Guide to Running the Athens Classic Marathon

Someone once said, "Few things in life match the thrill of finishing a marathon." And even fewer things match the thrill of finishing a marathon in the place where it all started.  In 490 BC, the Athenians had just defeated the Persians in the Battle of Marathon and a messenger named Pheidippides was sent to Athens to bring news of the victory. Legend states Pheidippides followed the route of the present day Athens Classic Marathon and ended up inspiring the race we know today. For marathon runners everywhere, the Athens Classic Marathon is not just another race. It is a pilgrimage to experience the most epic run in our sport’s history and touch the place where the marathon was born. 

When I was considering running the Athens Marathon, I had many questions about it but found little advice online. So, I thought I’d take some time to detail my experience with the 2011 Athens Classic Marathon including how I approached training for this race, discuss what it was like to use a marathon tour company, provide some background on race organization and detail the course and hopefully provide some useful advice for others who are considering running the Athens Classic Marathon.

How should I train for the Athens Classic Marathon Route? 
The Athens Classic Marathon route has a reputation for being one of the most difficult of the major marathons, so training for it is a must. If you are lucky enough to live in a mountainous area, training on a long, slow, upward grade will prepare your legs for this course. Because there really is nothing like that in Florida to train on, I had to develop a "plan b". To prepare, I hit the gym for leg strengthening work during the early parts of my training plan. To build endurance, I did weekly 5 mile runs on an inclined treadmill. My personal feeling is that most of the actual uphill during the marathon felt like an incline setting of 4-5 on my treadmill. However, there are some short segments that felt like an 8 setting. Overall, I think my training approach worked because I came in under my target pace and the course didn’t seem near as tough as its reputation made it.

Using a Tour Company to Handle Marathon Logistics 

Running a marathon abroad poses several difficulties. First there is the logistics of getting there and navigating in a large, unfamiliar, metropolitan city. Another is the language barrier and in the case of Greece, reading an entirely different alphabet. I had concerns about running in a place with all these issues and looked for somebody to handle the marathon logistics for me. I discovered there were a number of tour companies on the internet offering generic marathon travel packages. Then I found Apostolos Greek Tours after typing “Athens Marathon” on a google search. Apostolos is one of a few companies specializing in complete runner support travel packages for the Athens Classic Marathon. I have to admit, I was very reluctant to use a tour company. I had never used a tour group for a vacation and I usually travel alone. I was also terrified about being hit with hidden fees and getting stuck in a crappy hotel. However, the scarce online reviews I could find about Apostolos were very positive. Jeff Galloway was also associated with them and since I had always had positive experiences with his programs, I decided to take the plunge. Because there are many others out there with similar concerns about using marathon tour companies, I would like to take a moment to describe my experience with Apostolos.  

Even though Apostolos was more expensive than other tour companies advertising similar services on the internet, they really delivered on their promise to provide me with a great marathon experience.

Tour Group at the Parthenon

 Everything was as described on the internet and there were no hidden expenses. The cost included meals (all breakfasts, pre- and post-marathon dinners), the hotel, race entry fees (with guaranteed entry), tour bus and guide expenses. I was promptly met at the airport upon arrival, a pre-paid cab was waiting to take me to a nice host hotel on the coast. Jeff Galloway was there throughout our stay and provided the group with a running workshop and was available for any running questions we had. The buses were new/comfortable and we were provided with a knowledgeable guide for our tours to archaeological sites around Athens. They registered us for the marathon and our packets were waiting when we arrived in Greece (though we received them at the marathon expo).

For the marathon itself, their tour buses drove us from the hotel to the start line in Marathon (it was a nice touch to watch a documentary on the Battle of Marathon while driving over). At the halfway point, a car and staff person was waiting for us with water/food. It also doubled as a SAG vehicle for those who needed to drop out of the race. At the finish line, they had a station set up with food/water which made a huge difference when I was cold and needed sugar fast. A bus was waiting to take me back to the hotel when it was all over. Apostolos did a great job taking care of everything and all I literally had to do was run the marathon. 

After the event, they provided a nice celebration dinner at the hotel with Greek dancers and an awards ceremony. When it was time to return home, they provided a cab to get me back to the airport. Best and most surprising of all, I made a lot of new running friends by joining the tour group. I’d highly recommend Apostolos to anyone wanting guided support for this race and would strongly recommend them to anybody running Athens as their first marathon.

And while I am on the topic of tour companies, what about the issue of sightseeing before the marathon? I have read some conflicting discussion on the internet as to whether touring the sites of Athens will impact your marathon performance. I guess if I was an elite runner, I’m sure it would have some kind of impact. But, I’m not such a runner. I walked several miles up and down hills seeing the sites for two days before the marathon and was quite tired each night. However, I didn’t notice any residual fatigue when it came time to run the marathon. I guess I would say that it would be silly not to see the unique, world-class archaeological sites around Athens just for the sake of finishing a marathon a few minutes faster, but listen to your own body and act accordingly.

The Marathon Expo Experience 

Marathon Expo Hall (photo courtesy of Athan Arvanitis)

Typical View of the Expo

The marathon expo was held at the Zappeion Conference and Exhibition Center. This building, which was completed in 1888, hosted the fencing events at the first modern Olympics. Despite its age, the building looked brand new. The expo was well organized and most of the major sportswear providers were there. The design of the building forced the exhibitors into narrow, long halls making it very crowded and difficult at times to move around and see exhibitors. Some of the interesting things (to me) about the expo included the cacophony of many different languages, seeing gear/fuel used by European runners and being accosted by people hawking overpriced olive picking tours. I thought it was novel experience, but its no big deal if you miss it. 

Guide to the Athens Classic Marathon Route

Some Race Specifics
Because of its history and its significance, it should be emphasized that most people run this marathon for the experience rather than setting a PR. Runners can be seen taking photos, chatting with family members, running with strollers, taking their time to soak up the surroundings and basically not treating their finish times very seriously.

The marathon follows a wide, paved road to its finish. There is no traffic in either direction of the road and it is well controlled/policed.  Crowd support can be seen along the entire route, though most people are concentrated in the various towns. They clap and shout “Bravo” as the runners pass by. While timing chips are read at the 10K, 13.1 M, and 30K and 37.5K points, there are no clocks along the route to show the time, so I’d recommend wearing something to keep track of your splits. The program given out with the “kit bag" has a table in it describing what will be available at each 2.5K station. I’d recommend you study it to determine what will be available at each station of your race. During my race, I found the aid stations to be well stocked, staffed and easy to access. Each station had a couple portapotties. It is strongly recommended you bring your own toilet tissue.

Then there is the issue of kilometers vs. miles. Everything on the course is marked and spaced on kilometers and there are no mile marker signs. Other than the half-way mark, nothing is where you would typically encounter it in a US marathon (e.g., water stations every 1.6 rather than every 2 miles). I personally found it hard to convert kilometers to miles while out on the course, so having the Garmin to keep track of distances/location/splits in miles was a huge plus.  

This marathon has a reputation for slowing runners down, however I found calculating an overall target pace for this event was pretty straight forward. Studying past elite runner times, I noticed they were consistently around 10-20 minutes slower than their runs on flat courses. I took the average of my slower marathon finish times over the past couple years, added 20 minutes to it and then calculated the pace. I found this estimation worked quite well for setting an overall marathon target pace and I was easily able to maintain it.

EMTs

The 35K Water Station (notice the coca cola!)

The Start Area
Most people get to the start area using event buses that leave from various locations within downtown Athens. It takes approximately 45 minutes to get to Marathon. Because my tour company provided their own buses, I can’t really comment on how well the race transportation worked.

The race begins at a sports complex within the City of Marathon. The start area is an active place with buses constantly dropping off riders and people moving everywhere. The first thing you will notice after getting off the bus are loudspeakers conveying instructions, a row of trucks taking gear bags on one side of the entrance sidewalk and “Portapottieville” on the other. For my race, I felt there were ample, clean portapotties at the start. However, they are a very long walk from the starting corrals, so don’t plan to use them at the last second before the race. The trucks were organized by bib number. After dropping your stuff off, a kind volunteer will offer you a plastic bag to keep warm until the start. From the entrance, runners walk northeast into the track and field area. It was an incredible sight to watch thousands of runners moving in unison around the track to warm up.

Runners were organized into seven starting corrals (called blocks in Greece) based upon their anticipated finish time. Those who have never run a marathon were placed in the last corral. The corrals are located to the east of the track and are closely guarded by volunteers. By the last corral, you will notice the Marathon Flame. It conveys the historical significance of the event and is lit the day before in a ceremony at the Marathon Tomb. Thankfully, all announcements and signs were made in Greek and English, so I was able to know where I needed to be when. Just before the start, the Greek National Anthem is played while the natives hold their fist up into the air. Being my first international marathon, it seemed strange not to see the American flag or hear the star spangled banner before the start. The course organizers started the race in seven separate waves, with each corral starting approximately 7 minutes apart and the “gun” time corresponding to the corral start time. However, the chip time is recorded as you pass over the starting line, so don’t worry about the wave starts penalizing your finish time. 

Gear Bag Trucks at Entrance to Start Area (Photo Courtesy of Athan Arvanitis)

Portapottieville

Runners Warming Up on the Track

View of Starting Corral Area (notice volunteers in blue jackets guarding barriers between corrals)

A View of the Marathon Flame from the Last Corral

A View from the Starting Line (Photo Courtesy of Athan Arvanitis)

Route Description

The Athens Classic Marathon follows the same route Pheidippides ran in 490 BC to tell the people of Athens that the Persians had been defeated. The course begins by the sea (though you can’t see it from the course) in Marathon near the ancient battleground site that inspired the name of the race. Upon exiting the start line, a fading blue line can be seen on the road. It was placed there during the 2004 Olympics to show the athletes the shortest possible path to the finish. The route takes one detour, which is a loop around the Marathon Tomb at the 5K point. The Tomb looks a lot like an old Indian mound and holds the bodies of 192 Athenians who died during the battle. The best pictures of it can be taken just before the end of the loop. Very faded Olympic rings can also still be seen on the road just as you exit the tomb loop. After the Tomb, there are not any other landmarks to see other than some statues and the US embassy. The route basically passes through urban sprawl with strings of houses and businesses lining both sides of the road until reaching the outskirts of Athens at the pass between Mt. Penteli and Immitos approximately at mile 19.5. There is one brief break in the sprawl. This break occurs roughly between 17-20k (approximately mile 11.5) where the Plains of Marathon reveal the mountains and surrounding olive groves in their full glory. If you want a nice landscape picture with wide vistas, this is the place to do it. After mile 19.5, the buildings close in on you as they get much taller and denser as the runner enters into Athens for finish.

 

An Aerial Video of the Route

Runners Passing the Marathon Tomb

One of the Runner Statues Along the Route

The Race Segments

While I realize most marathons have flat, uphill and downhill segments, they are usually short and intermittent thereby giving your legs some variety throughout the route. This marathon is different. As you will see on the elevation profile chart below, it has three distinct segments, (1) the flat part first, (2) the uphill middle and (3) the downhill end. Because of course's difficulty, I had no intention of trying for a PR on this course. The description below details my strategy for tackling the three segments. 

The first 6 miles (10K) is flat. It’s really tempting to run this part of the course fast, and many runners in my start corral flew by me, but I followed Jeff Galloway’s advice (he has run this course numerous times) and run-walked this segment at a very conservative pace to conserve energy….and I stopped to take a lot of pictures. The course is also very crowded through the 5K mark, so I had to hang close to a sidewalk and move off the road for the walk segments.

The next six miles starts the uphill segment. Its a slight uphill and to be honest, I didn’t really notice it. The Next seven miles (20-32K) is where the course reveals its difficulty in full glory.....well, at least that its reputation. There is an elevation gain of about 800 ft over this seven miles and to be honest, the up was so gradual that I didn’t visually notice it (with a few very notable exceptions). However, my body did. My pace instantly slowed 20 seconds/mile, I could feel the quads tighten up and I started to welcome the walk breaks. I noticed that runners were no longer passing me, they were starting to string along the course and people were starting to stop at the aid stations for help. By the time I neared the end of the climb, many people looked wiped out, were stopping at aid stations with cramping problems and walking significant distances. Personally, the conservative pace I had kept and walk/run technique paid huge dividends as I felt very strong going into the downhill segment.

The final 6 miles are downhill. It's a slow downhill, so my muscles welcomed the relief. After doing a small cheer at the high point of the course, I picked up the pace dramatically and ran this segment hard to the finish line. According to my Garmin, I ran this segment almost 2 minutes/mile faster than the previous ones. I was passing people as if they were stopped all the way to the finish line. I felt great at the finish line and was able to dance that night and walk around Athens the next day. In the end, I believe my conservative run-walk approach worked well for not only getting me through the uphill part, but also for saving enough energy to enjoy the course while staying within my overall target pace. 

View at 10K "Flat Segment"

Typical View from the "Up" Segment

"Down" Segment View going into Athens (Photo Courtesy of Athan Arvanitis)

The Finish Area

The marathon finishes in Panathenaikon Stadium. It is a white-marble stadium built for the first modern Olympics in 1896. It is located on the same spot where the original Olympic Games were held in ancient Greece. Finishing the race within it and on the track where the first modern Olympians ran is an indescribable feeling. It embodies what the marathon experience is all about and made every penny I spent getting here worth it. However, I found finishing in it to be a bit confusing. Coming into the stadium, runners will encounter several timing zones. The one that marks the actual finish line is at the inner stadium bend. Unlike other marathons in which I have participated, medals are not given out and chips are not collected at the finish line. You must continue walking around the track and almost back out of the stadium to get the medal. Timing chips are collected outside the stadium, past the finish feed zone and its really easy to miss. I thought the finish process was rather confusing, but I found English-speaking volunteers to point me in the right direction. The finish line food was located under a large white tent at the exit from the stadium. At my race, the volunteers handed me a bag containing a banana, a box of orange juice, and a mystery energy bar (it was labeled in Greek). The trucks with the gear bags were on the street around the corner from the stadium. There are lots of barricades near the entrance to the stadium and people reuniting with their friends/families jam up the area. So while you can easily see the gear trucks from the stadium, getting to them can be a bit difficult. Have some patience and you will eventually get there. If you have the energy, take some time to sit in the stadium (it’s the only time people are allowed to do this), watch others finish and try to soak up the sights and sounds of the moment. There is nothing else in this world like it.

The View Entering Panathenaikon Stadium (Photo Courtesy of Athan Arvanitis)

Summary Advice for Those Who Want to Run this Event 

Someone once said, "A marathon is a string of moments, mixtures of events and emotions that we sample as we move along." Travelling to Greece and running along the course where it all began was all that and more for me. If you run marathons for the PR time, medal, T-shirt or the beauty of the course, the Athens Classic Marathon is not your best choice. But, if you want to know what Pheidippides felt like running that first marathon, if you want to experience the same emotional high of finishing a race in the same stadium as the first modern Olympians, or if you want to be a part of a uniquely Greek event, then this is a marathon you must do before your running career ends.