RACE DAY! Berlin Marathon, Continent #4

The race started at 9am. How civilized! The start was a block or 2 up from Potsdamer Platz, so we met at around 7:15 and walked over. We took a few pictures on the way up to the start. Matt and Adriana were actually not running, but there to support some of the runners who run for High Cloud, the charitable organization that Matt and Adriana are the founders of. There were 40,000 runners in this race, so by the time we got to the Platz, there was a herd heading towards the Brandenburg Gate and the starting area. That’s one of the good parts about big races, there’s no question about where to go!

We split ways and I went into the runner’s area. It was very well organized, with signage telling you where to check your bags, and where to go for each corral. There were TONS of people there, and there was a lot of spandex! Of course, the obligatory porto-potty line, people warming up, all manners of stretching and all the pre-race energy you find anywhere else! I could have been anywhere in the world at that moment, felt right at home. The morning was warming up nicely, so I got all situated and checked my bag, and headed to my start coral, way in the back! The good thing about a huge race like this is that no matter where you are in the pack, when there are 40,000 runners assembled with a singular goal, the energy is there. Everyone is very excited.

With the starting gun, they released a huge bunch of red balloons. Now keep in mind that I’m probably 30,000 people from the actual starting line, so they were pretty far away, and I had about 20 minutes to watch them drift and swirl as the media helicopters flew in circles around the start. Finally, we reached the starting line and we started to run. We’re off.

The course was flat as that crepe I ate the day before. (YUM!) and it went through the city, by all the great sights. What a beautiful city. There were TONS of bands and drum groups. The bands were mostly jazz 4 to 6-somes with brass, guitar and drums. Some were really swinging, and some were very much on the beat and with the sheet music and very German. It was really fun though. I’ve always been a huge fan of the drum groups, and these were absolutely awesome. A lot more women drummers than I would have expected, probably half and half, and the women were generally older. It was pretty cool! The German version of “Towanda” from Fried Green Tomatoes. I love the energy that comes out of those drum groups, and there were probably no fewer than 18 in the 26 miles of the race. There were definitely more than 1 band or drum crew per mile. Sometimes your ears just finished hearing one group and you’d start hearing the next. It was very entertaining.

There were fewer water stops than I am used to, but it wasn’t bad. A lot of people were wearing water belts. They clearly had read the course map. (oops….note to self!) They grew more frequent as the miles wore on, so that was good, and again, it really wasn’t a problem at all. I just grabbed 2 cups at each stop. They had a German electrolyte beverage that after I tasted at the expo I decided to forgo during the race. Nothing new on race day! I had my e-tabs anyway, so I was set.
The course was marked in kilometers of course, and while counting down kilometers is more fun because they’re more frequent, there’s more of them, so it seems to take longer , though they sped by in the end, which was nice. 2 other European differences I noticed, there weren’t as many female runners out there with us, and there was a LOT more compression gear than you see in the US. WOW! Early in the race I was passed by a guy I named “SCUBA Steve”; a very lean older gent dressed in head to toe black compression gear with yellow stitching. He really looked like he was in a wetsuit, and it made me laugh to call him SCUBA Steve. Of course I took his picture! It made me laugh even more when I passed him at 35K!

So the race was great. I forgot how sticky the aid stations at 40,000 person marathons get. At the end they started handing out SpongeBob Squarepants sponges that people could use to cool themselves as it was pretty hot. I sponged, then grabbed 3 for gifts for a few people I know! Weird yet heartfelt gift! I shoved them in my Spibelt, and ran on. (if you don’t have a Spibelt yet, they rock!) Finally, I got to 41K and I could see the Brandenburg Gate. I picked up the pace and zoomed past probably 100 people in the last kilometer. Some people say I should use up that juice on the course. I say, finish with flair! Running through the Gate was pretty cool! This was the 20th anniversary of the first time the marathon was run through the gate after the reunification of Berlin and after seeing Checkpoint Charlie and the wall and all that historical stuff the day before, it felt really cool and meaningful.

Then I spotted the finish line, and that became more meaningful! I jetted across the line, and was very happy to stop. The finish was well organized, and I got my medal (with the face of the 2008 World Record holder and Berlin Marathon winner on it….coincidentally he had won that day too!) and my little food bag (with water, and 2 delicious little chocolate buns. Man I love the bread in Germany!) and headed to get my checked bag. I found a spot on the grass to sit and chill for a few minutes. I mopped off my salty sweaty face, changed my shirt, ate my buns (did I mention how much I love German bread?) and watched as no fewer than 4 people unabashedly disrobed in some fashion of another. (Grandma took off her sports bra right there, and Klaus removed his sweaty running shorts…..and his drawers! I saw 2 kinds of buns that day and it made me giggle! We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto!)
After a nice little rest and quite a show, I felt ready to head back to the hotel, get cleaned up and resume my touring. I walked back to the gate, and had a very nice German man take my picture with it (one of the pitfalls of traveling alone is that you either strain your arm from all the self portraits, or you have to struggle through the pantomime of “Will you please take my picture” while trying to convey your creative vision for the shot.) I was planning to walk back to the hotel, but as soon as I walked through the gate, realized that I had no idea which way to go, no map with me, and the direction I would have guessed to go was blocked by the race course. Bing….U-bahn station!! Berlin’s fabulous public transportation system to the rescue! Well, as brilliant of an idea as it was, many others had it too. The station was PACKED and the trains were on a Sunday schedule, so we stood there sweaty and tired and sore and uncomfortable for about 17 hours. (probably on 20 minutes, but it sure felt longer!) Luckily, I had stashed my second chocolate bun from my post-race food bag in my backpack, so I pulled it out and escaped into a little puff of German joy! (did I mention how much I love German bread??) Finally the train came, but I wasn’t one of the ones who made it on, so I waited for the next train. Mercifully, the station didn’t fill up quite as much this time, and the second train was very close behind, and I went back to the hotel.

I touched base with Adriana and Matt, hopped in the shower and got cleaned up and out we went. There are several boat tours in the rivers that run through the city. We grabbed a quick post-race sushi meal, and found our boat. It was a lovely float down the river, past the sights and of course, they served beer! The tour was a perfect 1 hour long. When we got off, we decided to head over to the chocolate store that they told me about earlier. Aside from the bread (I love German bread!), the German’s make great chocolate, and aside from the Nutella (which is a food group all its own) I hadn’t had anything chocolate at all (aside from the post-race buns….from my food bag.)

On the way, we passed the Jewish war memorial which I’d seen in passing on the way to the race that morning and wondered about. Matt and Adriana had gotten the scoop about it during the day. It’s a huge grouping of coffin like rectangular cement blocks, arranged in rows with slightly unevenly tilted tops and sides, all different heights, made to symbolize the bodies that were piled up in the burial areas during the Holocaust. From the street, it looks like they’re all about 2-3 feet high and straight across, but when you walk between them, the floor slopes up and down to a point where they’re up to 12+ feet high making you feel a little claustrophobic, like what I imagine you’d feel like if you were lost in rows of corn, but everywhere you look, there was a way out, a symbol of hope in the dark deep scariness perhaps. Very creepy and poignant and a good place for quiet contemplation of the catastrophic mistakes made in history. It afforded a very interesting view from all sorts of different angles and was a very cool memorial.nce we left that, we set our sights back on the chocolate shop, which we realized was a bit farther away than I originally though, and then realized that it was probably not going to be open at 7pm on a Sunday. We settled for some photographic silliness with a huge bear in a store front, and another banana and nutella crepe (I’m going to get myself a crepe maker and a subscription to the Nutella of the month club. Man they’re good!) and of course, a beer! We sat and chatted and laughed as the sun set on a gorgeous night that was ending a beautiful day. We walked back to the hotel, I packed, and set my alarms for my 4am wake up, and hit the sack.