Berlin in Autumn is a great place
to be, warm and t-shirt weather. The plan was to have a weekend in Berlin with
a little bit of running thrown in.
Easyjet fly from Southend (although they are axing the route after
February) and so it was on Friday at 11am that we checked in, we had hold
luggage consisting mainly of my running gear. However, in case they lost the
luggage ( difficult to do from Southend with just one plane flying at a time) I
took my trainers in my hand luggage and wore my kit, no danger of losing it ,
unless I get lost myself. The flight was smooth and we landed on time at Berlin-Schönefeld airport. The luggage was through
quite quickly and then we went to the
station, to catch the train into the city. We had decided to go to the
Expo and collect my race number and assorted goodies. It was being held in the
old Berlin Tempelhof airfield. This meant changing trains several times but we
got there around 5pm. It was very busy, a lot of people pushing and shoving,
not really time to look at any of the stalls, plus no one was giving away any
freebies....
We stayed about an hour, before we
caught the train back into the Berlin to the Zoologischer Garten station. I
then remembered I had not looked up the directions to the hotel, the Hampton Inn, on the
Internet, so we asked people in a couple of places. They sent us in the right
direction, but didn't really know where it was. We even asked the Police
officers guarding the Jewish Synagogue, but they just gave us general
directions. Eventually we found the hotel and actually we were not that far away. I had already checked in online, so I knew it was room 131 on first floor. We
dropped our luggage off and went out for something to eat. Linda had noticed some
restaurants nearby and they looked interesting. Linda decided on spaghetti carbonara
her favourite and I had meat and potatoes. It was very nice and we sat outside,
as it was not too cold. We then went back to the hotel and some rest.
Saturday was a dry run day, to
work out how long it would take to get from the hotel to the start area. First
we had breakfast, eggs, rolls, and fruit, all needed to build up those carbs.
We left around 10am and worked out, provided the train came within 3-4 minutes it
was about 35 minutes in total. About 10 minutes to walk to the station
(although later we found a nearer one to our hotel), about 10-15 minutes on the
train (depending how long it took to come). It was then a further 10-15 minute
walk from Hauptbahnhof station to the start area. Another top tip was to buy
your ticket the night before, as then you just have to get it stamped at the
automatic machines, before you get on the train.
We found the start area, but
couldn't go in. We then had a wander around the event village before leaving
and going for a walk along 'Unter den Linden', it was warm so we had to stop at
Einsteins' cafe for a cappuccino and to watch the world go by, a lot of
tourists in town this weekend! We then continued walking, which in hindsight
was probably not a good idea as we walked about 8 miles in total. Linda looked
around an Art market and a few shops. We finished at Alexanderplatz and decided
to have dinner. I had salmon pasta and Linda a big four cheese pizza. After
this we got the train back to the hotel and had a rest.
In the evening. We went to the
Ecumenical Service at the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtnis Kirche. It lasted about 45
mins, there was a reading Psalm 121, some hymns, a sermon and of course a
collection. Psalm 121 was described a runners Psalm 'I lift up my eyes to the
mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker
of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip, he who watches over you
will not slumber;' Most of it was in German so we did not understand a lot of the
sermon, but it did mention running. We then back to the hotel via Starbucks.
Marathon day. We woke up at 0545 and were at the breakfast table for 0600. I had to be careful what I ate to
prevent any unnecessary stops on route. I had banana in a roll and yoghurt,
plus my normal cup of coffee; all athletes know coffee improves performance. I
had laid out my kit the night before, so I could put it straight on and we left
the hotel for the train station by 0645, 15 minutes ahead of schedule. We
walked to Savignyplatz station and didn't have to wait long for a train and of
course no queuing for tickets, just needed to validate ours in the machine. I had an old coat and pair of trousers on,
which I could throw away at the start line. It was slightly cold and having
learnt from Florida and various magazines this is what athletes do, apart from
the elite like Mo, they have dressing rooms and somebody to hold their coat for
them. Linda was not able to get into the start area herself, although we later
discovered she could have got nearer the start line, but we hadn't done a recce
that side! We were early so I had time
for a quick Starbucks, there is always time for Starbucks and caffeine improves
performance it says so in my running magazine.
Linda then wanted to take a few
pre-race photos so I had to stand there shivering whilst she checked the
background, distance etc... Then it was off to the start area, there are over
41000 runners so it needed to be well organised and it was. I left my bag at
the bag tent and had a wander around. The problem is you have to be here so
early that you get bored waiting for the start. It did not start till 9am and I
was in the last section H as I hadn't run a marathon before. We did not start
till 0935. As we were there at 0730 there was a lot of standing around,
although it was not too cold, unlike Florida.
I found the right coral; people
were pushing in, walking in front of you, trying to get nearer the front right
up to the last minute. It’s a bit pointless really as you all run the same
distance - 26.2 miles. At 0900 the elite
athletes set off, they were going fast and would finish in just over 2 hours. I
had worked out positions for Linda based on timings and train stations.
Everything is marked in km and you run 42.165km. Linda positioned herself at km
11 initially so she got photos of the elite athletes and me.
The start was in Strasse des 17
Juni in the middle of the Tiergarten. The route initially went west, towards
the Victory column, past the technical university and then turn back on itself
towards Alexanderplatz (where Linda was).
My 5k time was 27:37 and 10K 55:08 which was in line with my training
times. The route then wandered along the
streets through East Berlin. There were bands everywhere and people watching
and shouting encouragement. I reached
the halfway stage in 1:59:54, which was still on schedule. The race ran through
the shopping district, then Potsdamer Platz (around km38) where Linda appeared
again. It was hard work know, although I only had 4km to run I had slowed down
considerably. It was a struggle, but once I reached the Unter der Linden and
could see the Brandenburger Tor I knew I was nearly home. I ran through the Tor
and towards the finish line, completing it in 4:11:12 and finished in 17874
place (out of around 41000 runners).
After you run through the finish area
you are given your medal. I collected my food parcel and clothing bag from the relevant
areas, it was slightly crowded. I had arranged to meet Linda at 2pm at the
family reunion area. Despite running a marathon, I managed to be on time, but
Linda as usual was 30 minutes late. She then wanted to take more photos of me
with the medal. We then went to the village, had a look round and watched some
more runners finishing. After this we went back to the train station to catch the
train back to our hotel. We stopped for dinner on route, to save going out
again, Linda had her usual. I had the mixed grill and a cappuccino. Linda was
exhausted after taking all those photos so she had a rest in the afternoon. She
did say she had walked about 12 miles.
On Monday we got up around 8am, no
rush today and my legs are slightly stiff. Linda banned me from going for an
early morning run! As Hilton honours members we get a later checkout time,
which is handy. We had breakfast and then asked for a newspaper, they gave me one
in English, but I wanted the Morganpost as it had all the marathon results in
it including mine. We then went for a walk around the streets, visiting famous
places like Karlstadt sports, Adidas and Nike.
Linda wanted to see the Zoo so I
took her to the gates and she could see up the driveway, time for a picture. After this we went back to
the hotel and packed the cases, checked out and caught the train to the
airport. We checked in, but security was dreadful, totally disorganised and it
took over 30 minutes to get through, there was no leadership and grumpy staff
who were totally disinterested, very disappointing. The flight left on time and
we were back in Southend by 1730, medal and all.