My Marathon

My Big Fat Greek Marathon

My marathon and my marathon training plan for the Athens Classic Marathon ...by

Bill Caloviras

Lancaster, PA 17543

My mission

To train for and run in the Athens marathon in 11 months from now, with having no prior training or much running experience at all.

Who am I?

My name is Bill and I am a 38 year 1st generation Greek-American. I have a wife, 3 kids (if you ask my wife she says she has four kids) and a dog. I own a painting business in the heart of Amish country. I am the average dad, slightly overweight, with no time for the gym.

What has possessed me to do my first marathon training program ?

Over the Thanksgiving Holiday, my wife and I got together with several of my childhood friends. I grew up in a close-knit Greek community (most of my family still lives in Greece.) One of those friends has a grandfather who ran and won the Boston Marathon back in the early part of last century. There is a book written about his amazing story (Running with Pheidippides: Stylianos Kyriakides the miracle marathoner By Nick Tsiotos, Andy Dabilis ) He told me that next October 31st the Athens Marathon will take place. So what?

The modern Athens Marathon commemorates the run of the soldier Pheidippides (just call him “Dippy” for short). Dippy ran from a battlefield in the village of Marathon, Greece to Athens in 490 B.C., bringing news of a Greek victory over the Persians. Legend has it that Pheidippides delivered the momentous message "Niki!" ("Victory"), then collapsed and died; thereby setting precedence for a dramatic conclusion for all proceeding marathons. That is amazing, ok everything except the dying part. (Coach Carvey assures me that I don’t have to die at the end of the my marathon.)

So, I am sitting at dinner and it hits me. I HAVE to do this for several reasons!

1) I like running.

2) It is my heritage.

3) Let’s be honest, how many people in our lifetime have ever run a marathon? Let alone for the 2500th anniversary.

4) I am tired of starting projects and stopping, this is so much bigger than me, I want to see this one through. This is a race, a very big race. So, if I post my marathon story and you read it, and then send a word of encouragement, that will be added motivation and momentum to accomplish this.

5) If you have never been to Greece, this is a great excuse to go.

What is my experience with running?

It all started at an early age in grade school. I used to chase girls. Oh honestly, I run occasionally. For some odd reason whenever we vacation at the beach in the summer, I get up early and run about a mile or two each day. On vacation you ask? Yes. I am ADD, I can’t sit still. And when we get back I swear I am going to keep running and then a busy life creeps back in. Before you know it, those expensive running shoes I bought, become regular every day shoes. (I never buy the bright fluorescent colored ones, always the least flashy shoe, because subconsciously I know they will end up becoming my regular shoes and never see the hard asphalt again, pathetic I know.)

So one year I got bold and said “I am going to do a 5K”. This was a huge goal for me. So, I signed up for one and started training. It was a month a way, stupid I know. I ran maybe one mile, two or three times a week. Oh yeah, that was the first week. I ran two days before the event and my shins started to ache. Prideful Greek that I am, decided I can’t quit now, I have to run this. So I hoped that on Saturday my shins would feel better. And they did. I took my family with me to cheer me on. I started the race and about 20 steps into it my shins started throbbing. So my Greek pride (or is it stubbornness), kept me running the whole race. Needless to say, my time was 28:28. I was 49th out of 65 entrants. Once, a friend googled my name, those times are still posted on the web. He reminds me occasionally that several 11 and 12 year old girls beat me in the race….

So, let’s fast forward to the present day. Here I am, officially starting my training on Monday, December 7th. I contacted Coach. He was very encouraging and kindly gave me a weekly training schedule. I will post weekly about how my training is going and any stories that happen along the way. Thanks for listening to my story and please check in from time to time.

I would appreciate an encouraging word, a challenging word or any marathon running tips you might have. I am nervous, excited, and passionate about this goal. I have not stopped thinking about running my marathon since that dinner.

Talk to you soon!

Bill ~ Lancaster, PA

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