Quite happy with that long hard stage. 

Was fairly well rested, well fed, well watered and "in the zone" knowing it was the last full day effort.  Ear plugs and eye mask and early to bed - tick tick tick.

Section 1 13.5km 174m elevation gain 152m drop. Left our seaside campsite and walked to a boat that took us all to the start line which was on an "island"/peninsular. Cheeky packet of chips and a fanta from the boat as last minute sustenance.  Rain was brewing.  Nervous energy in the air. They cancelled the short beach rock scramble as too slippery and dangerous so sent us a bit further around the peninsular.  Just as the lightning, thunder and heavy rain started..... OK for a guy from Brissie who's used to stomrs but freaked lots of others out.  Storm was only brief but after we scrambled up over the top we headed along the beach for about 3km and the rain made the sand hard. Flash creeks across the beach made sure our shoes & socks were drenched. Then some more flat road to CP1.

Section 2 11.6km 451m gain 149m drop so slogged it up a long hills then down sharply down the other side before. Heading up again.  Adopted a new strategy of running with poles in my right hand and then when I felt like walking I swapped to the left hand and kept running - huh weird maybe. But it worked.  Powered up nice and consistent to the CP with a mother and son from Florida doing the Ultralight which is 2 sections each day - great seeing them doing it together with the son encouraging Mum a lot!  Arrived at a gorgeous monastery set in the side of the mountain where we had to run around the courtyard before refilling water.

Section 3 10.6km 382 gain 509 drop felt quite OK after cresting the mountain straight out of the CP. Everytime thought the uphill was finished it appeared again.  Started downhill to the sound of bells which turned out to be a huge goat herd which was cool with them standing up against trees for food.  Really into the zone and rythm with nutrition and hydration all working and cloud cover keeping it relatively cool. Cruised downhill along a long road and then bizarrely sharp turn through a farm and quickly tripped on some barbed wire - wasn't paying full attention and had just stood up another pink flag that had fallen over. Dirty knees and hands but nothing worse.  Turned out we'd been sent that way to end up at Didyma cave which was like a big sink whole/ampitheatre that we had to run around before checking into CP3.

Section 4 11.4km 244 gain 371 drop starting in a town - jogged past a reastaurant and then town ended so I turned back and grabbed a coke - lady didn't want to charge me when she found out I was from Australia but I insisted. Really good stage for me although the rubbish on the sides of the roads bothered me - they throw everything out there windows so on the few roads it was relentless bottles, wrappers etc.  Then down some side roads which were worse with people dumping boot loads of crap everywhere - took a selfie on an armchair...grrrr.  Arrived in CP4 which. Was the overnight checkpoint for many but I moved thru quickly.

Section 5 9.5km 311 gain 258 down.  Through a town walking with Canadian Paul who'd gone off track a couple of times so was a bit dejected.  Paul had helped me on the long march in Atacama 11 years ago so it was nice to help him for a while.  Another good section still able to jog the flats and downhills and power walking with my poles uphill (a bloody godsend - why haven't I used them earlier!?!).  First glimpse of the Med over olive trees and small villages as the sun was coming down.  Into CP5 happy after doing a body and mental check.

Section 6 9.7km 170m gain 258m drop solid jogging.  The hills were a nice break from jogging and feeling good.  Had decided to play with my brain and finish with a "half marathon" so started doing fractions (ha ha as usual) so 3km was 1/7th etc and had more shot bloks at 7km and 14km into my half marathon. Popped another 2 salt tablets bringing it to 6 for the day.  Through more olive trees past couple of menancing dogs that unusually weren't tied up or behind a fence - quite scary for some - I just kept jogging and hoped for the best.  Into the last CP6 and swapped the sunnies and cap for precription glasses, headtorch and red flashing light.  Feeling chipper-ish joking with the CP team and got going.

Last Section 7 10.2km 145m gain 165m drop.  Could see twinkling lights of a town on the waterfront and ran along a main road all the way.  Brief up and over a headland then hit traffic, restaurants etc through to the end.  Kept running thru to the end - tape was hidden on trees and posts but I remembered from the briefing that we followed the waterfront to the end.  Fellow runners that had finished earlier were already in the restaurants in Ermoni which gave me an extra energy surge with their cheering.

Awesome to get to the finish line drum and cheering after 76.5km 1877m elevation gain 1862m drop.  Totally chuffed that the week had ended well in about 10h33m with only ~8-10km to finish after a rest day.

English Paul in next followed by Joe at 2330 and then Adam just after midnight.  Sean and Steve had stopped a few times for food and then a couple of beers before finishing around 3am when I was sound asleep.

I snuck out with Kyle (3rd place) for a fresh dinner of salad, baked cheese, tsatziki, oh and fries... and had about 5 soda waters.  Great chatting and sharing work and adventure stories - quite a bit in common and a super interesting guy plus a bloody weapon!

Now enjoying a very relaxed day with breakfast entree & coffee with Joe, a supermarket detour for drinks for the tent and then a great brekkie of omelete and greek coffee. Only missing a shower and proper bed - 1 night to go....

Thanks for all your messages.

Love & cheers Darren

Stage 3 done and overall not too bad today “The Heart of Greece”.

Decent sleep again and fairly hard ground but at least it was flat and no rocks.

Section 1 was 8.7km 341m elevation gain 309m drop.  Dirt roads with undulating hills so good mix of running and hill hiking. Nice scenery with mountains all around.

Section 2 was 10.8km 183m gain 59m drop.  Half of it was along a dry creek bed so flat and runnable but slow going over rocks. Through olive trees, few farmers at work (seemed to be ploughing their rocks!?!) and nice and shady. CP2 was a bit early (1-1.5km) which was good but meant the next ‘half’ was longer.

Section 3 was 9.9km 461m gain 198m drop.  Started quite comfortably with gentle uphill - more great views as we tracked a ridge line.  Another seemingly random church in the middle of nowhere.  Then it got hard climbing up to a township which kept going and going.  Warming up so took a breather in some shade not far from the top.  I got in my head that I was going to get a coke and was so focussed on that I missed the turn and headed into town to get my coke.  Then met a couple of people that had been ahead of me so I doubled back and trudged back up to the CP - at least I had my coke.  Probably added only 1km but grrrr.

Section 4 we’d all been dreading.  It turned out OK with some reasonable shade as it was heating up.  Slugged it up the first 4km or so and took another couple of breathers on the way.  Good dirt track so when got to the top it was pretty good going downhill.  The couple of short uphill bits were a welcome break from the pounding on the legs downhill.  Ended up taking 2 salt tablets and couple of gels to try and hold off cramping which mostly worked. After another 5km ish heard the drum and cheering at the finish line with a short pinch of a hill to get there.

Overall 40.2km with 1397m elevation gain 902m drop.

Apparently we tracked quite a bit of the “E4” which is a famous Euro-trail from Portugal to Cyprus - we saw lots of the signs on trees as we went past.

Pretty stiff; hydration mostly worked; nutrition quite OK; some chaffing on my back at the bottom of my pack which I’ve had taped up by one of the volunteer doctors.

We’re camped in the grounds of the beautiful Agios Padeleimonas Church and now look forward to dropping down towards the Mediterranean for Stage 4 tomorrow.

Thanks for your messages.

Cheers

Darren

Well Stage 2 was supposed to be easier albeit 6km longer.... Ha.

OK time for my first blog for this adventure. Arrived at our campsite by the sea at Kardamyli village after a 5 hr bus ride from our hotel in Marathon.  Very picturesque through villages and olive trees and rocks everywhere.  Arrived to 2 local musicians and guitar and sitar(?) singing - very cool. Literally right by the ocean. 3 Englishmen sharing our tent from Manchester - have done various multi stage events and a ton of ironman - think Paul has done 29 and Steve 22…!!

First freeze dried meal - yummy yummy.  Bed early as it started raining pretty heavy.  Slept really well despite the hard ground and thin sleep mat. Quite mild.  Up around 6am for leisurely freeze dried brekkie, race briefing and away at 8am.

First stage started through the village and then quickly got very tough with 785m elevation gain on technical single track in just 9.7km.  Heat rate was high.  Was happy to have poles which is a first for me - meant for sorer shoulders but that was just as likely my full pack - weighed in at 8.9kg plus 1.5L of water and poles.  Quite pretty view back over the coast line then it started raining lightly and very humid.

Second stage was 7.4km and ‘only’ 203m elevation so finally got some running in for the first time.  Passed sheep and goats and their barking dogs in the villages we passed through.  Locals looking on with bemused expressions.  Quite a lot of the dwellings are abandoned which makes for an eerie landscape.  Churches everywhere.  Still quite slow going.

Third stage was 9.8km and a hefty 619m elevation.  I was in a very unhappy place in this stage - slightly light headed; heavy legs; slow slog on single tracks and dirt roads up the mountain.  Through a second canyon with spectacular views back over the coast and surrounding mountains as we‘re now quite high. Very happy to see the checkpoint and sat down briefly to refill my electrolytes.

Fourth stage was 11.1km and 406m elevation mainly on dirt roads and through some high villages.  Lots of fog had set in so not much visibility. Thankfully I was feeling better so got a move on along the flats and downhill.  Started spinkling with rain again. Couple of locals drove past in beat-up cars clapping us while shaking their heads.  Cramped up a bit with 2km to go so had my first 2 x salt tablets for the day and the cramping passed pretty quick.

So it was 38km with 2013m elevation.  Took me about 6h10m and think I came in around 21st (21 21 21 - that‘s for Ashlee & Darcy).  Suprised to be staying in huts rather than tents although three tents in each hut so 18 peeps.  Lucky I’ve got ear plugs :-)

Adam finished ahead of me and Joe is still out there with Sean (the other Englishman).

A great day for scenery and very challenging.  Glad to have it behind me and move onto a new day.  Focussing on recovery and staying warm.

Thanks for the messages from home

Cheers!

Darren