Berlin (tick)

jeffreywright3178

Berlin (tick)

Berlin marathon 2022

The start of the adventure has arrived. Sunday was about 10 degrees and overcast nearly perfect conditions for marathon running. Myself and 40,000 of my running friends gathered in the start corrals to watch Eliude Kipchoge set off to break the world record and possibly the 2 hour barrier.

The gun fires and from where we are, we can see on the big screen as the elites fly off down towards the victory column in the tiergarten. We do not move. For a couple of minutes we watch the screen and then as the excitement builds we start to shuffle toward the timing mats. I cross the start line just on five minutes after the gun. Can I give Kipchoge five minutes head start ? What do you reckon?

Down through the tiergarten and out onto the roads, still in large pack of runners as we start to sort ourselves out. Running pretty comfortably at around 4.30 kms. I pretty well maintained that through to the half in 96 minutes. The course is fairly flat with only a couple of bumps over the bridges and there are many drink stations. I tried to get a mouthful of water at most of them because the day was dry and there is always dust raised by that many runners.

Half way is also the furthest point out on the course which is a hollow C shape. Making our way back and things were starting to get tougher. At 27 km there was a murmur through the crowd and the field. Kipchoge has finished in world record time of 2.01.09. Wow!
The crowds were starting to build and musicians and drummers were playing at short intervals and my legs were starting to feel the pounding they’d been taking. I started to lose a bit of time between 30 and 35 km and then some more between 35 and 40. My mind was still active and I was concerned not to overcook this one as there are still two more marathons to run so I concentrated on finishing and let the time take care of itself. It is more important to complete all three rather than save a minute here on the first one.

One of the highlights of Berlin marathon is the last turn onto unter den linden where the Brandenburg gates loom a couple of hundred metres ahead. Nearly there, big crowds much noise, not far to go. It is a bit of a mirage. Through the gates there is another 3-400 metres to the finish line. Approaching the gates I thought I may have a chance of going under 3.18 but in the end it was 3.18.40. Quite sore afterwards, we had a bit of a rest and then in the afternoon/early evening caught up with George and the run fun travel group who kindly allowed us to join them for a couple of celebratory drinks.

Woke up a bit stiff and my left heel is a little inflamed but all up pretty good. We’ll have a long walk today and then off to London tomorrow.

Some thoughts on running in large fields

I found it interesting running in such a large field that some runners have very little awareness of what is going on around them. I watched one woman straight line from the inside arc of a roundabout to the inside of the turn of the exit completely oblivious to any other runner around. Taking the racing line is all well and good but sometimes courtesy is just as important.
The other obsevation would be that many runners don’t know how to pick up a cup and then get out of the way. One bloke at 32 km managed to take a cup, slow to a walk and walk down beside the length of the drinks table while having his drink. Meanwhile all other runners had to steer around him to get a drink. Not cool!

Pop in, grab cup, get clear, drink, throw (in bin if possible) Keep running.

Breakfast run

Many of the large marathons have an easy run the day before. In Berlin this was held at Templehof an old superceded airport that now appears to be used as industrial offices and community events. This was also the site of the expo and bib pickup. Some runners choose to run in national dress or in costume and it is a very relaxed way to start marathon weekend. The run was just over 5 km on runways and taxiways around the perimeter of the airport and then the organizers supplied doughnuts, pretzels, fruit and water.

New and old friends

Hmm. images sideways. There must be a way to fix that. Anyway, one of the great things of getting out and running is the people you meet and chat to from all around the world. Berlin gave me a chance to finally meet in person Michael Brosilow from Chicago. Michael and I were in the same age group for a number of years and he is a bit quicker than me so it was a delight to finally meet and get out for a run. Hopefully to be repeated somewhere around the world.

George we’ve known forever. As part of the Knox Athletics club George is a legend. If you’ve run a marathon chances are you either know George or he has run it. Six degrees of separation are a couple too many for people like George. We see him again next week in London.

We also get to chat to many people along the way from the french lady with halting english (authors note, we always feel very ignorant as we speak ONLY english) with whom we shared a table at the spaghetti place around the corner, to Kelly from London who we’ll see again next week who I talked to while removed our timing chips after the marathon and the nice young man from Brazil who we spoke to at breakfast. It gives us great pleasure to broaden our horizons and understand more of the world out there.

Anne, without whom this wouldn’t be possible
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