We drive to Ethniki Amyna, which as well as being on the metro line, is also on the marathon route! After a couple of calls and a number of texts, we plan to meet up with David Uncles and the girls, who arrived in Greece yesterday.
We secure a good spot and fix our union flags to the railings. A Japanese contingent arrive, which includes a man (Makiko Nagano), who is famous in Japan for having attended every Olympic Games since Tokyo. He is so well regarded that he carried the Olympic torch during the world torch relay.
Before long we are joined not just by David Uncles and the girls, but half-a-dozen other British supporters. As we await the runners’ arrival, it seems clear that the temperature is having an effect, as the runners are behind the schedule that was printed in the free metro paper.
Our British group are receiving messages from home on their mobiles. It seems that although Paula was leading through the early stages, she has dropped back to third and appears to be struggling.
Finally, we see a runner. It is not Paula. The noise from the Japanese lets us know that it is one of their runners, Mizuki Noguchi. Kenyan, World champion, Catherine Ndereba is next and so now it should be Paula. But it isn’t, it’s Elfenesh Alemu, from Ethiopia, and then several more runners come past before we get the news that Paula has stopped about 300 yards short of where we were waiting to cheer her on.
Deflated, we head towards the metro to make the journey to the Olympic Stadium.