Marathon Bound: We're in GREECE!

Sera: IllumiNITE Tahoe jacket/
Powerstretch pant
Mike: IllumiNITE Mercury pant

This post has been pre-written because...

While you read this, we are in Athens, Greece, gearing up for the SOLD OUT official Athens Authentic Marathon THIS SUNDAY!  60,000 runners will be running the various races this weekend, 20,000 of which are running the marathon! That's a lot of runners!

Running Friends Are the Best Friends!

I cannot believe this weekend is finally here! My dear friend, Richard, and I have been planning this trip for over a year! Rich has been my running and destination-race partner since my very first relay back in 2015, and I'm so honored he asked me if I'd like to run the original marathon route!

Group training run back in August
Sera: IllumiNITE Eclipse headband/
Dovetail tee

I'm so excited we convinced our friends Juliette, Eric, and Cybele to join us. Races are much more fun with friends!

And I'm even more excited that my boyfriend, Mike, who has never run more than a 5k race or hiked more than 18 miles at once, agreed to let me train him for his first ever marathon! What better marathon to train for than the original marathon route from Marathon to Athens in Greece!

This is...Dating In Your Forties!

Sera: IllumiNITE Inspire Pullover/
Comet pant
Mike: IllumiNITE Hartford jacket/
Endeavor shorts

I don't know what I was thinking when I said I'd train Mike for his very first marathon! Mike and I have spent hours upon hours of running in the daytime, nighttime, rain, sun, heat, and cold! Long gone are the dress-up dates at fancy restaurants with cocktails and fabulous food! These days, date night consists of running in sweaty, smelly clothing and then devouring massive amounts of food before crashing on my couch to mindless shows. Somehow, we still like each other! Thank god!

I did make one rule while training him. I said: "As your girlfriend, I don't expect you to do whatever I want whenever I want. But as your coach, you better do as I say...or else!"

Mike, being the ever-so-intelligent man that he is, often asks: "Who is speaking right now: my coach or my girlfriend ?" hahahahaha

Friends! Trust me when I say, if you'd like to put the strength of your relationship to the test, train for a distance race together!

Track Us Live!

Sera: IllumiNITE
Savannah short sleeve tee

All joking aside, I feel so blessed to have a partner by my side who is willing to go on new adventures with me! I'm so honored to run by Mike's side on the original marathon route! It will be so amazing! We are not going for speed because we want to be tourists and take tons of pictures along the way! But you can follow our progress by tracking my bib number: 18638 on the official Athens Marathon App!

Mike: IlumiNITE
Sentinel short sleeve tee

And now, without further ado, I present to you our team IllumiNITE race shirts! Thank you, IllumiNITE for outfitting us on race day! Love these colors and the design is so fun! And let's not forget REFLECTIVE, too!

Stay tuned for a recap of Athens Authentic Marathon and other Greece adventures when we return! In the meantime, if you're looking for new running gear, be sure to use my discount code Sera15 at IllumiNITE for 15% off your entire order!

Where are you running this weekend? Comment below!