Berlin Marathon 2019

He only beat me by 74 minutes!

Getting the entry to Berlin Marathon via the lottery was a welcome surprise, but very unexpected. It didn't really fit with the plans I had for the year. Having run the 2:58 at Dublin in October 2018, I undertook to concentrate on my return to education, which I did, and thoroughly enjoyed, but I knew that there was no way I could work a very demanding full time job, study, and train for a 'good' marathon. So the marathon training had to take a back seat. I did keep ticking over with some running throughout the year, but very sporadic, and nothing of any consistency.

Things did pick up a bit towards the end of the summer, with the holidays from college and the longer evenings, but still disjointed, so going to into Berlin I felt very unprepared. Getting ill in the days before really just topped off my total abandonment of any expectation of salvaging anything reasonable in terms of time, but even though right up to the final day I was uncertain if I would run, I went to enjoy myself and make the best of it.

The trip over went well, and the visit to the expo wasn't too stressful at all. The threatened long queues never really materialised, and the expo was pretty much like any other major marathon expo. It was a bit of a disappointment that you had to pay to get a finishers t-shirt in addition to your entry fee, and high cost was a feature of everything associated with this event, which kind of took some of the shine off it. I had started to feel slightly better on Saturday, and knew I would run regardless.

As the hotel was quite close to the starting area, being a short journey by train, after a reasonably good nights sleep, myself and Brian headed to the start just after 7:30, which turned out to be a comfortable time. It was a beautiful morning, perfect conditions for marathon running, the breaking of the world record later being testament to that. The start venue area is huge, and with over 40 thousand runners, it was a busy spot, but still pretty comfortable, as well as quite scenic. Signage could have been slightly better, and while toilets were in good supply, everyone was queuing for the first set, when there were many others down further less busy. we dropped our clothing bags and I downed two nurofen with about 30 minutes to go. Not ideal I know, but it was the only way I was going to get started, never mind finished. They did the trick, and the headache subsided and I felt much improved by the time we got to the starting point.

The starting point was again huge, and both myself and Brian were in block D, which was quite close to the start line. We lined up together, and I wished him well with his target time, and no more was said. The atmosphere was good at the start line, but slightly subdued. It didn't take very long to get across the start line, and we were off. And so started the dance of what I call the ballerinas. The ones who just have to jump right across your path to get to the other side of you for no apparent reason, with a lovely graceful skip which if the person behind is not quick enough to react to, would probably bring both parties crashing down. It's a marathon! Chill out, you will get there!

I had set the watch to a 7:26 mile pace, which at the time I felt could be a bit optimistic, but it didn't really matter as I wasn't chasing a time. My expectations were that I was out for a 20 'ish' mile run with a 6 mile walk at the end, and that was okay. I had done no single long run of over 16 miles since the Dublin marathon last year, never mind the multiple 20 mile runs that are normally required for a marathon. The first few miles I didn't even look at my watch, and just enjoyed the start, in equal measure, loving the atmosphere of the event, and thinking about the pain ahead. What I did notice was how heavily I was sweating, my singlet stuck to my body very quickly and water dripping quite readily from my head, obviously a symptom of my cold, and subsequently the snots running from my nose, which thankfully cleared up later with the dehydration!

As I did start to consider the watch, I became aware that I was going far too fast, even for a marathon pace which would have been optimistic. Mile 1, 7:19, mile 2, 6:58. What! Slow this shit down, 6:58 would see me walking at 15 miles. Mile 3, 7:13, mile 4, 7:16. Better but still too fast. The problem was that the pace felt so comfortable, and it actually was more effort to try and run slower. The inexperienced me might have believed it was sustainable, but the experienced me knew better.
Mile 5, 7:07, crap, slow down! Mile 6, 7:21, well done, much better.

From the very first station I took on as much water as I could while continuing to run at a reasonable pace, and also half a clif Blok which are the gels I use, the plan being to do so every three miles. The sports drink offered was not one I had taken before, and it is never a good idea to try something new on race day. The strategy was working well, although the water stations were chaos with runners crashing into each other, pushing shoving and tripping trying to grab cups of water. Again, some inexperience on the part of some of the runners, with everyone trying to stop at the start of the station: TIP, run down the line and pick up from towards the end, nobody there.

Mile 7, 6:59, race horse mode again, mile 8, 7:07. I was kind of getting to the point where, because I was running some comfortably, I thought, 'sure to hell with it, just run the comfortable pace and whatever happens happens, I will end up walking anyway'. So that's pretty much what I did from there on, just ran whatever was comfortable. Berlin as a course is renowned as a flat PB course, which it largely is. It is not a track however, and there are of course some small undulations, but nothing like Boston or Dublin. The surface is good, a good width, and well shaded from the direct sunlight for the most part if you want to be.

Mile 9, 7:16, mile 10 7:22, mile 11, 7:03, mile 12, 7:21. At mile 12 I could start to feel the fatigue set in. This was the first sign of a wobble, and the doubts started to creep in. Would I even make it to 20 before the walk? I was definitely starting to feel it now, and I had missed taking my gel at mile 9 as I didn't think I needed it. Mile 13, 7:16, mile 14, 7:12. I had a recovery of sorts over these miles, the going was good and I always take stock at the half way point. I believed I was pretty much still at a reasonably comfortable pace, I have often felt much worse at half way. Mile 15 7:19, mile 16, 7:21. The effort definitely getting much tougher now, and mentally I was aware that this was as far as I had run in training, and at nowhere near this pace. Still, I just had to keep running comfortably and not even worry about the pace, let it worry about itself, even though I knew this was a very risky strategy for a marathon.

Mile 17, 7:20, consistent, mile 18 7:20. Okay, expecting to hit the wall shortly and begin the 'walking dread'. I met the first walker at 12.5 miles, which is quite early, but none then until about 17. A steady trickle from 18 miles, heads down, the wall getting the better of them, overly optimistic with their times and paying the price. I have been that runner many times!

Mile 19, 7:15. A slight over compensation for the expectation of the wall. Mile 20, 7:07. Surprisingly, no wall yet, strange alright. Mile 21, 7:11. So, 5 miles left, what would 9 minute miles give me from here? The calculations starting to see what time I could salvage. At Dublin last year, going through 21 miles and no wall gave me a huge boost, and I was really motivated from there to keep going, where as on this event, I never believed I would make it all the way, and that's probably a big part of the reason I didn't. Mile 22, 7:08, the last gasp before the impending fall, and the arrival of the self fulfilling prophesy. Mile 23, 7:48. And so it began. The head dropped, the brain started to tell me I needed to stop, I can't do it, I can't keep going, and to an extent it was absolutely correct. What the hell did I expect with so little training? The only reason I got to here was a latent fitness and the experience of running 11 other marathons, combined with one of the flattest marathon's in the world on the perfect weather day.

Mile 24, 8:29. Walking was involved in this mile, although to be fair, combined walking and running is a proven and effective method of getting there. If you keep putting the feet forward, you will get there eventually, and the walking breaks did actually help me. A slow run however, is always faster than a walk, and with this in mind, I picked myself up again to a slow jog. Mile 25, 8:21, slightly better with the anticipation of the finish not too far. Mile 26, 8:00, again nearly there, just pull whatever you have left together and keep moving. I didn't really notice the crowds, I knew they were there alright, but they made their presence a lot less felt than that of at other marathons. The finish at Dublin and Boston are on a par, both being excellent for crowd support. London not far behind, but probably a stand out in it's own right for the setting of the finish coming around the mall and Buckingham palace to the huge iconic gantry. Berlin, even though you pass under the Brandenburg gate, I didn't feel the 'lift' of the crowd that I had experienced at the others.

And so over the line at 3:15:34 for the official time, and 7:22 average, which was in fact better than my most optimistic expectation of the watch at 7:26, and I was very pleased with that. A long way from my sub 3 of last year, but you get out what you put in, and I probably got way more than I deserved for what I put in. Recovering the gear, and non-alcoholic beer, some photo shots, and back to the hotel for a lovely bath.

Overall a good experience. I would like to do Berlin again if I was in 'good shape' although I know it is all relative.

Flying back Monday, the legs were of course quite stiff. Recovery however seems quite quick, and I will shortly be minus one toenail - as always. Tomorrow Thursday will be run one after Berlin, Dublin training starts then.