Berlin Marathon 2010

Marathon II

Nearly 10 years after the fact but here's a post about the Berlin Marathon which was my second marathon. The post below is based on an email I sent after the marathon partly as an update to those that had sponsored me as I was running to raise money for MS Society.

First a bit more back story. I had completed my first marathon in Copenhagen in May (I'll do a post on that soon), it had gone relatively well and I was keen to build on the fitness I'd built up to do another marathon, and to see if I could go faster. It would be a push because I was pretty shattered after Copenhagen. Berlin was a good option, renowned as one of the worlds fastest marathons, one of the 'marathon majors', also had a friend running it too. I had missed the open entry but was able to get in on a charity entry and I chose to run for MS Society, a charity we fund raised for at Gisborne Boys High School.

We had already been to Berlin once, for my birthday in 2009 I think, it was a good trip but Berlin probably wasn't a city we had expected to visit again but a marathon was a good excuse. We stayed in the same hostel as our first trip. It was a backpackers hostel the room we had (on both visits) was like an apartment with kitchen and plenty of space.

To celebrate the marathon we carefully planned an solid Greek holiday to be added on after the marathon which was one of our absolute favourite holidays. I'll try get a retrospective post done on our Greek holiday too.

It was Berlin in October, it was cold, it wasn't a fun prospect making our way to the start line, first via train and then walking. From memory I think I reassured Jackie that it was ok to spend more time sitting in warm cafes eating pastries more than following me around.

Copenhagen had been about 15,000 participants, this was more like 40,000 so the start was huge. Tip was to bring a jumper to wear while waiting to start so I brought an old jumper for this purpose. Given the rain I wish I had followed other people in wearing a rubbish bag to stay dry too. First rookie error. Second rookie error was getting too excited when the starters gun went, ripping off my jumper and flinging it off to the sidelines, I then had a 10 minute wait until we started to move, and at that point it was very slow moving. I felt quite silly but I wasn't the only one in this boat. Perhaps we all should have huddled together to share body warmth!

Anyway, we got going, below is the marathon report I wrote almost 10 years ago (this was before I had a GPS watch)...

The weather was miserable, it was cold and wet which meant that it was pretty tough going. It wasn't long into the run that my shoes and clothes were sodden. That combined with the masses of people meant that I wasn't making particularly good time for the first 10k. My first half was pretty much the same as for my previous marathon (1:50:01 at Berlin vs 1:50:47 at Copenhagen).

It was around 30km that I started to get really cold, which was a bit of a worry because you would think after running so far I would have warmed up. However with my Dad's advice I knew that the race didn't really kick in till 32k, with that in my mind I managed to have my fastest 5k between 30 and 35km. Around 35k I could definitely feel my legs seizing up, I knew I'd be seeing Jackie around 35k and while she managed to get a photo of me smiling I made sure she also got the message that it might take me a while to get through the last few k's and not to be surprised if I don't get to the finish for a while. Sure enough the last k's were tough, but that's the idea I suppose. With support from Marsh and Fi in the final straight I was able to put in a bit of a sprint finish.

Final time 3:37:29 which I was really pleased with.

Screenshot below of the splits from the Berlin Marathon results page

After picking up my finishers medal I went to the designated meeting place, wrapped in a plastic sheet for warmth. Jackie turned up with a pretzel which made me very happy, turns out I was a little blue from being so cold so a hot sausage and a couple of hot chocolates were quickly devoured before heading home for a long hot shower. 

I've attached 4 photos, before, during (around 36k, looking ok but feeling terrible) and after (looking cold but enjoying my pretzel) and a few days later, in the Greek islands!

Before

During

After

And relax, in Sifnos, Greek Islands

I would like to say a huge thank you to all of your messages of support and donations to the MS Society who I was raising money for. I have hit my target of raising £500 and have to say, knowing that so many people had donated so much money gave me the extra incentive to keep running when I really wasn't sure I could keep going. The MS Society support crew were out in force in Berlin which made me really happy that I have been able to help contribute to the good work they do.

There were lots of highlights for the day, finishing the marathon under the Brandenburg gate was surely one as was the celebratory drinks and meal at 'White Trash' restaurant just down the road from where we were staying - if you're ever in Berlin go to White Trash for a meal, it's great (and don't be fooled by the exterior - it's not a Chinese restaurant).

And finally, a huge thank you to Jackie, Marshall and Fiona who supported me along the run even though the weather was miserable and I'm sure they would have rather been sitting in a pub somewhere, the support really made a huge difference on a really tough run. 

Next stop on Team Bush Marathon World Tour... Paris (hopefully)