He uses his olive grove as a running track. In the past two months, because there is no car to practice in the local stadium, Stelios Prassas ran around the field with 96 olive trees and free-range chickens on the marathon plain. On this route, he was surrounded by surrounding hedges, his shoulders raised, his pace was rapid, and he reached the training goal. He recently became the oldest person to complete the Athens Marathon at the age of 90. Better," he said.
Although it is only a few days before he completed the 42km and 195m Athens Marathon in 8 hours, he still maintains a perpetual motion machine. He told us that on the second day after the game, he tried to sprint to the end of his field and felt good. "The sports lifestyle is very healthy," he said as he showed us around his house. Even while standing still, his body tilted slightly toward the ground, and the twinkling light in his eyes made him look more like a sprinter who was told to be prepared. "This year is particularly good, because many contestants came and told me,'We will finish this game, and we will have fun.' Everyone is talking from start to finish," he said.
The person who chatted with him during the marathon was not the only one approaching him recently. Since the competition, this experienced athlete has been favored by reporters and reporters. The press was so interested that Prasas had to write down interviews with radio, television and other media on a piece of paper so that he would not forget. The man himself is still curious about this newly discovered reputation. "I finished the game at a better time before," he said to Kathimerini, relieved of his guard. It is worth mentioning that in 2018, when Plasas was 87 years old, he completed the same game in 6 hours and 27 minutes.
In the age of smart watches, wearables, and lengthy self-promotion posts on social media, Prasas represents a different generation of runners. Before running started and became a popular pastime, he broke his shoes on the dirt roads of the Panathenaic Stadium and Agios Cosmas. When there are no traffic rules for even the biggest races, he is there-unlike the list of safety regulations that keeps increasing today-and when the participants are driving side by side with the moving cars. There are hundreds of people participating in these competitions, not the thousands that we expect in Athens each year.
Prasas was born in Athens on November 5, 1931. His father is a worker. "A soldier, a kind and enthusiastic person. He did whatever he was required to do to make ends meet and support his family. When he was in his 90s, he went to the farmers market to buy some groceries, cooked at home, lay down and left. Suddenly, there was not even a doctor involved," Prasas said looking back.
Due to the occupation of Greece by the Axis powers, he did not have the opportunity to complete his primary education as planned. "After the war, we got the diploma. What can we learn? We didn't learn anything," he said. For 14 years, he ran lathes and made pots and pans in the center of Athens. But he has always been passionate about sports.
He has played football in several teams in Athens and has always been a forward, including Nikki Plakas and Arion Agio Artmio. He stopped playing at the age of 27 and focused on his full-time job as a worker and painter. He later opened a store in Veronas, selling color paints, hardware and tools. He got married and had a son. "I am the only one who will close my store at 3pm to pick up my son and go to Agios Kosmas to play football with our friends. I am obsessed with football and I like it," he said.
A friend on the Agios Kosmas court suggested that Prasas start running. He was 60 years old by then and decided to give it a try. It turns out that he is suitable for his age. In his first foreign marathon, he ran the complete route in 3 hours and 12 minutes. After participating in dozens of races, Plasas held many Greek records in his age group, ranging from 5,000 meters to full marathons.
Plasas has so many memories, prizes and other memorabilia in every game, and there is a special room in his house to display them. A sign hung on the door, "Stilianos Plazas' Trophy Room". There are no empty walls. Every inch of space is hung with long-distance race certificates, and dozens of international and domestic trophies are placed on the shelves (we counted at least 80). There are different photos in each corner of the room. In the photos, Plasas crossed the Athens Marathon finish line at the Pan-Athens Marathon with his grandson. This tradition is still maintained and repeated at the end of this year's race.
"As an athlete, when he was in his 60s, he was extraordinary because even though he had just started running, he recorded extraordinary race times," said Vlasis Karavasilis, founder of Telmissos running club Nea Makri-Marathonas. Lassas is the founder of the club. member. "He is a laborer, made from scratch, a simple person, educated in life. He likes to live," he added. He believes that post-90s are still eager to participate in more competitions. For this reason, Caravasilis occasionally advises him which games to participate in and which games to avoid in order to avoid excessive fatigue.
However, Plasas did not coach much in his running career. "I have never had a coach," he said. "I only do what my system tells me, and my body and soul tell me." He also didn't use the equipment used by other runners. He still runs with an old-fashioned timepiece, and to this day, he finds it strange that other runners near him can see how many races they have completed and their pace. "I heard them discussing the mileage their watch tells them while they were running. If someone told me when I was born, I wouldn't believe them. I was left behind by technology," he said. "I am an ancient person."
Prassas' running method is reminiscent of other older runners. In October 2016, 85-year-old Ed Whitlock completed the Toronto Marathon in 3 hours and 56 minutes, setting a record for his peers. "He is running in 15-year-old shoes and a shirt with a history of two or three years. He does not have a coach. He has no special eating habits. He does not record his training kilometers. He does not record his heart rate and does not use ice therapy. He does not receive massage. He shovels snow and takes care of his garden in winter, but he does not lift weights or do sit-ups," said an article in the New York Times about the Canadian long-distance runner who died of prostate cancer a year later.
Except for his field, Praassas avoids off-track training because he fears accidents on dilapidated and bumpy roads. He prefers the safety of the synthetic track, its smooth and predictable surface. "I reach the finish line and I can run as much as I want. I told myself today that I will run 5 to 10 kilometers," he said. He used to train often, but still uses some of the techniques used by long-distance runners, such as consuming carbohydrates at least three days before the race-regular consumption of carbohydrates (usually pasta) to store as much glycogen as possible.
In the recent Athens Marathon, Plasas felt pain in his lower back, and he no longer felt pain. In the next few days, he talked with orthopedic doctor Theodoros Papapolychroniou and told him about the completion of his game, and he would probably visit him soon. Before his 80th birthday, Papapolychroniou operated on Plasas. The experienced long-distance runner underwent two complete hip replacements-a type of surgery used to treat severe cases of osteoarthritis.
"These conditions may develop slowly, lasting for 10 or 15 years, or as quickly as Plasas. Within a year, the hip joints deteriorate to the point where walking is painful," the doctor said. "When he came to my office, he was a person who was particularly eager to keep moving and walking. Pain in his hip prevented him from performing basic daily activities, such as going to a store or supermarket, or even standing up and resting for a few hours. However, as As his marathon proved, he has fully recovered."
After successful surgery and his rapid recovery, Prasas regularly visits Papapoli Kronio. "He is in good health. We often joked. He said he was going to run a marathon. I replied that he should take care of himself," the doctor said.
The 90-year-old marathon runner hopes to continue running around the world as long as he can. He emphasized that he is not troubled in daily life. He has experienced difficult times, experienced "hunger and misfortune", and is not afraid. "I am very happy," he said. "As long as I am healthy, I can still live on this earth."