Sta chnaria toy Deykaliwna 22k, Delfoi 20141207

"Sta Chnaria toy Deykaliwna" ("On the footsteps of Defkalion"), half-marathon mountain race in Delfoi. This year starting and finishing in the area of the museum.

0,0k at 550m - Delfoi Archeological museum. First few hundred meters are inside museum's area, following quite narrow stone path. Everybody started a bit slower to avoid any falls. Later with asphalt road to the village and onto steep steps, climbing fast.

1,1k at 630m - Out of the village and onto the trial. Narrow path leaves the village and follows with nice stone steps, wide enough to overtake any runners. The grade was just perfect for me to keep running cadence all the way up :-D

4,9k at 1135m - End of big climb / First Aid Station. Probably the most demanding section was over. Quick stop for water and banana and we (together with 3 over runners close to me) continued with dirt road. Very soon we realized sthg was wrong! No other runners in front nor behind us, no markings of the route :-/ We kept going anyway hoping to find some conection to correct route!

7,6k at 1150m - Back on correct route. Luckily we found it! Small path coming out of the forest was the correct one we should have taken from first aid station. Checking later, we did some few hundred meters more, but probably saving time due to wide flat dirt road instead of twisty forest path. Anyway, shame we lost probably the best section of the race :-/

9,0k at 1130m - Second Aid Station and short vertical climb. Another ~1,5k with dirt road and we found more runners and second aid station. Still had lots of water and snack bar so I skipped it. Right after the station, short but steep vertical section started, up to the cave. Also it started to rain and rocks and mud became a bit slippery...

10,1k at 1335m - Cave and turnaround for downhill with the same path. Pretty cool water station in the cave. Quick water refill and onto the downhill with same path. Difficulty was, we had to pass all the runners climbing up, that slowed us quite a bit. No problem though - more energy for later :-P
After reaching back to second (now third) aid station, long, boring, uphill run with dirt road started. This time it was the correct route :-D

15,4k at 1330m - Fourth Aid Station and back on forest paths. Finally dirt road was over! Very boring and tiring! Quick banana and isotonic drink and onto forest path. Quite flat and fast, pretty cool! I did this part with fellow runner. Probably I could run it a bit faster leaving him behind, but I wanted some company just in case of any doubts, and it made me save extra energy for final descent.

18,7k at 1130m - Back at First (now Fifth) Aid Station and downhill with initial path. This is where I gave it all! Full speed, full pounding on my quads! Tempo sometimes below 4min/km! Stone steps now didnt feel so nice as during the ascent :-/ My knees were in pain! Anyway, I passed few runners and built quite comfortable gap to finish nice and easy through the village and into the museum.

23,6k at 550m - Finish at the museum. Time ~2:20:01 (according to my watch), position 7th general, 6th in Age Group. Nice :-D

I mark it difficult for my effort! Bumper I lost the forest path, but at least I have a good reason to come back next year :-P