Final (?) update for the Abbott World Marathon Majors

As mentioned previously the Tokyo marathon opened up for more participants through travel agents, so suddenly I got moved up 2 years meaning that instead of running Tokyo marathon and completing my 6 Marathon Majors in March 2026 I got the opportunity to do it in 2024. I didn't need much convincing to do that.

This means that I have now completed the 6 marathons majors as follows:

Berlin - September 2019 - 3:58:16
New York - November 2019 - 4:11:53
Boston - April 2022 - 3:59:30
Chicago - October 2022 - 3:58:02
London - April 2023 - 3:58:42
Tokyo - March 2024 - 3:59:06

So this is the final update for the marathon majors.

Well, maybe not completely final; Cape Town and Sidney are considered candidate runs in an attempt to be accepted as the 7th and 8th majors, and further out Shanghai is also lurking on the horizon. Interesting times ahead. But for now, I'm enjoying the accomplishment and my new medal.

New update for Abbott World Marathon Majors

With last year's completion of Chicago and Boston marathons, and the mail received letting me participate in the 2023 London marathon, things have been moving forward in more sense than one. On top of that its satisfying being able to cross them off one at a time. This means that 4 of the World Marathon Majors are complete, one is in the near future and one is still some years in the future.

As things are currently, this is the current schedule, past and future.

Berlin - September 2019
New York - November 2019
Boston - April 2022
Chicago - October 2022
London - April 2023
Tokyo - March 2026

So in a few months I will have only one left, so I guess I'll have to find other runs in the mean time to keep me on my toes. Sounds like a horrible concept. Also, there are rumors that they are planning on adding another run to the group, so even if I can see the end of it now it might change in the future. It'll be interesting to see how that turns out as there have been talk for a long time to add more run(s). We'll see, but I worry this will be an endless chase with always another one in the future that has just been added, and not being able to actually finish the group like I did with the Superhalfs. 

29th – Racing from west to east and back

The travel company I travelled with had a bus leaving the hotel to the starting area at 0645 so it was an early start for the day. But we were off on time and 15-ish minutes later we arrived at the Victory Column where we left the bus and walked the rest of the way. From there it took 20 minutes to get to an entrance, and from there you had a bit again to reach the main area, the large lawn in front of the Bundestag. I decided to making my way to my starting area – it was still early, but not knowing the area and it being expansive I’d rather stand there waiting than suddenly being in a hurry and not being able to find my way. I ended being there for almost 1½ hours and freezing towards the end (standing still in shorts/t-shirt in less than 13°C is not recommended) but it was worth it – especially when seeing how packed it got in the last half hour. 

But finally it was on: at 0915 the elite and fastest were started and 10 minutes later we got to go. It started off really well, and I was still feeling optimistic since a half marathon 2 weeks ago I completed in record time (for me) 1:43. The weather was quite grey and it never got warmer, but despite the occasional drizzles it never felt too cold. The run had more than 44000 starters so especially in the beginning it was quite congested. Luckily there was plenty of room on the streets until the runners were a little more spread out.

The first kilometer took you past the Victory Column.

Photo taken by Sportograf.com.

Passing by Koncerthaus Berlin where we had lunch yesterday.

Photo taken by Sportograf.com.

Unfortunately it turned out things started out a little too well – having passed the halfway point it didn’t take long before my legs decided that this marathon was a very bad idea. It meant that I went from a calculated finish time of around 3:40 to 3:45, then to 3:50 and finally finishing at 3:58:16, half a minute from my PR. I ended up being 2915 out of 4915 in my class (top 59,31%), 15939 out of 30775 men (top 51,79%) and 19402 out of 44064 overall (top 44,03%), and while I wasn’t too happy about not getting a new PR putting it up like that I'll admit it doesn’t look too bad.

Coming through Brandeburger Tor makes you tingle (and it's not the feeling of exhaustion).

Photo taken by Sportograf.com.

Photo taken by Sportograf.com.

Crossing the finish line. 3 moods are represented. The overly happy one on the right, me feeling happy it's over (but still happy for doing it) and the one in the bottom left corner who has seen death.

Photo taken by Sportograf.com.

The route itself was nice and you did get to see a fair bit of (the central part of) Belin and the route didn’t repeat itself along the way. The last 500m felt quite amazing as you ran up towards and through Brandeburger Tor and the view was great despite the bad weather. Finally crossing the finishing line I slowed down (even more – to a walk) and my legs thought it would be a great idea to get all wiggly. It took a moment to get everything under control again before continuing through the finish area, get some snacks, drinks and most importantly my medal.

I returned to the Victory column where the bus would be transporting us back to our hotels – the walk back took close to an hour on my tired legs. But I got there, got into the bus, sat down and soon after could take a nice, much needed, not shower.

Going south, but just a bit

My trips usually bring me outside Europe as that is where most of the countries are that I haven’t visited yet. But occasionally, if something special comes up or if I get a chance to spend an extended weekend in one of the few European countries I still haven’t visited, I obviously deviate that.

In this case it’s not because I haven’t been there before – I’ve been in Germany multiple times and visited Berlin when going on summer vacations with my parents back in the old days. Instead, something popped up. I have lately on good days felt quite optimistic, on bad days I have been trying to figure out if I secretly want me to be in pain. But since I booked my trip to the Faroe Islands the ridiculous optimism has grown.

27^th of September

Leaving home by car and spend the day driving to Berlin. I actually convinced my parents to join in on the trip – they get a visit to Berlin out of it, and I get moral support. And a ride. The former is obviously the main thing.

28^th of September

Frühstückslauf in the morning – breakfast run. A gentle 6km run in the morning from Charlottenburg to the Olympic stadium. Relaxing and mental preparation the rest of the day.

29^th of September

The goal of the trip – Berlin Marathon. At least it will be (technically) easier than Torshavn which is a relief, but it’s still a marathon so not nearly easy in itself. The travel company coordinating this trip has arranged for a dinner in the evening in the TV tower for those who want of their clients.

30^th of September

Drive back home.

The Berlin marathon is one of the biggest ones in the world (45000-ish runners) so it’s going to a blast. Completely different from the Copenhagen run (9500-ish runners at the time of writing) and Torshavn (there were 147 runners last year).