

I intend to describe in a little detail, my emotional roller coaster ride as a runner during this life changing running experience. I trust every runner will identify with these feelings and long to experience it for himself/herself as soon as possible !!!

I will leave you with a few images from the event. Will post more in the subsequent blog posts!