I’ve made you wait long enough but the wait is over. The Berlin Marathon Race Report is here.
When we left off yesterday, the starting gun for Wave 2 of the Berlin Marathon had sounded and I was off, doing a slow shuffle across the timing mats with 42k of my newest friends. As you’d expect, the start is epic, crowds are thick, TV cameras are everywhere, and the straightaway toward, and running around, the Berlin Victory Column is one of those “pinch me” moments I’ll cherish forever.
Goal: Run Happy. After spending 4+ weeks in the pool at the peak of my training cycle rehabbing my posterior tibial tendon, finishing would truly be winning. Since I was going into this race supremely undertrained, I planned to run (slowly) for as long possible then implement a walk/run strategy.
(Google Images)
In the first mile, my legs felt like wood and there was tightness in my hips. Despite resting in the hotel room the afternoon before, we toured all morning and were back out, walking in the evening for dinner. No surprise why my legs are “not so fresh”. Maybe they’d loosen up after a few miles. I wasn’t here to PR anyway. I was determined to soak in the sights and sounds and enjoy. When it wasn’t drizzling it was super humid and breezeless: 99% humidity to be exact. It wasn’t hot, yet I felt too warm and clammy despite wearing a tank while others still had jackets and rain ponchos on. Really? Maybe the remnants of getting over a cold was to blame? The flying hormones of impending menopause? Whatever. The course was tightly packed with runners as all marathon majors are and the pavement was slick. All the better to keep me slow I thought. I’m notorious for going out too fast and paying later.
The first 5k passed with no walk breaks. Go me.
The first 5 miles passed with no walking. Go figure.
8 miles and still no walk breaks. The course was still very crowded. Could I make it to 10 miles?
I wish I could tell you a miracle occurred and I ended up being able to hold an easy breezy pace for the whole 26.2 but to be honest, it was a struggle from the get go. I never felt good. My dang hips just ached. Was it the travel? All the walking in the days leading up to the race? The dampness? All of the above probably.
Just about at the 10 mile marker, there was a man down with emergency personnel working on him while volunteers shielded him from view with heat sheets. The event staff did this thing with ropes that redirected all of us up off the street entirely and onto the sidewalk and around the corner so we wouldn’t have to run around the man. It was at this point that I took a short walk break. The plan was to take one walk break per mile from here on out. Forward progress.
I may have shouted “Ricola!”
The course was amazing and lively. Plenty of bands, drum bands, Dj’s and spectators, although not the quantity of spectators you find in New York, Boston or Chicago. The Germans are reserved while the Scandinavians are loud and boisterous. There were plenty of sparse areas but no dead/unsightly/industrial areas at all. Berlin is a beautiful city with plenty to look at. I pulled off in a few spots to take pics. I never missed my music. There were several instances when I’d see a famous church or landmark that I’d tear up. If you’d have told me even 10 years ago that I’d be running the Berlin Marathon, I’d have thought you had a screw loose.
At the halfway point I was still going strong (well slow) with my one walk break per mile policy. When I approached the 21k timing mat, I fantasized for a bit that this was a half marathon and I was just about done. Um, no such luck. I sucked it up and went on. I also noticed around this time, that my Garmin was clicking off the miles considerably faster than course signage indicated. The course is kind of a big loop with plenty of twists and turns but I’m an excellent tangent runner and was very mindful of the blue paint on the road so I’m not sure what happened.
I forgot my hydration vest bottle that I use for plain water so I was stopping at stations for “Wasser” pretty regularly. It was amazingly cold and refreshing but I have to tell you, I’ve never been shoved at water stations ever and here I was shoved repeatedly. It’s not as if I don’t know how to ease myself over and signal to the volunteer for a handoff. I’m not sure what the shoving was all about. Another weird thing they did was give us a large yellow sponge in our goodie bag and had water bins (marked “Schwann”) you could soak it at the water stations to refresh yourself. I didn’t bring mine but some people affixed it to their wrist with a sweatband and swabbed away. Alrighty then.
At about mile 19 I started to take a second walk break in some of the miles. Our bibs were made of some kind of heavy paper material, unlike any I’d seen before. With all the moisture/drizzle in the air, one of the holes in mine ripped through and my bib was precariously attached to my bib belt by just one fastener. So odd they’d use paper that wasn’t waterproof.
Potsdamer Platz was rocking and filled with BMW fanfare and the excitement for the finish was building. I caught a third wind and found myself running with Captain America.
At 4 hours 30 minutes, I had 2 miles left to run, according to my Garmin that is. Even though I knew my Garmin was clocking the miles ahead of where I actually was, I still believed the finish would come sooner than it did. When my watch registered 26 miles, the finish line was still nowhere in sight. I ran on, hoping I’d spy the Brandenburg Gate each time I turned a corner.
At long last, I turned onto the final stretch. I wasn’t sure if the finish line would be before or after the Brandenburg Gate. Turns out it’s after Waaay after. Like WTF after. But I couldn’t stop now, although others were walking, I straightened up and ran it in, even though I was dying. I thought of my very first marathon finish line in Chicago on that blistering hot day….about that triumphant charge down Boylston in Boston….about that last stretch through Central Park on a very windy day…..and now passing under the freaking Brandenburg Gate headed to the “ZIEL” (finish). And those are just the majors. Oh the places running has taken me.
It didn’t even occur to me to throw my hands in the air at the finish in Berlin. All I wanted was to stop running and turn off my watch. There was a looong walk as usual where we got out medals, a bag of food, a heat sheet and I opted for the poncho so I got that too. It’s a chic silver BMW one that will serve me well on Halloween.
Finish time? 5:01. Somehow I ended up running 26.9 miles. This is highly irregular for this tangent runner to be so far off. Not sure what happened.
While I was all about running happy and taking pics, I’ll admit that it stung a little to be over 5 hours for the first time ever. With my PB well over an hour faster, there’s a part of me that bristles at the 5. I know it’s completely unfair of me to set out with no time goals and then be ticked off about time so that’s all I’m going to say about that.
Pros:
- Course is beautiful with so much to see. Truly the best tour of the city!
- Great crowd support
- Plenty of course entertainment
- Getting to and in starting corrals was easy peasy
- Plenty of potties at the corrals. Lines were only 5 people deep!
- Pre-race time was exciting and energizing. Fun music and watching the elites go off on the jumbo screen was cool
- I loved getting a bag of food at the finish rather than having to grab and juggle stuff
- Adidas hit it out of the park with the official race gear
- The medal is iconic
- Trains to and from the race were quick and easy
- My Mizuno Wave Sky shoes were awesome! I think I found my new marathon shoe!
Cons:
- The course was very crowded for a long time. I was elbowed repeatedly and shoved at the water stops.
- After running 26.2 miles, I believe a medal should be placed around your neck. Here they handed it to me, all folded up. Pffft.
- In NYCM they wrapped me in my poncho, fastened the Velcro, put the hood up and congratulated me. Here they handed me a poncho folded up in a package and I was left to fumble with my food bag, water bottle and heat sheet in the muddy grass and figure out how to put it on.
- The last time I wore a Champion Chip in my shoe was Boston. There someone knelt down and removed it for me. Here I had to search for the chip return place, bend down in muddy grass again and unlace my shoes. No small task when your body is petrified from 26.2 miles.
- Expo was beyond packed. Thankfully the Adidas store near our hotel had all the official marathon gear.
Overall
All criticism aside, it was an epic race week that had tons of twists and turns but in the end, the teenager and I had the time of our lives. All weekend I never felt unsafe in Berlin and the teenager was able to easily navigate the subway system to get herself to the finish line to meet me. Memories and life experiences like these last a lifetime.
Have you been to Berlin? Run a World Marathon Major? What race is on your bucket list?
What an experience!!!! I know this was a hard fought journey (voyage? onslaught? quest?), but you made it! I loved the Ricola comment LOL Congrats on another 26.2 (plus some extra change) victory 😉 You are a badazz beast!!
I’m tearing up, really…..so happy for you!
I know these golden age race times stink, but I’m glad you got this one checked and came out unscathed.
Onward to the next!!! 🙂
xo
Im so glad you had such a positive experience in Berlin! Its frustrating that the course may have been long. I feel like Ive had races where I wasnt worried about my time but still disappointed with the end result. But what matters is that you kept going when it got hard, finished strong, and got to see all those amazing sights!
I’m so proud of you! Thanks for the really great race recap. I am sorry you had to deal with some shoving on the course but I love that you kept a positive attitude about it all!
Great recap! LOL at Ricola. I do the same thing to myself not setting a goal but then being disappointed if I don’t meet it. But I’m sure all those photo stops were worth it and glad you finished running!!
Since I also ran Berlin, I was curious to see your thoughts on things like the course, blue line, wasser stops etc. My neighbor and I ran together and after just a short while she was telling me “elbows out” because runners were being so rude jarring us and squeezing between us (and we ran very close together).We never elbowed runners, but having our elbows out kept other runners from bothering us. The water stops were ridiculous and I was so happy we carried and then got handoffs from our husbands of fresh water bottles. The stops were far too short and not enough people were working them. I totally agree about the medal and poncho. We were freezing by the time we were getting ponchos since we spent a bunch of time at the Abbott area when I got the big medal. Now that group did an amazing job putting the medal around your neck. 🙂 Both my neighbor and I ran our shortest distance in a marathon, she 26.4 and me 26.44. Starting in the last corral was a challenge, but we found the blue line pretty easy to follow. I’m so sorry you ran so much extra. In any case, it was an amazing experience and running international races is always fun. Be prepared for huge crowds at Tokyo, but the water stops and volunteers are plentiful, unlike Berlin
Great recap! I felt like I was there with you. And when I tracked you, the app had you running the whole time. There was no evidence of walking. Ever.
PS I’m not the runner you are, but I’ve had 2 marathons over 5 hours. One was the horrendous first marathon ever, the other was Big Sur. That was for fun and finishing was winning. Yep, it was hard to swallow that finish time, but I got the same medal as the winners!
Congrats on another major marathon completed! I would not be able to walk either during the last stretch no matter ho miserable I felt. I never bring water with me during races and always just stop at the aid stops and never have a problem. Sorry to hear you were getting shoved during that. Maybe that’s how they do it over there. At least the water was cold. I never get any cold cups when I do races in the states.
What a great recap! I felt like I was running with you.
That sucks about the shoving. How odd. And I have to say I’d be super irritated about the medal, the heat sheet, and the chip. I don’t know about you but 26.2 really takes it out of me.
Great job, Marcia! You should be proud even if you aren’t satisfied with your finish time. Your goal was to run/walk and have fun. I would say you achieved it!!
Love, love, love this recap! What an iconic race in an iconic place! Congratulations Marcia… can’t wait to see where the ‘majors’ will take you next!
Congrats on an awesome marathon Marcia!! Berlin is one of the marathons I would love to run. I love the city and and its vibe!! thanks for the beautiful pics and inspiration!
I’m just so so so happy things worked out and you were able to make it to the race. I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about Berlin so maybe it needs to go on the list
So proud of you Marcia! I’m sorry that you had to deal with some shoving during the race, but love that you still kept a positive attitude!
Congrats! I was thinking “Ricolaaaaaa!” too. I’m sure that commercial has ruined those horns for Americans. You did such a good job, and don’t fret about your time. It was for fun, and you were injured during peak training.
So you really liked the wave sky shoes! I’m going to have to try them!
What a cool looking medal! I just can’t even wrap my brain around that time after all you’ve had to deal with! And what was up with shoving at the water stops? Just crazy! I agree this was an Epic race event for you and the mini!
Congrats on getting yourself to the starting line in one piece AND finishing in one piece! Finishing = winning.
Is it irrational to be disappointed with your time? Probably But you feel what you feel.
Now boo to not putting a medal around your neck, a heat shield around you, etc. etc. Geez, I just ran a half and they put that heat shield around us! It was soooooo cold.
I would say the pros mostly outweighed the cons here (except for the whole medal, heat shield thing — and the shoving — I thought Germans were supposed to be polite?).
I’ve only been to Dresden and then only for one day (in which is rained, sleeted, and snowed — in October!).
This really does sound like an epic once in a lifetime experience. Finishing is winning and congrats again. Fun read felt like I was right there with you
congrats on finishing even if it was a slog! its always an accomplishment to cross a finish line! especially after 26.2 miles! (or longer in your case : ) )
Love this recap! Don’t beat yourself up. The conditions were not in your favor. You still finished and finished strong!
Sounds like an epic adventure! I can’t imagine taking one of those shoe chips off after a 5k, let along a marathon 🙂
You ran/walk a 5:00 marathon post injury and not at 100% You are amazing. Sub 5:00 is my goal for my next healthy one – the marathon is a beast and you tamed it well.
What a fabulous experience! I’m more than a little jealous. And honestly, great job considering how your summer training went.
Wow – I love this recap and CONGRATS!! So glad things turned out like this for you 🙂 sounds like an amazing experience!!
Congrats on another WMM finish! I really relate to your no-time-goals-but-still-frustrated-with-a-5:00-finish sentiment. Of the five marathons I’ve run, #1, #4 and #5 were all 5:xx. #5 didn’t bother me as much as #1 and #4 (I had run marathon #4 three weeks before marathon #5, so I was mentally able to justify anything that went poorly during #5), but I do really hate finishing with a 5:xx time–even though it’s what’s happened to me the majority of the time! I’m running Chicago on Sunday and also have “no time goals,” but I know that I’m going to be frustrated if I run yet another 5:xx marathon, even though I fully expect to run somewhere between 5:00 and 5:15, given my subpar training and the predicted heat/sun. I guess I just decided for myself early on that 2:xx marathoners are superhuman, 3:xx marathoners are Boston runners, 4:xx marathoners are the “average runners,” and 5:xx marathoners are slow. I’m quite happy being an average runner, but I don’t like feeling like I’m a slow runner. It’s all perception, though, I suppose: one person’s slow marathon is another person’s PR. Anyway, the point of all of this rambling is to let you know I definitely relate to not liking a 5 at the start of your finish time, established pre-race time goals or not and think it’s totally okay and understandable that you feel that way. Congrats again on your finish!
I know I haven’t commented in a while, but I’ve been keeping up with your blog and journey to and at Berlin, I had to get on my home computer so I could finally comment!
First, I’ve loved all the pictures! I love reading about your experience, I can only imagine how incredible it was in person! Ummm the uncool part was handing your medal to you all folded up??? What is that about?
Those Mizuno Sky’s are definitely getting their work cut out for them, I remember you were wearing them when you visited Utah. I love mine too! But yours are getting some serious race mileage and traveling in this year!!!
Great job on your finish and what an incredible experience!!!
So beautiful and amazing!
Great recap! What a truly awesome experience! And, as I have so often said, finishing is winning – especially given all you went through to get to that start line. Congrats again!
I’ve recently been to Berlin, but not for a race. I explore the city on bike and it was awesome. I would definitely love to take part in this marathon!
The only World Marathon Major I’ve run is Boston. I’m really regretting not running Chicago while my son and daughter-in-law lived there, and now they live just across the river from NYC so… I’m sure I could run the first half or a little more, and then run/walk the back half and still make the time cutoff. IF I had it to do over, I’d go after the majors.
Thanks for linking up!
Congratulations, Marcia! After everything you went through to get to Berlin, this was an epic race — regardless of finish time. I find the different race practices fascinating!
What a recap! and what an adventure! Sounds like a great race to me and a 5 hour finish is fantastic! Interesting to compare the race culture in different countries. I know you are still pinching yourself! I am sure your daughter is super proud too! XXOO
Congratulations Marica!! Such epic scenery and a beautiful picture of you there at the end 🙂 It captures the uniqueness of the course and views so well. You had to go through so much just to get there. Cherish the memories and the knowledge that you made it happen!
I would have totally died at the end not really knowing how much farther I had to go…the WTF comment kind of had me chuckling, but i am sure at the time if wasn’t chuckle worthy though.
Great job!! Congrats again 🙂
So cool! I definitely think long flights affect running… at least that’s an excuse I’ve used for myself. 😉 You’ve definitely run in some cool places/races over the years and I TOTALLY AGREE on all those “cons” – they should assist with chip removal (…or, gasp, get with the times and put it on the bib), medal donning, and heat sheet wrapping. Congrats on another 26.2(+)!