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Tuesday, September 26, 2017

the berlin marathon

And it's done!!!


(And yes, that red spot is what you think it is...)

The Berlin Marathon was awesome. 

The morning started early - woke up at 5:30 to get ready, drink water and coffee, eat bananas, to get down to the start area just after 7:30. I walked the mile to the start area. I didn't feel like dealing with public transit in case they were really strict about arriving to the start area at 7:30 (they were not). 


Pre-marathon fuel. Worked out well again!


Before the blood, sweat, and almost tears. Almost.


Our BMW timing chips! Classy shoes, right?


FitBit didn't know what I had up my sleeve this morning. I also think this person didn't realize I was running a marathon this weekend..they invited me to their "Weekend Warrior" challenge.

The weather was... not ideal, lol. It was foggy, drizzly, and humid (100% humidity). I honestly did not feel the humidity as it was like 53-55 degrees.. guess I learned temperature is a huge factor with me moreso than humidity. 


Moody Reichstag.

The pre-race situation with bathrooms and overall organization of the starting area was actually better than I expected considering there was 39,000 of us running... getting to my corral was a little tough but that was more of my fault.

The start was epic - they played awesome pump up music, got the crowd to do some "Victory clap" and off we went. It was quite the moment to get started - all of the feelings! 


Looking ahead..


And looking back. (One wave of runners had already started by this point..)

In general, the course was of course, wet, with plenty of puddles, and yes there were generally a ton of people around you the entire 26.2 miles.  Personally, I treated these variables like I was trail running.. just gotta work with it. Nothing you can do besides be aggressive, however I was not PUSHING people or grabbing people around the waist (the latter actually happened to me..very weird). I was more of the delicate weaver but trying to stay focused on the blue tangent line so I wouldn't overrun this one like I did with Milan (spoiler alert: I still overran it).

I was feeling very, very good during the first half, I had to actively work on slowing down to keep my pace around the goal of 8:20/pace - which I did fairly well.. Around mile 8, a ghost of my right ankle tendinitis came to light and I was like, yeah pretty sure you aren't real. So focused on breathing and other things... and the pain went away. Not joking. That was a huge mental help once I realized it was all in my head.  

The crowd support was incredible by the way. There were people along the entire 26.2 mile course with huge crowds near the end, and especially under overpasses so their cheering would be even louder, which was awesome. There were also at least 10-15 bands along the course - from techno, to jazz, and then to plenty of drum bands which really helped a ton! I also saw karate. I am not kidding.

The fun began around mile 17.5 for me... it was like my body ran out of fuel (though I had another gel at mile 20.5 or so). Still not sure if this was because I just didn't eat enough in the days leading up to race and/or walked too much the days prior..(56k steps in 3 days, 16k the day prior..). It was at this point I figured I couldn't BQ... 


You can see that slow down between 17-18...

 I got over that fact pretty quick. So, with Milan, it was fairly humid for that so I stopped at every aid station there to get water and electrolyte drink...but Berlin.. I would start to get faint stomach cramps after some extra water stops so I actually skipped quite a few. (Probably walked/stopped at less than half of the aid stations). I was VERY close to stopping to get tea though at some the last aid stations, but knowing I was very close to hitting my sub-3:40 goal, I chugged along.


Rocking that chafing stain like a BA. Had no idea until I finished, lol.


There was probably a band right here so that's why I was smiling.

The last 6.2mi were tough for sure but literally just had to keep mentally repeating to myself to keep my pace below 9:00 for the last 10k and I could hit my goal. And this was very hard to do... 


But I did it!

(Reflecting on this now though... I think a lot of this end of race slowdown can be fixed with some mental training adjustments...)

My face when I could see through the Gate and spot the finish!

Once I hit the Brandenburg Gate, I was around 3:38 (by this time, I had ran 26.2+ mi according to my Garmin), and the finish was like 0.2mi away so I booked it. I thought I would get emotional at the end but when you're booking it you don't have time to get teary lol.


Then cranking it up.


Realizing I could do it!

Overall, I finished with a 3:39:33 - a 10 minute PR! I was and am very happy with this!


Post-finish selfie. In my post-finish selfie for Milan, a guy behind me had embarrassing stains on his shirt, this time..that was me :P


And done!

 
Why isn't anyone else smiling? lol

After the finish...I walked along to get my poncho, and then the soreness hit, oh my goodness. I hobbled over to the water and electrolyte stations.. then got the photo op... all of this at a snail pace. I did not feel this way after Milan and I believe that is because I was just so filled with adrenaline from finishing my first marathon.. and believe me I had adrenaline after this one but uh my muscles wanted to let me know how they felt. 


Exchanged phones with a fellow finisher for our victory pictures. We were in equal amounts of pain.

From there I hobbled over to the Brandenburg Gate to see folks finish...then realized I still had to return the timing chip on my shoe. Basically my worst nightmare, lol. I had to walk back over to the finishing area to return it, and then rewarded myself with the largest pretzel I have ever eaten. I walked my poncho-wrapped pretzel-eating self back to the AirBNB and then relaxed for a few hours.



Then I met up with Oiselle teammates later that evening who also ran and we enjoyed Berlin's Oktoberfest!








I don't eat meat usually but when I do, it's in Europe. Currywurst is a thing in Berlin...

In conclusion, awesome race!!! I wish the weather would have been a bit better but there's only so much you can control! I would love to do it again despite the crowds! I highly recommend this race to anyone - Berlin is an incredibly easy city to get around, mostly everyone speaks English, and the city itself has so much to offer! 



Saturday, September 23, 2017

berlin marathon training: week 16 - FINAL WEEK!

Last week of training is here! It's been a fun one!


I think this one makes sense to detail in chronological order though...

'
First run of the week was speedwork and it was a toughie thanks to the late night from the MuteMath concert! Plus it was warm. 


Second run of the week was the last run, kind of!


It was a pretty humid morning but got these 5 miles in. First mile and last mile were cool down, 3 miles in the middle were at Marathon Pace..which apparently was sub-8s this morning.

Later that afternoon, I jetted off to Germany!


I got through most of the Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin. I am a Questioner (though I don't think I've always been one), and this factoid made me laugh out loud on the plane.



So we were served a light breakfast as we got closer to Brussels. But it was light..so I bought breakfast at the Brussels airport. Then apparently I was sitting in some kind of business class on my flight from Brussels to Berlin so I received a third breakfast. I did not deny the calories.

I will be posting a recap of Berlin in separate posts so I will just focus on race-specific items!


I went over to the Brandenburg Gate - the finish of the Marathon and oh my gosh, it got me so excited I almost started crying, lol. #tapercrazies


It was a gorgeous night!

I was very tired and did not feel like waiting for food in a restaurant so I made my own dinner. Kind of. This started a trend...

The next afternoon, I went over to The Expo of All Expos -the Berlin Vital.


First off, you got a wristband that you have to wear through race-day. Then you check in. I met a guy from Geneva whose favorite marathon so far was Venice and he ran it in the same finish time that I ran Milan :O 

Well, this had to happen of course.

There was a lot of stuff. The race shirt actually cost extra, apparently I bought that when I registered for the race intitally. Oh my goodness the merchandise area at the expo was a wreck too. I'm good with one shirt, and a medal, thanks!

There's a stand right before the finish line that has every single runner's name on it. So cool.

Met up with the Oiselle ladies for a shake out run (2 mi, like 10:30 pace with several stops cause like everything was closed off). 


And here we are. Weather looks very, very similar to Milan but with more of a chance for showers near the end of the race. Who knows, maybe I will want a little shower by then! Here's hoping for the best!!!

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

berlin marathon training: week 15, celebrating the streak with carbs!

Highlights

Last double digit run - crushed it!

Rocking the Tribe gear - what a streak!


THE STREAK

Ok, let's take a break from the runs and focus on the Indians for a second. Best Tribe Clips of the Week if you want to get emotional or pumped both or both at the same time:





Nice morning runs



Both great mornings to run!


Spinning Classes



I finished out my 10 class package with my 2 last classes this week. That's not to say I won't be back - I definitely will, it'll just be a few weeks! The one day I actually ran in the morning then took my class in the afternoon. Needless to say that was the night I got over 8.5 hours of sleep!

Carbs



We went to Johnny Mango's and enjoyed some "Super Sized" miso soup...



and Pad Thai! 



Made some silly pancakes after my 10 miler.



Then Naan Pizza to help get more carbs into my diet during this week at home before I leave!

Lowlights

Food issues

Definitely had something wrong on Friday... I am thinking it as the organic blackberries.. or coluld have been the Pad Thai.  It didn't affect my runs, just stomach didn't feel good when I woke up in the mornings this weekend. (There's really a TMI thing here..)

Random

MuteMath Concert


On Sunday, I decided to go to my third MuteMath concert. It was a good show! But apparently only one original band member remains - the lead singer. 



Next...

GERMANY!

My work computer picks a random landscape for my lock screen everyday... I was very excited to see this one last week!