Anitha finishes the 245.3 km Spartathlon 2026 from Athens to Sparta in 35:24:52 — 35 minutes inside the 36-hour limit, through a day and a night of rain, and over Mount Parthenio in a stranger's headlamp light.
I am Anitha, 47, a mother and Senior Technical Architect at Infosys in Mysuru. I started running in 2015 and ran my first marathon in 2019, after four years of building a base slowly. My first ultra was the Malnad 50K in 2019.
Since then I have raced everything from 50K to 100 miles, including the Border Ultra 100-miler, the Bengaluru Backyard Ultra (13 yards in May 2025), the Hennur Bamboo Ultra 220 km, the Bahubali 144 km, the Adiyogi launch edition, the Banjara Mahanthan 24-hour and the Jawadhu 85K.
Spartathlon training began in February 2026, about 30 weeks before race day. I was my own coach and followed a written plan. The focus was consistency, hills and time on feet. In June I introduced intervals and tempo runs.
Friends who ran in 2025 said the race had been very hot, so I trained in Salem and Tiruppur to adapt. On race day, the weather was the opposite.
Five sessions stood out:
Peak week was 154 km. The taper was two weeks: 73 km in the week ending 13 September and 30 km in the week ending 20 September. Race day was 26 September.
By the end of September, including the race, I had run 3,190.8 km in 2026 with 61,211 m of elevation gain.
Training around a full-time job, a family and a school-going daughter meant running in the mornings, evenings and weekends. I gave up movies and social media for the months of training.
I landed in Athens on Thursday, 24 September, two days before the start, with a fellow Indian runner. Our checked bags, including the contents of my drop bags, did not arrive. We spent hours at the airport and on calls with the airline. The bags came on a later flight, and another runner brought them to us at about 3 pm. Until then we had only our hand luggage, about 7 kg. The struggle to get the bag was real.
Race number 307, collected in Athens.
Eleven Indians qualified this year, but only eight registered: six men and two women.
I planned six drop bags to avoid wasting time, then added two on friends' advice. One at 65 km held socks and gels. The last one held my Indian flag for the finish.
I followed the forecasts for both Athens and Sparta, because I would be in Sparta after midnight. Rain was forecast for the mountain section, but I expected rain only at night, not through the whole day. The briefing warned of rain too.
My biggest fear was not the pain. It was missing a cut-off after months of hard training. The early cut-offs scared me. I am not a fast runner, so I wanted a buffer of 5 to 10 minutes early on and about 20 minutes at the marathon.
About six weeks before the race I read a short book on believing in yourself and training the subconscious mind. Every morning I told myself the same two lines.
That repeated message helped. The thought of quitting never crossed my mind on race day.
I built my own pace chart for every checkpoint and loaded it as a custom workout on my COROS watch, with a target pace for each segment up to 159 km.
It rained on the way to the Acropolis from the hotel and at the start line. I was dressed in Adidas Adizero shorts and a lightweight Dry-fit full-sleeve for a hot day, with no jacket. We started at 7:00 am soaked. I started at the back and ran my own plan.
I followed the watch chart and stayed ahead of the cut-offs. I reached 100 km in 11:27:18, about an hour inside the cut-off. The first 100 km averaged about 6:52/km.
The pace slowed after that as the rain, cold, pain and night took over. The remaining 145.3 km took 23:57:34, at about 9:54/km.
I carried gels cut open into bottles with black salt and water, plus extra gels in my shorts. I kept aid-station stops short, taking only water, orange juice and fruit unless I needed more.
I avoided solids until 81 km, then had a little spaghetti that did not sit well. From my drop bags I picked up Red Bull and Amul buttermilk. At night, an energy bar and chicken soup at a couple of checkpoints helped in the cold. There was no rice at any station on Saturday or Sunday, and the yogurt was too cold to eat in the rain.
The rain started at the start and continued through Saturday into Sunday mid-morning. My shoes and socks stayed wet, and I ran through puddles.
From about 80 km my lower back, knee and left quad hurt. After 120 km I had loose motions. I took a tablet I had carried and cut back on eating and drinking.
At 101 km I put on a merino layer and a jacket. They chafed and burned my skin. I left the jacket in a drop bag at the 210 km checkpoint.
At the base of Mount Parthenio, around 159 km, my left leg stopped lifting onto the steps. Both my headlamps died. A Japanese runner let me climb and descend in his light. That kindness kept me moving over the mountain.
Watermelon irritated my throat. A magnesium tablet, I suspect, made me very sleepy, so I splashed water on my face at every station.
About 10 km from the finish, at checkpoint 73, I felt dizzy. A volunteer reminded me I had about 2 hours 10 minutes left. I sat down, had orange juice, an energy bar and biscuits, and recovered.
I got up and kept moving. The last 10 km were slow and cautious, but I was not going to stop. I crossed the line at 6:24 pm on Sunday, 35:24:52 after the start.
Source: Official Spartathlon 2026 finisher certificate (Race No. 307). Elapsed times are calculated from the checkpoint clock times and the 7:00 am start.
| Distance | Elapsed time |
|---|---|
| 19.5 km | 2:00:28 |
| 42.2 km (marathon) | 4:24:26 |
| 65.1 km | 7:09:12 |
| 81 km | 9:00:34 |
| 100 km | 11:27:18 |
| 124 km | 15:02:42 |
| 143.1 km | 18:20:25 |
| 159.5 km | 21:22:29 |
| 172 km | 23:50:22 |
| 186.1 km | 26:06:25 |
| 195 km | 27:31:38 |
| 227 km | 32:27:51 |
| 245.3 km (finish) | 35:24:52 |
The official finisher certificate: Race No. 307, 35:24:52.
At the statue of King Leonidas, with the finisher certificate.
I finished in 35:24:52, about 55 minutes slower than my 34:30 goal, but about 35 minutes before the 36-hour limit. With the rain, the cold and the pain, I let go of the time goal and focused on finishing strong and walking off on my own.
I carried the Indian flag across the finish line, the first time I have done that in any race. I thought of my father, who passed away in 2024. He always backed my running and wanted me to represent India.
Two Indian women qualified and finished this year, a first for India at Spartathlon.
My left quad was stiff, but otherwise I was fine. I could walk on my own. No major injuries.
Five things stand out.
Spartathlon is the toughest race I have done, and the training made it memorable. I could not have done it without God’s blessing, and without my husband, my daughter and my mother, who told me to go and said they would manage.
At the finish, under the statue of Leonidas.
