J51 – 2/6/2006

The race Paris-Tokyo woke up in the snow this morning: A good 20 centimeters fell last night and apparently all of Greece got it.  Up to now we have been spared the cold wave but the bad weather has finally caught up with us.  Luckily, the snow plows cleared the roads very quickly and we have removed the chains from the camper.  The beach and palm trees are covered with snow, which gives a rather unusual appearance to these seaside resorts, which we will go through all the way to Kavala.

Serge is wearing different foot gear this morning: socks by Mizuno made of Breath Thermo, then a plastic garbage bag on each foot before putting on his running shoes.  This equipment will protect him from the snow and so he won’t have wet feet like yesterday.

Around 14H00 on the plain which is bordered on the North by small mountains, the wind has come up and belew in strong gusts which reached 100 km/hour.  You have to fight not to be blown over.  Serge advanced all bent over and twisted: how can he run like that?  And where does he get the will to maintain his average mileage each day?  “I have a goal,” is what he keeps repeating when we tell him he could do fewer kilometers.

The temperaturewas 0°C at the end of the stage and we are waiting for better days.

The photos are signed Fulvio.