I was obviously very excited about this race. I set it as a goal in September of 2018, and trained the entire year to prepare for it. This was the second marathon of the year for me and I decided to turn it into a larger vacation. I was disheartened that I was diagnosed with a lung infection the Wednesday before the race. I had a persistent cough that would not go away, and got worse when I ran. However, I was provided medication and hoped to be feeling better in time for the race.

I arrived in Berlin on the Thursday before the Marathon. I had contemplated whether to go out before the race at all. A friend of mine had already arrived in Berlin a day before and so we ended up getting a few drinks that night and exploring some of the Berlin bars. Otherwise, the first night was not very eventful. We went as a group to the expo on Friday, which was held at an old airport. The expo was a large event; I’m not someone that particularly enjoys the expo element of races and this was no different. It was hard being packed into a line for an hour, and trying not to cough on people as they gave me annoyed looks and slid further away from me. The expo had more rooms than any I had ever been too. Every time I thought it was over and I was about to get my bib, I would discover that I was just in the entrance of another giant room. I did feel bad for the people who had worked on the event because it was raining and it looked like they had some outdoor activities planned. We went to a museum after the expo, but I turned in early that night. The Saturday before the race, my friends and another marathon runner toured Berlin, just walking the streets. After our sightseeing, the other runner and I decided to go for one short jog and scope out a bit of the course. It started pouring hard, and we were not particularly successful. We had a group dinner that night, but were back at the hotel early.

I wanted to be up in time for the pre-race breakfast so I went to bed early the night before around 9pm. I woke up and knew immediately that it was still night, so I kept my eyes closed and hoped I would fall back asleep. I guess it was early morning, and since I couldn’t fall back asleep I eventually decided to check my phone. It was 10pm. What ensued was probably one of the longest nights of my life. I counted sheep to over 500, tried to meditate, tried to think of absolutely nothing… this was all pointless and I laid there with my eyes closed until 3am. Around 3am, I really started to feel panicked, but luckily, sometime between 3 and 4am I finally fell asleep. I have to mention that I did not feel worried or nervous about the race, but I think subconsciously I had built something up in my mind for a year and there was much more worry than I realized. Luckily, I woke up as planned and went to the breakfast. I took mucinex, cough medicine, antibiotics and two hits from the inhaler before the race. I wore a t-shirt, shorts, and my belt with six gel packets in it. I did not wear my arm band as I typically do, or bring my phone. Typically I stream music, but my phone had no data in Europe so I didn’t see the point.

We took the train to the starting area and arrived about an hour and a half ahead of time. During this time, I was in line for the the porta potty when I spotted a girl I went to elementary school with. I had heard through mutual friends that she was also running the marathon, but still thought it was crazy to run into someone from my hometown at a marathon of about sixty thousand people. That line never moved, and after about 45 minutes I made my way to the race start. Luckily there was a more natural bathroom – provided by the woods – on the way to the start. That one didn’t have a line. The starting line was very packed; it was difficult to fit within the gated area and people were very squeezed together. As soon as the race began, one of my two water bottles fell off my belt and was quickly kicked away (the water bottles falling out of the belt has become a recurring problem). The race started out fine, and was very exciting. Tons of crowd support, and it was just really fun to be running through the streets of Berlin. I regretted not bringing my phone. I previously have been annoyed when my running app gives me a different mileage than what is posted during the race. However, since the race was in kilometers, I think knowing the miles would have been beneficial. After a while it began to rain and cool off. I felt bad for the onlookers, but really appreciated them braving the weather and continuing to support us. As the race continued, I started to feel very short of breath. My legs were fine, but if I sped up I felt like I was gasping and needed to slow down. I did finish the race, but with a time of 4:30:19; it was well behind what I had hoped.

I felt down at first about the race, but got over it pretty quick. I was not healthy at the time, and things happen. I am so grateful to have completed this amazing race. It was my first overseas race, and I could not have picked a better event. As always there were a lot of lessons learned. The biggest for me is to not get so wrapped up in a single race. There’s always a risk of injury, sickness, etc. impacting you. Putting a lot of pressure on a single event doesn’t make a lot of sense. I do think, though, having that pressure really helped me develop a good routine. This year my goal will not be for any one event, but just to run in a significant number of races. I want to feel more comfortable during race time, and just enjoy as many of these events as possible. I will not be doing another overseas race for a while (my wallet needs to recover), but can’t wait to find some closer races to enjoy! Let me know if you have any suggestions!