4th – 7th of April – Berlin half marathon

Having completed the SuperHalfs a few years ago I assumed that it was an over and done project. Then Berlin pops up and gets added to the group. So now, to be able to say I have completed the SuperHalfs, I’ll also have to run the Berlin half marathon. It’s not like I have a choice, right?

I had booked at a hotel that was close to the start- and finish area of the run, located in the Tiergarten where half of the park had been closed off to the public. It was all nice and fine until I realized that the only entrance to the area was in the other end of the park, so the close vicinity of the hotel suddenly wasn’t so close after all. On arrival in the city the weather was nice and warm but the closer we got to the run the colder it got – on the day the forecast said something along the lines of 5-7 degrees and windy. I ended up in long sleeves and pants, but throughout the run I realized that the long pants were overkill (and looking at photos of the run I was clearly one of the few not in shorts – at this point one would think I was better at estimating correct clothing for a run).  

 

The National Bismarck Monument.

My sister was also in town to run and we had planned to meet for dinner the night before. I had booked a table at a restaurant near my hotel, but on arrival they denied any knowledge of my reservation. Yes, I had booked on the restaurant’s own page, and yes, I had received confirmation. We were offered a table outside; at this point it was maybe 10 degrees and windy so that was not particularly tempting, so we left and found another place nearby. They had plenty of room and we got a table and got our food. When we were ready to order desserts we were informed the table had been booked so they would have to give us our bill and ask us to leave. It would have been nice to know from the beginning we would only have an hour before getting kicked out.

 

The Victory Column.

 

 The Berlin central station.

The morning of the run the weather was nice but cold. Arriving outside the entrance there were loads of people gathered but as such a big area had been blocked off for the start- and finishing area it never felt crowded at all until you were standing in the starting blocks. And the area being in a park it was just nice walking around under the trees and taking in the mood of the morning. And on time we were sent off.

As with the marathon we started off by circling the Victory Column and continuing west until turning slightly north along Otto-Suhr-Allee and turning south on Schloßstraße. Continuing on crossing Bismarchstraße before turning east along Kurfürstendamm, Tauentzienstraße and Potsdamer Straße, crossing Potsdamer Platz and following along smaller roads until doing a u-turn on Strausberger Platz and going back west again until we came to Unter den Linden, ran through Brandenburger Tor and crossing the finish line.

Having come through the Brandenburger Tor and nearing the finish line.

A slight irritation was the water stations that were set up as they were quite short so it was hard to spread out and not be in the way for each other – and there were no warnings before they showed up so if you weren’t paying attention and looking ahead past other runners you had a hard time preparing to place yourself optimally to get water. The worst situation was a water station right after a sharp turn that couldn’t be seen until you were right at it after the turn. Other than that it was a very nice run. 

I ended up finishing in the official time of 1:43:01, coming in as 7444 out of 43542 overall (top 17,1%), 6154 out of 19446 men (top 31,65%) and 901 out of 2521 M40 (top 35,74%). So I was happy with both the result and relative result. And I got the new SuperHalfs medal now also including Berlin so I was coming home with two medals.

 

Another huge SuperHalfs medal! 

That evening I met up with my sister and two of her friends (who also ran) and one’s partner and kid. A nice dinner and company, concluding another good day of running. I had a few hours the following day to trot around before returning to the airport and ending another trip.

 

Very odd building just outside the central station. At first glance you don't notice the weird shapes 

so you get really confused by the mirror image until you get an understanding of its structure.

Full album can be seen here.

SuperHalfs pt. 2

I guess it was just a matter of time, but the SuperHalfs added a new participant in the group of runs. I was happy to complete the original 5 (Copenhagen, Prague, Valencia, Cardiff and Lisbon) in 2022 and getting the "final" medal, assuming I by doing that finished this challenge. 

But alas, that was not to be. A new run has been added to the group, increasing the number of SuperHalfs to 6. It also means, though, by running the 6th I get another fancy final medal. The old 5-run medal is rmeoved from circulation so there is only one final medal, making the original a rarity. Fancy! Also, I'm making all this sound like it's a bad thing.

4th-5th of April
Flying out to Berlin on a Friday planning on only a short extended weekend. I had actually looked into taking the train instead, but realizing how long it'd take and the number of changes needed I realized it wasn't worth my time - especially considering the price difference on top of that. I'm glad I have been fairly quick at booking hotels as the one I ended up booking at close to the start and finish area is already sold out half a year in advance.

6th of April
The Berlin half marathon has very similar - if not identical - start and finish like the marathon; we start off in Tiergarten going west past the Siegessäule and finishing coming through the Brandenburger Tor. On the way we will be passing Schloß Charlottenburg, crossing Lietzensee, passing Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche and crossing Potsdamer Platz before passing Berliner Dom before reaching Brandenburger Tor and the finish line. The runners get sent off past 10 so at least it's not an too early start.

7th of April
Flying back home, hopefully not too sore considering it's "only" a half marathon and having more runs planned in the following months.

Remembering back to the marathon in 2019 I'm expecting plenty of support along the way and a very well-executed event. It'll be a nice trip.

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 – 30th – Berlin, post-run

When exiting the shower it was only early afternoon and not having plans until after 1800 where I’d be going with the group to the TV tower for dinner the obvious choice would be to sit – or lie – down and relax. But I am not a clever man. Instead I considered it… impolite… to be in Berlin and not see the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe so once again I was off, took the u-bahn and spent some time around the monument, wandered speedily through the small museum below (yes, it was as depressing as you’d think) before I returned to the hotel and met up with the group.

The monument. 

The view from the tower was great, and the restaurant was rotating so we got to see in all directions while sitting down. The food was pretty good, too, but it took so long for them to start serving, which felt a bit weird as they had known of the booking (which included a set menu) for months in advance. The windowsill was static, it was only the area with the tables that rotated. Some people hadn’t noticed that so first we saw a handbag slowing passing by soon followed by a glass of champagne. And a distress-looking woman running by, soon after returning clutching her handbag. The floor below was an observation deck but due to the indoor lighting it was impossible to not get reflections when trying to take photographs.

The restaurant in the tower.

Neptunbrunnen (Neptune fountain) in front of Rotes Rathaus ("Red Cityhall").

The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel (they had waffles!) before checking out and starting the drive back north towards the ferry. Very minor traffic and otherwise nothing out of the ordinary made the drive home quite uneventful. There was no golden retriever like before, but there was a fair share of people walking as if they too had been running yesterday’s marathon.

Overall a very nice trip, everything considering. If you want to try doing a marathon Berlin is a good place to start – it’s flat, a lot of fairly straight lines and rarely any sharp turns. And a great atmosphere, too. Due to the weather there weren’t as many out cheering as you’d expect from all the stories you hear, but there were never a point where there wasn’t at least a few standing around cheering you on. Or wondering why on earth you’d do this to yourself. Which, I’ll be honest, I also did think now and then along the way.

Full album can be seen here.

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.

27th – 28th of September – Berlin, pre-race

As my parents wanted to join me on my trip to Berlin, in part to socialize and cheer, and in part to do their own tourist-y thing. I was picked up around 0900 and we were off southbound towards Germany. Taking the ferry from Gedser to Rostock gave a break on the drive, and here we also met a very sociable golden retriever that wanted to greet everyone who passed by, but being kept on a very short leash by its owner it spent most of the time sulking and looking sad on the floor. Reaching the German coast, we continued and reached Berlin just to end up in the middle of rush hour with traffic as heavy as the rain that had started coming down.

When arriving we started passing by Tempelhof Airport where the run expo was held. Here I walked through multiple hangars and ID checks and past multiple stalls selling anything running related and large crowds before reaching the bib-number pickup. Having survived the chaos I returned to the car, and a short drive later we arrived at our hotel at around 1800. A few minutes later we met up with my sister, brother-in-law, sister and niece who had arrived a few hours earlier and went out to a nearby restaurant that made some delicious schnitzels.

You entered the Expo through the check-in area (on the right) and left past the luggage claim on the right.

Saturday morning I joined the breakfast run with about 10.000 others. We ran a short 6km route from Charlottenburg Palace to the Olympic stadium. The run was with everyone together in one large group, both tomorrow’s runners, any supporters wanting to join an anyone else feeling for a morning run. This meant that the running pace was gentle – so gentle that in the beginning we were moving on the narrow line between walking fast or running slowly, neither feeling comfortable. The distance was run in almost 43 minutes and being among the first arriving turned out to be a huge advantage; there was no queue when picking up fruit, snacks and drinks but the queues quickly increased in length when the main part of the group arrived.

Checkpoint Charlie.

The Olympic Stadium.

The Olympic Stadium from the outside.

The Olympic Pool.

Coming back to the hotel I had an hour’s rest before heading out for dinner. I ended up at a nearby Italian sports bar/restaurant that served an acceptable pasta and an absolutely fantastic cannoli. When wanting to pay she looked at me and said “sorry – only cash”. What is this? The 18^th century? Oh well, we Danes are getting close to barely having any cash due to most transactions being done by card, while the Germans do tend to still prefer cash, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. Took my card, left my wallet, went down to an ATM not even 100 meters down the street to get some cash, return to pay and retrieve my wallet, and return back to the hotel.

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).