Hello friends,

Stage 1 is a wrap.

It rained a lot last night. Everything was wet when we arose, in our camp site by the sea

The usual scramble after waking up at 630 am to start at 8. Took my tent down and packed.

I was a little rusty at everything (there is a lot to do!) so i was rushed and missed a lot of things. Did not have time to tape my feet. Ate my breakfast 3 min before the start and only part of it. I missed the morning briefing, something about if severe thunderstorms occur, be safe!

Then we were off.

Our crowd shuffling through quiet neighborhoods, then the periphery of tiny little villages. Old stone houses, each with a small meditation hut or chapel. Dogs barking. Figs and olives and apples along the way when we were near villages. 

A few miles end, we left the populated zone and boom we were moving up a very step path, of very irregular stones.The stones had been placed, but they werent flat. I am sure goat could scramble that, but I was picking the spot for every footfall. The day just became up and up and up. We entered the mountains. Some drizzle, always cloudy, virtually no sun today. But it was humid. I was sweating the whole time profusely. My pack is 30 pounds while carrying 2L water, its too heavy.  I am not sure how others bring all the food and required equipment in 20 pounds, Many do. 

There were three cehckpoints along the way. The volunteers at this race are terrific. I never stopped or rested today, but hearing the encouragement and getting water reloaded is always a boost.

There were a lot of wonderful smells today. The fruits, and evergreen trees, plus we were crushing all sorts of herbs on the trail, sage, mint, santolina, and the smell of those wafted in the air

The flora is great here. Many different species of wildflower, yellows, pinks, purples. I was not familiar with many of them, and their shapes were sometimes a bit fantastical. The wild plants at the edge of the trail (´weeds´) like mullein and thistle were of an impressive scale.

The minerals here are interesting but subtle. Greece is old, both as a culture and as a physical site. The rocks are not raw, many of them are old from long exposure. We went through a patch in the middle (one of the relentless climbs) when many of the stones were purple or an emerald green. I meditated on those to pass the time.

As we got higher in elevation the temperature dropped. The road became swathed in clouds, which were obscuring the tops of the mountains. It darkened a bit. It was only 2 or 3 in the afternoon, but it felt like evening.

I finished today, obviously (I am in the cyber tent blogging), but I was just trying to be consistent and move forward at all times. I was never moving fast. There was one moment i was running downhill at a 9 min pace. For a minute. Mostly I just trying to move one foot in front of the other. I left my poles at CP2 and had to circle back a bit (even though i have a system to avid this, a caribiner on my pack to clip the poles at checkpoints, and at one point i climbed some steep elevation because i followed another racer across the wrong bridge. But otherwise I was executing best I could under the circumstances. Drinking, electrolytes, taking calories, trying to avoid craning my neck forward (fail), etc. I am very undertrained for this race, so, moving on muscle memory mostly. The mental processes are still there.

The community of racers is so fun. Everyone is positive. Grateful. I have lots of buddies here, from previous races (it is a small group of people who loves running 250ks with a backpack in fierce environments. 

I am glad I am here.