SPIRIT AND BODY
2013
In 2010, after two and a half millennia following The Battle of Marathon, the Greek women’s marathon record holder Maria Polyzou, represented the legendary messenger Pheidippides. She ran the 524 kilometres (326 miles) from Athens to Sparta and back to Marathon virtually nonstop within six days, to mark the battle’s 2,500th year anniversary. This required her to run the equivalent of a double marathon every day for a week, with minimal rest.
"I feel "rich" because I am Greek. Following in the footsteps of Pheidippides, I did the "impossible" and I did it in the manner that he "taught": with Spirit and Body. I thank God every new day that dawns. Every feat is accomplished with God's will and his help. A much higher force than us "humble" beings. It forces upon us the realization that there is only one God and he is everywhere. Now my soul is like the calm sea. I feel like I can achieve anything I set out to achieve."
Prolog (Fragments)
" ... 2010 was the 2,500 year anniversary of the Battle of Marathon which took place in 490 B.C. A battle that changed the course of humanity. Historians agree on the view that if the conflict had not ended with the victory of the Greeks against the Persians, Classical Greek culture, philosophy, poetry, the arts that shaped the Golden Age of Pericles, would not have developed. The Greek victory was not just a victory on the battlefield, but a victory of democracy over tyranny. ... "
" ... I wanted, with great humility, to resurrect the historic event brought about by Pheidippides’s run from Athens to Sparta, his return to Athens and from there to Marathon, following as closely as possible the steps that the heroic runner took. ... "
