Running in Athens

On our first day in Athens, many of the students purchased a month-long gym membership to the nearest gym.  Sizewise it was nothing on the scale of U.S. gyms, but it was sufficient to stay in shape.  Additionally, prior to summer quarter, I had dealt with a serious health issue that laid me up in the hospital for three straight weeks, followed up by three weeks of outpatient services.  My lungs were a big issue during this episode, and so it already felt like a victory just being able to make the Athens studies.  But I felt like challenging myself a little more.

After two weeks of going to the gym, I finally felt like taking on the cement and asphalt of the city, typically around dusk.  It was at dusk when the heat finally abated, and the city is pretty well lit at night, wherever you go.  I brought along a water bladder backpack and made sure to stop every so often to stretch my IT bands.  Rather than on the elliptical machines that automatically shift intervals, running outside I have to tell myself in thought ‘take a break at that tree in the distance’ and push through.  

Athens is hilly.  Maybe not as hilly as San Francisco, but not terribly far off.  I was very content with the amount of actual hills I was able to trudge up, and when my tank top got sweaty.  I felt accomplished being able to run in the real world.  I purposefully got ‘lost’ in my runs, using Google Maps not for direction, but to at least understand where I was, and where I would like to end back up (home in the air conditioned apartments).  I got to see many things that I’m pretty sure I otherwise wouldn’t have seen, like this fallen angel statue, or the many many stray cats that pop out of seemingly everywhere. I felt more 'in tune' with my surroundings having explored nooks and crannies, alleyways and such.

The student apartments were fairly close to the Old Olympic Stadium, so it was always a welcome site after pushing myself, to see it lit up at night like you see here in the third picture, indicating my run was nearing an end.