The runner placed the toes of his lead foot in the front groove and the toes of his other foot in the back groove. The painting, a detail from a fourth-century B.C. krater in the Athens’s National Archaeological Museum, illustrates this stance. Also depicted on the vessel is a turning post. At Nemea, a vertical post like this one was set some 17 feet in front of the starting line and was used for long-distance races; the athletes ran up and down the track, turning around the post.