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).
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 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.
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.
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.
Full album can be seen here.
