Nikolas "Charos" Anastasopoulos

[Nikolas_A]

Well, let's see...

Born in Athens in 1975
175cm. 73kg (going down...)
Mechanical Engineer
Not married yet, I figure I have some years of real life before I do...

I think you've seen my face:

Nikolas "Charos" Anastasopoulos

Hobbies:
Rock climbing, ice climbing (when I was a kid I even climbed bookselves ), skiing, hiking, canyoning, MTB, you get the idea...

Computers. Self-taught programmer, I love tinkering with the hardware (my PC case is always open...)
Self-taught in electronics, I like them so much I'm thinking of getting a second degree on them.

I wanted to be a fighter pilot but I'm a bit shorth-sighted. I served in the Special Forces, had the chance to see the inside of a C-130 many times as well as the under side...

Nikolas "Charos" Anastasopoulos

I was looking at the panels before the jumps

And as if I didn't have have enough in my mind, I got this crazy idea (get a load of this): to build an F-16 cockpit!!! Can you believe it??
My first Sim was Navy Fighters. It sucked, but having to press +/- for the throttle sucked even more. My electronics skills were even smaller back then so my efforts to interface to the keyboard led me nowhere. Then a couple of years ago I saw Martin's site and - the final blow - Viperpits. You know how it goes from there...

Nikolas

[Flareless]

Great bio Nikolas!  Thanks for sharing

[Nikolas_A]

Great bio Nikolas!  Thanks for sharing

Thanks, Rich.

By the way, I wanted to ask you: how come you have three bio threads? Golden membership or something? :?

Nikolas

[Crease-Guard]

Gotta have one for each of his personalities.... :wink:

Jay

[Flareless]

Great bio Nikolas!  Thanks for sharing

Thanks, Rich.

By the way, I wanted to ask you: how come you have three bio threads? Golden membership or something? :?

Nikolas

Actually I don't know.

Hey Mike, could you please clear out the two with no replies?  I'm a superstar, I know, but I don't want everyone else to get jealous

[Nikolas_A]

Well, in case you didn't nottice, I changed my user name from "Charos" to "Nikolas_A". 

[rimi]

Well, in case you didn't nottice, I changed my user name from "Charos" to "Nikolas_A".  

Nikolas, I care because I think you are very helpful member in this forum and I look for your posts all the time.

Fayez

[Nigel]

Nikolas,
Why the change? I like Nikolas A better but is it because TOR changed his? I am thinking up a new stage name now. What do you think of "Elvis"?
Just kidding Nikolas!!

[Nikolas_A]

Thanks guys. I used to choose forum-specific user names, i.e. related to what the forum is about. However I've joined quite a few forums and I just liked to simplify things by using my real name. Nothing wrong with "Elvis" though 

[Nikolas_A]

I often wonder what percentage of marathon runners know why the race is called that. Racing is a popular sport, and on average 6 marathon races are held daily around the world! Some of those are more prestigious, some requiring qualification.

Yet there is only one that starts in the city of Marathon. Only one that goes around the tomb of the ancient Greeks that fell in the battle of Marathon, that is considered the battle that shaped the western civilization. Only one that follows the route of the messenger carrying the news of the victory back to Athens, finishing in the Panathenean stadium, which hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. It was actually then that the race was held for the first time.

Beeing a mountain climber, I see running as a means to stay fit for the mountains. I have been generally fit for most of my life, but I had an on-off relation with running. Still the idea of one day running the AAM was in the back of my head. The last two years I became more consistent, significantly increasing the frequency and length of my runs. Last year I run three 10K races and a half marathon, gradually moving from the mid-performance group to the top third. So the goal of running the big one seemed realistic.

So, last Sunday at 09:15 at the sound of a gun I set off. I tried to pace myself, since all my training and races so far were at a much faster tempo. I looked around me at the colorful sea of runners. I red their t-shirts, many had traveled thousands of miles to be part of this. USA, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, Netherlands, Croatia, Serbia, Turkey, China, Japan to name a few. Some with their faces painted in their national colors. Some in costumes! One with an artificial leg. People on the side of the street cheering, handing olive branches, kids giving us high fives.

Part of the route takes us through the countryside, I hit the 21k mark and from here on I am in “terra incognita”. I set the 25k as my next short-term goal. The steepest and longest uphill part. The AAM is notorious for it's elevation profile. “I'm a mountain climber” I keep thinking, it can't be that bad! And indeed it isn't for me, though I see many around me struggle. Next goal the 32k. Passing under the bridge at the Stavros intersection, it's almost all downhill from there. Plus the kilometers are getting single-digit now. My legs are feeling really heavy by now though, the mind must take over. Runners quit here and there, some are tended to by paramedics, I try not to let that affect me.

At the 35 I grab a cup of isotonic drink and decide to walk as I drink it, since I run through all supply stations but drinking from a cup while running is not easy. After five meters of walking I find it hard to start running again. At 37.5 I grab a bottle of water, drink some, pour the rest on my head and hardly have the strength to toss the bottle away. At 40 I don't even want to bother with a bottle, and the two last kilometers somehow seem to expand. One last turn and the stadium is in sight. Finally, with the clock at 04:38:34 I'm crossing the finishing line, tired as hell and emotionally overwhelmed.

Although I spent the last 10k repeating in my head “I will never do it again”, looking around me at all that is the marathon race, I now know I will.

[tiger-31]

Building a simpit is kind of like running a marathon... takes forever to get to the end...

[ulti]

Respect man, respect !

[opasi]

Congratulations, a victory over themselves

[Rufus]

Now THAT is doing it old school -  - very well done!!!

[henkie]

       

and nice to know a face for "Nikolas" 

Respect!
- Henk