Fit blondes in Berlin

[Laxie]

I'm fcked

cant believe you went for sex after running 26 miles +

I can't believe he ran 26 miles. 

[Claw75]

Was thinking this morning that i should really have written some kind of trip/race report for the Berlin Marathon, so better late than never, here it is whilst I can still actually remember most of the details (any of the others, please correct me if I get anything wrong - I'm getting old you know).  Will try to find some pics to add later too.

Part one

As anyone who kept up with this thread will already know, I decided in late 2011 that I was going to take part, having never done any running in my life, and generally being very unfit.  The first few months of training went ok, and i was over the moon when I completed the Sheffield half marathon in April 2011, and felt like I was well on my way to marathon success!  Only it all went a bit downhill from there - training didn't really go to plan, and, as it turned out, that 13.1 mile run in Sheffield was the longest run I'd undertaken prior to lining up at the start at Berlin, and I'd not actually run any distance longer than 10k in the interim.

That being the case, I realised that running the whole marathon wasn't going to happen, or be a good idea, and I set out with an initial plan of walking every 5th kilometer, and hoping to get round.
On to Berlin.  Dan (gatso) and I were on the same flight and sharing an apartment.  We arrived on the Friday afternoon, got sorted at our accommodation, then headed out to meet Brian who had been in Berlin since the previous day.  Brian presented me with 200 Polish cigarettes, and we proceeded to pufff away and carb load on German beer whilst Brian told us how he'd put in his longest training run the previous day.  I felt like I had found a kindred spirit.

Dan had plans to join in the traditional 'Breakfast run' on the Saturday morning (a 6k gentle run, ending in the olympic stadium, with a free brekkie laid on for all participants).  I'd already decided that this was a bonkers idea and that I'd be staying in bed.  Brian concurred.  I woke up somewhat perkier than anticipated and decided to go along for the craic.  As it turned out, I'm really glad I did.  Firstly, we didn't run the whole 6k.  Having misjudged the time it would take us to get to the start on the U-bahn (or the youtube, as we christened it) we ended up cheekily staying on an extra couple of stops and joining the route approximately 2.5km from the end  The atmosphere running in to the olympic stadium was amazing, as was the free-for-all breakfast.

Boshi and Lyndsey and Stu and Sophie arrived in Berlin later that day, and we all met up for a lovely carb loading dinner, including some food as well as beer.  We made our arrangements for meeting after the race, said our good luck's, and went back to our respective accommodation for an early night.

[Claw75]

part 2

Race morning arrived and I indulged in a champion's breakfast of toast and jam, coffee and cigarettes.  Dan and I met Brian at the youtube station at ridic o'clock, and made our way to the Brandenburg Gate, the iconic starting point of the race.  Weather was absolutely perfect, and I was buzzing.  Dan disappeared to line up with all the other proper runners, whilst Brian and i joined the masses in the back pen.  We stood there waiting for what seemed like ages, although there was music playing and some aerobic type warm up workout going on.  I tried to join in as best as I could in the small amount of space available.  Brian jiggled about half-heartedly.  About 10 minutes before our wave was due to start I realised I really needed a wee.  Until this point I hadn't really considered the logistics of managing bodily functions on marathon day, but at this point we were close to a row of portaloos that didn't seem too busy.  I wished Brian good luck (finding him again before the race would be impossible), relieved myself, and came out just before the race began.  And we were off - 40,000 runners, everyone in great spirits, running through the Brandenberg Gate and onto the streets of Berlin, lined from start to finish with cheering crowds, with the odd musician thrown in.

Sticking with my initial plan, I followed the 4.5 hour pace setter, thinking that with my walk-run plan I should then be able to finish in around 5.5 hours.  The 4k mark arrived (I remember a particularly amusing sign being held aloft by one of the crowd at this point saying "only 38kmm to go!".  This is where I'd planned to start walking.  Only i felt really good and my legs had only just warmed up, so I decided to carry on running at the same pace for the next 1km, until we reached the first water station.  After taking my water on board, I walked for 100m or so, and really felt the need to run again, so that I did.  And that became my pattern - stopping briefly to take on food and water when necessary, and walking for a couple of minutes before resuming the pace.  The first 20k or so were fine - no problems at all.  I had no idea of projected times or anything like that as I wasn't wearing a watch, i was just really enjoying myself, soaking up the atmosphere, feeling alive, and letting my body do the work it had been (very minimally) trained to do.  I stopped 4 times (I think) to pee behind bushes during the race.  Didn't do a full Paula though, which was nice). Everyone was doing it, so it became a kind of friendly meeting ritual.

I started to mentally struggle at 21k.  You'd think reaching the halfway mark would be a massive boost, but it had the kind of opposite effect on me.  Due in part I think of knowing that any distance covered now was further than I'd run in my life.  Also, I was now starting to feel it in my legs and the thought that I now had to do that all over again seemed like an immense hill to climb.  I concentrated on just getting to 25k, knowing then that 'only 17k to go' would feel a lot easier.  And it did.  Passing that mark I felt really positive, with a renewed optimism - yes - I was really going to complete this marathon!

[EvilPie]

Can you hurry up and get to the bit where you beat Hopkin please.

 

[Claw75]

Can you hurry up and get to the bit where you beat Hopkin please.

 

lol yes, coming soon.

[Claw75]

part three


Not long after the feeling of semi-euphoria, the pain started to kick in.  Not in my legs - they still felt remarkably fine.  No - I was chafing.  Not the dreaded runner's nipple (my industrial running bra allowed for zero movement in that department).  I'd taken precautions with areas that I knew to be susceptible from previous runs, but this time the movement was taking it's toll on my arms - chafed bingo wings.  They were starting to sting a lot - every back-and-forward motion of my arms adding to the pain.  Throw an inconveniently placed mole on my left arm into the equation and we've also got a fair bit of bleeding going on there.  I cursed myself for not putting my anti-chafing gel into my running pouch, but told myself there would be someone on hand at some point to dish out some vaseline, and until then I'd just have to put up with it.

In a weird sort of way, i think that pain helped.  It gave my mind something to focus and concentrate on other than the toll on my legs, which would have been becoming much more evident at this stage I think.  I never did find any vaseline - ho hum.

35k - this is it - home stretch - I felt myself picking up the pace (if memory serves I think my last 7k was run at a faster pace than any of the middle sections of the race - I'll cut and paste my actual splits in later).  Approaching the 39k marker and I'm flying (relatively speaking) along when I spot the unmistakable figure of Brian Martin up ahead of me.  I hit the gas a bit more to catch him up.  "Hey Brian - look at my bingo wings".  Brian grunts.  "shall we finish together?"  Brian grunts again.  "come on - sprint finish!"  "there's still 3 bloody km to go!"  Only 3km?!  I told Brian I'd see him at the end and carried on.  

Those last 3km really felt incredible and i enjoyed them immensely - head down, just concentrating on getting to the finish - the crowd cheering everyone on.  Turning into the final stretch and seeing the gate and finish ahead was exhilarating.  As I crossed the finish line the official clock was showing 5 hours and 12 minutes.  I knew then I'd managed sub 5 hours and, to be frank, couldn't fking believe it.  I must've had the biggest grin the world just then

[Claw75]

part four

After collecting my bag i collapsed onto the grass for my post race ciggie, and to call the Dans to find out where they were.  It was trying to get myself up of the floor again post-smoke that I realised how much my body had just been put through and it wanted to give up - immediately.  It took me a good couple of minutes to actually get myself on to my feet again, and start shuffling towards the spectator's area near the finish line where the Dans were with Lyndsey and Sophie.  We had beer.  It was nice.

We knew Brian would have finished by now and wouldn't be far behind me in joining us, but no sign of Stu Hopkin yet.  After a while though, there he was, staggering towards the finish.  Lydsey held out her pint glass and yelled 'Stu! Beer!'.  At this Hopkin morphed into Usain Bolt, ran over for a healthy swig of lager, and performed a very impressive sprint finish.

And that was my first and last (probably) marathon done and dusted.

official time/splits:

split   time of day   time   diff   min/km   km/h
5 km   09:53:57   00:32:33   32:33   06:31   9.22
10 km   10:27:43   01:06:19   33:46   06:46   8.89
15 km   11:01:53   01:40:28   34:09   06:50   8.78
20 km   11:36:00   02:14:36   34:08   06:50   8.79
Halb   11:44:07   02:22:43   08:07   07:24   8.12
25 km   12:11:21   02:49:57   27:14   06:59   8.60
30 km   12:47:48   03:26:23   36:26   07:18   8.23
35 km   13:25:17   04:03:53   37:30   07:30   8.00
40 km   13:59:34   04:38:10   34:17   06:52   8.75
Finish   14:12:55   04:51:31   13:21   06:05   9.87