Saturday, October 02, 2010

Hmm... currywurst...

So... The Berlin Marathon...

It was a lot of fun! I think not training very hard makes the whole thing more enjoyable since there was no performance pressure. And I PRed anyway!

Hanging out in Berlin before the race, I drank lots of beer, ate many pastries from the bakery on Lisa's block, and had some German food, which is mainly meat and potatoes in some form or other - It was goooood! I think I broke every pre-marathon eating rule.

Lisa lives in Berlin, so I ran the race with her and her mom. Although we really only ran the first 12 miles together or so, since I had to stop to use the portapotty and then I lost them.

I only walked through the water stops. That was my main goal - to not walk this time. I figured that if I met that goal, that I would probably PR.

The weather was rainy. That wasn't fun. But much better than the heat!

Other highlights:

*Germans are totally line cutters, which makes the portapotty line miserable.

*This was the first race ever where I had to use the portapotty in the middle of the race. I am so glad I finished in 5:11 and not 5:03 or something, or else I would have been kicking myself for the portapotty minutes.

*I only did two runs longer than 14 miles - a 15 miler and a 20 miler. So I was ready for the collapse at mile 18 or so. But by then you are so close, you have to finish!

*It was marked all in kilometers. Thank God for Garmin. Too bad Garmin was a half mile off by the end. (And I even got a new one! Not the old crappy one I had!)

*We ran past lots of historic things of which I have no recollection. This is argument number one against destination marathons - the city is a blur.

*I do remember running through the Brandenburg Gate. That was about half a kiometer from the end, but the way it was described by the race, it sounded like the end, so I totally sprinted through the gate only to see the finish line in the distance. That was brutal. But running through the gate was cool. And there spectators for the last km, even for us slow folks.

*My last 2k were the fastest splits I had all day. Nothing like wanting to finish to get the job done!

*After the race, despite there being a changing tent, everyone just got naked on the grass near the Reichstag and changed there. Oh the Germans! We all would have been arrested for indecent exposure in the US.

*The rain made for some major chafiness. My tank top chafed at the arms holes, by belt thing I put blox in chafed around my stomach, my running skirt chafed in all sorts of unmentionable places that made walking miserable.

*It's a lot of fun to run these big races! All the people makes it more enjoyable. I am thinking of doing Chicago next year.

Er, that's it! I'm off to do an easy 7 miler before I head to Hawaii tomorrow for a conference. Life is rough. I know.

14 comments:

Audrey said...

congratulations on your marathon danielle! and enjoy hawaii!!! geez, and i was thinking of going to NJ next week. i should aim higher :)

Al's CL Reviews said...

Way to go!!!

Rainmaker said...

It sounds like the solution to the line cutting would be 'When in Rome...', except...if someone talks to you, speak in fake Japanese or something.

ButterPeanut said...

we did it!! I can't believe it was already a week ago.

Black Knight said...

Congrats, a very good race despite only 2 long runs. Berlin is a beutiful city to run through and running under the Brandeburg Gate is a wonderful experience. In that place, during the half (2001), an italian screamed "come on Italia" and we began to sing our anthem.
Make a plan to run in Italy Rome, Florence or Venice but we ... mark in km!!!!

Jenny Davidson said...

Very good! I am looking at a pretty dire undertraining situation for my November marathon, so I am delighted to hear you enjoyed yourself and ran at a respectable clip!

Brent Buckner said...

PR!

Mmm... schnitzel....

BrianFlash said...

Agree about not noticing the scenery during the race! But I suggest using the race as an excuse to visit the place, doing the site seeing before and after the run.

Nitmos said...

I've read two reports from Berlin. Never considered doing it before but now it's on the list.

Great job!

Nick said...

Do you ever come over to Spokane for Bloomsday in May? How did you like Troikia?

Nick said...

I am running the Seattle full and am super stoked about it!

Bloomsday is the largest time road race in the world. 50,000 people run it. It's a 12K and it is here in Spokane. It's always the first Sunday in May. www.bloomsday.org

Are you doing the Seattle full or half?

peter said...

Congrats on getting another (int'l) M. under your belt. And a PR to boot. I heard the Europeans mark their M's in KMs, I wonder how their distance stacks up to our 26.2 miles.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

I'm glad to hear that Germans are line-cutters because this goes against the stereotype of their mania for order. The Germans even have a word for orderliness mania: It's Farfignugenmanialichweltschuuungbedointunggg! I left out an umlaut or two, which would get me killed in Germany because ... you know how they are about order.

Wow. You got nude with a bunch of Germans! Groups of regular foax being nude together SOUNDS like fun, like a spontaneous orgy might break out at any moment, but the fact is, once you get a look at these foax? Total boner-killer. Last thing you wanna do is have sex with one of them, much less all. I mean, runners are probably in slightly better shape than most foax, but still, there's a LOT of flab and other gross things going on.

All-in-all, it's a good thing it's a boner-killer because the Germans are used to public nudity and if you were there with a boner, you'd be the only one. Which would cause the Germans to ask: "Zeltzversteitslingliebenchen?" (Roughly translated: "What choo pointin' at, playa?")

Garmins ... do they ever not f*ck up?

Congrats on the PR.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

You prefer blondes ... got it.

But ... does the carpet have to match the drapes, if you get my drift?