It is almost a week now that I finished my first marathon. I was well
prepared, had hardly any problems during the training and was mentally really
ready to go. The last few short runs my legs felt tired and heavy, but I
assumed it was due to all the training and it should be fine by Sunday morning.
I was very confident on Friday morning when we sat on the train to Berlin and
was much looking forward to the weekend.
It is absolutely great idea (not) to combine your marathon weekend with a sightseeing tour in a new city. It is exactly the kind of rest your legs are not looking for and after full day walking around Berlin as well as visiting the event expo, my legs were ready to crash on Saturday night. It was too late to regret or change anything, so I just decided to have a nice pasta meal, do some stretching and go to bed. After all, the alarm was set 5:40 next morning, on time to have a breakfast at the hotel and head to the start. I arrived to the entrance area around 7:30, to put my stuff to the storage and to get ready to start. One would think 1,5 hours before start is a lot of time, well it isn't if you end up queuing 30 min to the toilets. Clearly I did the beginners mistake of not reading the instruction leaflet properly, as if I had done that, I would have known there are also toilets at the start area and most likely to be less crowded. Around 8:30 I headed to the start area, just on time to see a warm up aerobics going on in my starting block. Well I skipped that part, for two reasons: I really do not like aerobics and I did my short warm up on the way to the start and decided to do some quick stretches while waiting to get started.
The atmosphere was awesome: the sky was clear blue, air was fresh, 40 000 people were ready to start running, chatting around with fellow runners and listening the welcoming ceremony on 60 languages. As I had no previous marathon time, I was placed on the very last starting block. I could see the starting line was somewhere ahead, but could get close to it only 30 minutes after the first group was gone. The start was done in three parts to split the people a bit on the route. This really made the running of the first 30km more convenient, as the route stayed relatively free to go ahead.
So finally around 9:30 my group could start. We were joking the winner would probably finish soon and if we should congratulate him before we start. By the time it was ready to start due to all that waiting and excitement, I was hoping to find a toilet so I decided to have a short break after first water supply point (which I did)... I managed to get on quite front row of my starting block and easily found a free route to run and could settle to my own speed. The first 10k were a bit faster, then I decided to slow down a bit as I realised I might be going too fast. I had a small bottle of water with me which was enough until 20k, I cannot drink too much while running and I decided to have my own bottle to control I won't drink too much and to ease passing the first drinking points. The next 20k I was focusing on running steady and slowing down the speed a bit, after hearing all kind of horror stories how the last 10k of marathon can be, I was over careful. The whole marathon was like a huge party. The streets were full of people supporting the runners, there was music, dancing, singing the whole way through. You almost forget you have a marathon to run :)
After 30k I decided to go a bit faster. Or I wanted to. But it was not as easy done as said... Now it was time to realise what it means to start in the last block. And see what "the marathon starts after 30k" statement means in practise. Literally when I passed the 30k line, the biggest challenge was to pass all the runners who crashed. And they were not a few. So the last 10k I wanted to increase the speed but ended up speeding, then stopping and going around people, then speed up again until the next person was in front of me. And it is not easy to pass those people who are suffering and only thinking how to make it to the finishing line, forgetting they are not alone on the route. I'm sure I lost 5-10 sec / km by trying to pass people. I am glad I felt still really strong and focused and had no pain, as it is really hard to do that sideways dancing when you actually want to run!
Once I got to the 40k landmark, the party just got more intense. One couldn't run anymore, you had to fly to the finish line. The atmosphere was so intense, the crowd supporting was really high, so were the runners. The feeling when you go under the Brandenburger Tor and see the finish line in a few hundred meters ahead, I cannot describe it. My legs were tired, but good tired. I finished the marathon in 3 hours 56 minutes and 47 seconds. Crossing the finish line was amazing experience and I felt so great afterwards. All the work I did for the preparation, all the kilometers I spent on the road wondering why I was doing this, was all worth it.
So will I run the marathon again? I don't know. Before the race I was sure I won't, all the training is too much time consuming and I couldn't justify the hours I spent on the road for long runs (which I also found really boring). Now I know why people keep running marathons, the feeling afterwards is addicting. So never say never but too little time has gone to say for sure yes. I am really glad I have this experience and I am really glad I hve been able to share it with you.
I know many of you have been reading this blog. I was glad to see so many of you involved with my running, all the support and encouragement I got from you on the way. I really appreciate it and it made this marathon project worth it for me.
It is absolutely great idea (not) to combine your marathon weekend with a sightseeing tour in a new city. It is exactly the kind of rest your legs are not looking for and after full day walking around Berlin as well as visiting the event expo, my legs were ready to crash on Saturday night. It was too late to regret or change anything, so I just decided to have a nice pasta meal, do some stretching and go to bed. After all, the alarm was set 5:40 next morning, on time to have a breakfast at the hotel and head to the start. I arrived to the entrance area around 7:30, to put my stuff to the storage and to get ready to start. One would think 1,5 hours before start is a lot of time, well it isn't if you end up queuing 30 min to the toilets. Clearly I did the beginners mistake of not reading the instruction leaflet properly, as if I had done that, I would have known there are also toilets at the start area and most likely to be less crowded. Around 8:30 I headed to the start area, just on time to see a warm up aerobics going on in my starting block. Well I skipped that part, for two reasons: I really do not like aerobics and I did my short warm up on the way to the start and decided to do some quick stretches while waiting to get started.
The atmosphere was awesome: the sky was clear blue, air was fresh, 40 000 people were ready to start running, chatting around with fellow runners and listening the welcoming ceremony on 60 languages. As I had no previous marathon time, I was placed on the very last starting block. I could see the starting line was somewhere ahead, but could get close to it only 30 minutes after the first group was gone. The start was done in three parts to split the people a bit on the route. This really made the running of the first 30km more convenient, as the route stayed relatively free to go ahead.
So finally around 9:30 my group could start. We were joking the winner would probably finish soon and if we should congratulate him before we start. By the time it was ready to start due to all that waiting and excitement, I was hoping to find a toilet so I decided to have a short break after first water supply point (which I did)... I managed to get on quite front row of my starting block and easily found a free route to run and could settle to my own speed. The first 10k were a bit faster, then I decided to slow down a bit as I realised I might be going too fast. I had a small bottle of water with me which was enough until 20k, I cannot drink too much while running and I decided to have my own bottle to control I won't drink too much and to ease passing the first drinking points. The next 20k I was focusing on running steady and slowing down the speed a bit, after hearing all kind of horror stories how the last 10k of marathon can be, I was over careful. The whole marathon was like a huge party. The streets were full of people supporting the runners, there was music, dancing, singing the whole way through. You almost forget you have a marathon to run :)
After 30k I decided to go a bit faster. Or I wanted to. But it was not as easy done as said... Now it was time to realise what it means to start in the last block. And see what "the marathon starts after 30k" statement means in practise. Literally when I passed the 30k line, the biggest challenge was to pass all the runners who crashed. And they were not a few. So the last 10k I wanted to increase the speed but ended up speeding, then stopping and going around people, then speed up again until the next person was in front of me. And it is not easy to pass those people who are suffering and only thinking how to make it to the finishing line, forgetting they are not alone on the route. I'm sure I lost 5-10 sec / km by trying to pass people. I am glad I felt still really strong and focused and had no pain, as it is really hard to do that sideways dancing when you actually want to run!
Once I got to the 40k landmark, the party just got more intense. One couldn't run anymore, you had to fly to the finish line. The atmosphere was so intense, the crowd supporting was really high, so were the runners. The feeling when you go under the Brandenburger Tor and see the finish line in a few hundred meters ahead, I cannot describe it. My legs were tired, but good tired. I finished the marathon in 3 hours 56 minutes and 47 seconds. Crossing the finish line was amazing experience and I felt so great afterwards. All the work I did for the preparation, all the kilometers I spent on the road wondering why I was doing this, was all worth it.
So will I run the marathon again? I don't know. Before the race I was sure I won't, all the training is too much time consuming and I couldn't justify the hours I spent on the road for long runs (which I also found really boring). Now I know why people keep running marathons, the feeling afterwards is addicting. So never say never but too little time has gone to say for sure yes. I am really glad I have this experience and I am really glad I hve been able to share it with you.
I know many of you have been reading this blog. I was glad to see so many of you involved with my running, all the support and encouragement I got from you on the way. I really appreciate it and it made this marathon project worth it for me.
It was a memorable day in Berlin :)
