Berlin Marathon recap

It’s done. I’m in pain.

The course was pretty flat with a lot of downhills. It’s no wonder a new world record was set in this race! It would have been the perfect course to set a PR… but I didn’t (we’ll get to that later). The spectators were amazing and there was so much energy. Since my name was on my bib (everyone’s is) spectators were yelling my name and that was really motivating. You also pass a lot of great architecture and neighborhoods. I tried to look up at my surroundings but most of the time I was too focused on just being done. Some downsides to this race- there were a few narrow parts where it was really hard to pass people; the water stops were really crowded and there was no getting around it; bag check was kind of a nightmare. Overall I would highly recommend it and given the chance, would definitely run this again.

Now, my performance. I didn’t go into this race very confident. I knew my tempo runs weren’t on pace so I didn’t plan on hitting my goal time. I did, however, hope to PR. Unfortunately I was about 4 mins off. I don’t really know what it was. Although I ran the most even pace, my pace for the first twenty miles was the slowest it’s been. My feet, knees, and IT band also decided to bother me all at once from about mile 3. This has never happened in training. I think the Hanson’s Method was good at keeping me on a steady pace (and that’s really the goal of the plan) but I think I trained at a slower pace than I should have. My body was also so tired by the end of training that my motivation was pretty low. I think I will revert back to my standard marathon plan- I can take being tired from running but I didn’t like being tired OF running.

Next up: Bermuda marathon.

Now it’s time to really enjoy Berlin!!