Winging it

Spartathlon - a 153 mile, 246 km race from Athens to Sparta in Greece . Supposedly to be retracing the steps of the ancient runner/messenger Pheidippides running to ask for help from the Spartan army. Apparently he did it before the sun set on the second day, so our race cut off is 36 hours. 7am on Saturday to 7pm on Sunday. Makes sense. Of course, then he ran back with the bad news, they'll come, but "in a bit". Leonidas If that wasn't hard enough, in this race you have cut-off times at every checkpoint and they're set more aggressively towards the start. Then there's a mountain at 100 miles.and it's hot. and along Greek roads.  Course profile Every checkpoint has these markers showing distance and cut off times. Getting in I'd read Vassos' book ( Running up that hill ) and was intrigued, I had to try this race, this sounded so far outside my capabilities, but I knew people who *had* completed it.... and I had previously got a qualifying time but