How can I forget my first marathon? It was the fall of 1981 in Chicago. Two days prior to the race I had received a phone call from a friend of mine who told me "Ted, there is a Marathon on this Sunday. Since it started in Greece why not sign up for the run? I said, you got to be kidding, I haven't run more than a block in years and you want me to enter the race just like that? No thanks". As Friday progressed to the evening, something inside me was telling me "Go Ted - Go Ted". So I rushed to Conrad Hilton for late registration, which was the host hotel for the Marathon located at Michigan Drive. I barely made it, as I had to take the train all the way from North Side.

I'd got home late that evening, but I was not excited, as I should be. The fear about the unknown of this race was spinning me out of control in too many directions. My mind was already in the Marathon starting line and had started thinking strategies for the completion of the race. The farthest I had run before was not more than two miles.

The race day came too quickly, and here I was lined up among 1000s for this magnificent event. Regardless of the challenge I had to endure, as a Greek I felt very proud inside me. I guess that was the voice that was telling me inside from the very beginning "Go Ted - Go Ted".

It was a chilly morning, and with the start of the race I was already in short breath. Somehow I managed to make it quite comfortable the first couple of miles going around the loop. It was without doubt the crowd that was pushing me along, but soon thereafter I was introduced to the wall. By the 2nd mile I felt my legs, lungs, and my spirit giving in. I remember just before we crossed the downtown bridge on Wacker Drive, I pulled myself aside and I said, "This is it. No more." As I stayed there for a few minutes watching the runners passing by, I felt suddenly an unexplained energy lifting me from inside and softly I whispered to myself "It's got to be the Greek Gods watching over me". …And from that moment on, my whole life changed forever.

I was finally able to re-enter the race and started to walk and run. Somehow, before I realized it, I had made it pretty much to the half point (I thought) by the aid station at McCormick Place. Then, something happened. I felt very weak and disoriented, and after I had a few sips of Gatorade I turned back and slowly I jogged my way to the marathon finish line with 4:10 hrs. Soon after that I realized that at my turning point I had missed 3 more miles out and 3 more miles back. As I was lost in the crowd and disoriented I thought that the station at McCormick Place was the turn around point.

As soon I had received my certificate of accomplishment I cut it in pieces and threw it away. I kept saying to myself "I am not a cheater. Greeks don't cheat. We have started the Marathon. We are proud people". I made a commitment to myself to enter the Marathon Race the following year and run it like a man.

Well I kept my promise, and the following year, sometime in October of 1982 I ran and completed my first Marathon with a time of 5:12 hrs.

In 1983 I had moved to Hawaii for the following 10 years…and before I realized it, from 1984 through 1992 I had 60 marathon and ultra marathons under my belt, including the famous and brutal Run to the Sun at Heliakala in Maui from zero sea level to almost 10500 elevation above sea level (7 times). My running also included 50 mile races such as "Honolulu City Lights (2 times) and the American River 50 Miles Endurance Run (2 times).

From 1993 - 1995, due to a brief relocation out of the country due to business, I took some time off from running. Upon return to the States in 1995, I had the opportunity to get back to my sport that I love more than anything.

in July 2008, I am preparing to celebrate my 107th marathon, while I hope later in the year of 2008 I will  celebrate my 110th Marathon  in Athens, Greece,  side by side with  my Greek Gods.

               "The runner's flesh dies.
But the minds high spirit and skeleton never"!
Ted Kapsalis


Archives File:

"Anheuser Bush. Inc."
June 12, 1989
Dear Ted, On behalf of  Bud Light, I am happy to inform you that you have been selected to receive a National VIP Invitation to participate in the Bud Light Ironman Triathlon on October 14, 1989.
We wish you the best of luck during this ultimate test of endurance.
See you in Kona, Hawaii!

Kindest redards,
Robert C. Macauley
Manager Sports marketing
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ΕΛΛΗΝΕΣ ΛΟΓΟΤΕΧΝΕΣ
ΣΥΓΓΡΑΦΕΙΣ ΠΕΝΤΕ ΗΠΕΙΡΩΝ

http://makant.blogspot.com/
http://www.metanastis.com/indexlogos.htm
http://www.fasoulas.de/html/EELSPH-/eelsph-.html
http://aeolos.net/eelspi.htm

ΤΟ ΚΑΜΑΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΤΡΙΚΑΛΩΝ

    Vaios Fasoulas
Προεδρος Ε.Ε.Λ.Σ.Π.Η

Αντανακλά το περιβάλλον του πολύ κριτικά. Με την πέννα του δεν θέλει να μαγέψει τούς αναγνώστες του, αλλά να τούς ξυπνήσει ταρακουνώντας τους και να τούς οργανώσει στα κοινά. Γράφει με το αίμα τής καρδιάς του για περισσότερη δικαιοσύνη και ανθρωπιά στον κόσμο...Στην αλλαγή του χρόνου προκάλεσε τούς ανθρώπους: "Μη χαλάτε τον κόσμο μας και τον πλανήτη. Ξυπνάτε, ορέ, ξυπνάτε! Ξυπνάτε εσείς, οι απλοί και υγιείς του κόσμου μας πολίτες. Και κράξτε, τώρα, όσο πιο δυνατά μπορείτε. Σ αυτούς, που μας θεωρούν για κόσμο άρριζο, κωφάλαλο και αγνώμονα. Ε, εσείς μη χαλάτε άλλο πια τον κόσμο μας και τον πλανήτη." Το κοινό σπίτι που ονομάζεται Ευρώπη χρειάζεται ανθρώπους σαν και αυτόν.

Volker Dittmar - Further Nachrichten

Έργα του Ιδίου: Στ αχνάρια τής ζωής (Ι) - Στο σταυροδρόμι της γειτονίας - Η Ελλάδα στον αιώνα μας - Η μεγάλη θυσία (Β Έκδοση) - Ψάχνοντας στ αχνάρια σου ζωή  (Ποιητική συλλογή) - Πολιτείες (Β Έκδοση) - Οι σειρήνες της ξενιτιάς (στα γερμανικά) - Οι σειρήνες της ξενιτιάς (Β Έκδοση) - Λαβύρινθοι του πάθους - Η Ελλάδα στον αιώνα μας (Β Έκδοση) - Στ αχνάρια της ζωής (2).

www.fasoulas.de 
 Email koziakas@fasoulas.de
________________


Αυτο το Βιβλιο ειναι Αφιερωμενο
στον Ελληνα, που ειναι Παντοτεινος!

"From Myth to Belief"

By: Θεόφιλος Ν. Βουρλιώτης

Twenty two riveting stories of faith and triumph through God’s marvelous grace are now bound in a one of a kind book. These testimonies translated and crafted by Θεόφιλος Ν. Βουρλιώτης into Greek will undoubtedly reach thousands with the life changing power of Jesus Christ.

Over three years of interviews and editing have resulted in a book that will be enjoyed by all ages, a story for all life’s relevant experiences.

Order your copy today.
Contact: www.greeksforchrist.org

Θεοφιλος Ν. Βουρλιοτης

Email: theovourliotis@yahoo.com
or www.greeksforchrist.org

_________

Aspa Papakonstantinou!

Was born in Athens Greece from parents who came from a village northen Thassaly. Her undergradutate studies were done in Nea Smyrni (Athens), and later on she completed her studies in the Statesat Southern Vermont Colege in Bennington VT. After ten years of living in the United States of America she came back to Greece wher she worked in the Americn Base at Nea Makri and in the Athens Laboratory of Business Administration up today at Voyliagmeni in Athenns http://www.alba.edu.gr  . From 1995 she started writing poetry, "A Sun in my Heart" is her first poetry collection book in Greek language. The second collection will be published soon. Some of her poems have been awarded in the United States.

Σε όσους στοχάζονται
Με συντροφιά την Ποίηση!
Έτος Εκδόσεως, 2005

 You can visit her poems in English at http://www.poets2000.com/poetry56.

Email address aspapapakon@yahoo.gr

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