Any case I thought it would be a good idea to give an account of this amazing experience.
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| Adam Giles, the other competition winner |
When we landed at Tegel airport in Berlin I bumped into another winner of the "same" competition that I had won through Discovery Vitality; he was the staff member of Discovery that had won their internal staff competition. He had brought his mom along to share in the experience, I had brought my wife.
The hotel we stayed at was nice enough and was filled with runners, lots of South Africans, but also quite a few from other countries. It was Friday afternoon and I needed to pick up my race number at the Expo. Now I had visited the Two Oceans Expo earlier this year, so had an idea of what to expect ... I was wrong!
This Expo was way bigger and way more efficient. Those Germans! Although there were thousands of runners the race number collection process was quick and seamless. In and out in half an hour, but we did stop to have our first bratwurst and beer (OK, I had a beer while my wife had a colddrink). It was my first of many beers on the trip.
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| My race number getting printed |
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| In #ShoOops at the Expo |
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| My bratwurst and beer! |
Now that I had my race number (35417) I was just about set!
But first I had to experience the fun run. Saturday morning I joined the rest of the South Africans in participating in the 6km Breakfast Run. A group of us headed off to Charlottenburg Palace where the fun run started. OMG! F*cking awesome! Thousands of runners decided to take part in this pre-event and what a vibe! I ran with my South African flag and was soon engaged in a conversation with a young German lady who had just returned from a year-long visit to Cape Town. Her name escapes me, but I'll call her Fräulein Gretel. Fräulein Gretel and I chatted all the way to the Olympic Stadium where the fun run finished. I did see Fräulein Gretel during the marathon, but more about this later.
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| South African clan! |
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| Fräulein Gretel |
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| End of Breakfast Run @ Olympic Stadium |
At the end of the fun run all participants were treated to an amazing array of fresh rolls, fruit, juice, coffee and water. Then it was back to the hotel to rest up for the next day's main event.
The morning of the marathon came and I proudly put on my borrowed South African running kit (thanks Martin). The marathon was scheduled to start at 8:45am, so the South Africans agreed to meet up at 7 o' clock in the hotel lobby and walk together to the start, which was about 2km away. Before heading off the hotel's breakfast buffet was first on the list - not the best meal I have to admit, but nutritious enough. Armed with my daughter's little hand camera (thanks Stacey) I stepped outside and was immediately hit by cold - it wasn't freezing, but it was pretty damn cold. I was scheduled to meet up with a few fellow RedSockers #ShoOops runners (Tiago and Rita) from Portugal for a few photos at the Brandenburg Gate. Was a brilliant start to the day! Love meeting like-minded individuals.
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| #ShoOops |
The seeding pens, or corrals as they call them there, were easy to find and easy to get into ... even though there were almost 40,000 runners! Being a runner without a suitable marathon time I started in Block H - the largest block by far. We were entertained by cheerleaders leading us into a sequence of moves to warm up - good looking Fräuleins. Enough said!
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| Starting corrals |
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| Plentsh runners! |
The elite athletes were introduced and we were also informed that Wilson Kipsang was aiming to break the world record, which was then 2:03:38. And the gun went off!
The first wave of athletes (Blocks A-E) set off. Ten minutes later the next wave (Blocks F-G) followed and a further 10 minutes later my block (Block H) took off. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could run from the moment I crossed the start line - some congestion, but nothing serious.
In my little pockets I had 3 Gu gels, a couple of 32Gi endurance tabs and my well-thought out pace chart.
I found my pace-chart quite easy to stick to as the course was really, really flat. I managed to maintain a relatively consistent pace for my planned distances. Although I was about 1 minute behind schedule by the time I got to half way I expected this as it was about here that I had planned to meet my wife. Good ol' Zena managed to find her way to the 20km mark, as planned, and there she was waving the South African flag cheering me on. What an awesome feeling seeing the one you love midst the hundreds of other spectators. A quick photo and kiss and I was on my way again.
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| Zena took this awesome pic! |
Another 15km down the course I saw Fräulein Gretel again, assisting at the 35km refreshment table. Once again a great feeling to be recognised by someone. Now let me tell you about the course. From start to finish spectators line the sidewalks. Many of them shouting for all the runners, some shouting for their country's runners. A few times during the race I met up with other South African runners also in SA kit and this always brought additional cheering from the spectators - a group of brightly clad South African runners is an awesome sight!I have to admit that the last 5km or so I did battle a bit. I was well on track to meet my planned time of 4h45, but decided to throw caution to the wind, forget about my pace chart and up the pace a bit. This was met by an immediate cramp in my right calf muscle. Slow down I told myself. This is what you trained for I told myself over and over...mind over matter. Running through the Brandenburg Gate to the finish line, being cheered on by thousands of spectators at the finish was incredible.
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| The infamous Brandenburg Gate |
I finished feeling relatively good and in a new personal best time and below my planned time ... 4 hours and 39 minutes!
I collected my medal.
I stopped for the professional photographers to take the necessary photos.
Ate a banana ... and had an Erdinger alcohol-free beer!
Amazing! Incredible! Awesome!
And that, in a nut shell, was my experience of the 2013 Berlin Marathon.
Happy Running Folks!
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