Two Jasper athletes became part of history this month when they competed in the Athens Marathon.
Joe Urie, who started running about two and a half years ago, finished the historic marathon in an impressive three hours, 35 minutes and 12 seconds, while Kim Stark, who is on a mission to run a marathon on every continent, completed it in a personal best of four hours, 17 minutes and 22 seconds.
As Urie approached the finish line, located in an ancient Athenian stadium, 10,000 people cheered him and his fellow racers on. Exhausted from the heat and the hills, but giddy with excitement, Urie jogged sideways facing the crowd, waving his arms and goading them into cheering.
鈥淚t probably wasn鈥檛 too smart of an idea,鈥� he said with a laugh, but the point is to have fun, right?
For Urie, racing the historic marathon and thumping past ancient ruins was a thrill. He recalled the little kids holding olive branches out to the passing runners, and all of the spectators who came to cheer the runners on.
The race was a big deal for Urie, who was forced to drop out of a marathon in the past, and struggled with an injury when he ran one in Victoria last year.
He remembered suffering through the Victoria Marathon, gritting his teeth as white-hot pain seared his knee. He made it through on pure adrenaline, but missed his goal.
He wanted to finish in three hours and 25 minutes, the qualifying time for the Boston Marathon in his age bracket. He admits it was a lofty goal for someone who just recently took up running, but said he didn鈥檛 really know any better.
鈥淭he reason that I set myself this Boston qualifier is that I just didn鈥檛 have any clue, like, what鈥檚 a goal?鈥� he said, but added that missing it still hurt.
鈥淎fter Victoria, when I was injured, I wanted to hit the reset button and try again,鈥� Urie explained.
His wife is a first generation Canadian from a Greek background, and since Athens is 鈥渢he original marathon鈥� Urie decided he wasn鈥檛 going to do another marathon until he completed that one.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the original marathon, right? You begin in the town of Marathon,鈥� Urie said in an animated voice.
Gesturing for emphasis, Urie laid out the legend of Pheidippides, the Greek messenger who, after running more than 200 km in previous days, ran from the battlefield near Marathon to tell Athenians their army had defeated the Persians. He collapsed and died as soon as he delivered his message, and the 40 km he ran that day became today鈥檚 modern-day marathon race.
While Urie didn鈥檛 suffer the same fate as poor Pheidippides, he said the race was a grueling one.
鈥淚t was hot, really hot: 29 degrees on course in some areas. And there was absolutely no retreat at all from the heat until you got into Athens itself,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd at that point you鈥檙e so screwed it doesn鈥檛 even matter.鈥�
But, he said, 鈥渢hat initial glorious feeling鈥� of crossing the finishing line and having a medal hung around his neck made the whole thing worth it.
Trevor Nichols
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