Abbott, the sponsor of the World Marathon Majors emailed me in late May asking if I wanted to go for my 4th Star in Berlin. I registered immediately.

THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

One week before the New York City Marathon last year I tore my right hamstring doing a last minute speed workout where I pushed it too hard. I didn’t run from November until late February and only focused on recovery work for the hamstring. It was a really tough time not being able to run both mentally and physically.

After many months of exercises that would strengthen the hamstring and after it finally healed, I was able to run again with mild pain. The true test for me on if I could pull off a Fall marathon was the Brooklyn Half Marathon in May. Luckily, I had a great race and even threw down a time (1:24) similar to what I would have run before the injury.

TO GERMANY WITH LOVE

I arrived in Berlin at 6am the Thursday before the race. (In retrospect, one day too early.) Since my hotel room wouldn’t be ready until 2pm I roamed around Berlin in a hazy jetlagged daze drinking coffee whenever I could. 

I found what would become my favorite local restaurant called Zollpackhof and had a much needed lunch including (of course) some german beer followed by the best nap ever.

FRIDAY FUN

I did a quick shakeout run Friday morning around the start and finish areas. It was fantastic seeing all the other runners (from all over the world) out and about – all smiles.

I took the train out to Templhofer Airfield, where the Expo was around 11am. It was a wildly cool space, but we had to wait for close to 30 minutes in a windy queue to get our bibs. The Expo itself was massive, with all sorts of vendors, similar to NYCM Expo. Once again, the lines to purchase gear were insanely long, so I opted not to buy anything. I instead geeked out on the runway where they had some vintage planes on display for us to check out. 

My friend Erin invited me to a NYRR event that afternoon at a restaurant by the Zoo, which was fun. Upon Quinton’s recommendation I popped into a place called Monkeybar after for a drink. The place overlooks the park that the zoo sits within. 

That night I met up with my New York City run buddy Erik at an Irish Pub for some dinner and drinks. We run the same pace, so we would be starting together on Sunday. While eating we formulated a battle plan.

SATURDAY

I wasn’t going to, but since everyone was out again I threw on my shoes and went for an easy run. 

After the run I wandered around by the Brandenburg Gate and ended up at Checkpoint Charlie. As cool as Berlin is, I found that there aren’t tons of touristy things to do like there is in NYC. Erik and I met up and went to the Holocaust Museum, which is quite an impressive space. We then went to a very german lunch place and had some hearty food plus… beers.

I had started to become very comfortable taking Berlin’s public transportation and was now familiar with the city, so I went out to this Italian place I had scoped out for my pre race dinner. Since it was just me I was hoping to avoid a wait and eat at the bar.

THE THING ABOUT BAR SEATING

In Berlin, few restaurants have a ‘bar’ within them for solo diners to eat, unlike New York City. This became a bit challenging for me when looking for fun places to dine.

BACK TO ITALY

I did in fact wait in a line to enter the italian place and when I told the wait staff that I’d eat at the small bar they had, they thought I was out of my mind. This was an unusual request for them. 

This started a trend (Yes, I’m a trend setter) because a few other solo runners left the queue for a table to come sit with me at the bar. I had a steak with potatoes, which in recent years has been my go-to pre race meal. One guy ate a whole pizza and even offered me a slice, which I declined.

CURTAIN CALL

I woke up at 6am to a gorgeous morning. It was sunny and conditions were set to be 45-65 degrees throughout the day, which is great. (55 degrees is my sweet spot.) 

In my hotel lobby people were as usual in most marathons hoarding bananas like they were going to bake banana bread up in their room. C’mon people… 1, maybe 2 will do the job. 

I left the hotel very casually and strolled over to the start, across the street, and was in my corral 20 minutes later. The efficiency was impressive, as well as all the urinals next to the corrals making it super easy to use the bathroom. Why should the guys hold up bathroom lines if they can just pee in a trough? I wish the NYC Marathon did this.

THE HOLDING PEN

I ran into Erik in our corral and we kind of just hung out for the 20 minutes we had. We were in the front corral and taking it all in, including the excitement of great weather. You can train your ass off and have top fitness… but a hot race day can destroy all of that.

TAKEOFF

After a fist bump, Erik and I took off with the crowds, surging over the start mat. My goal was to ease in with a 7-7:10 pace until I was warmed up, then pick it up slightly. Running around the Victory Arch was pretty epic and Mile 1 hit right around 7 flat.

The course at this point was very wide with runners fanned out, but we soon took a hard right and things tightened up. Miles 2-4 hit right around 6:50 and I was feeling great. 

At Mile 5 we were just north of the start looping around and passed my hotel and all of the surrounding areas I was now familiar with, so that was neat. From here on – everything would be new as far as terrain. 

KEEP ON MOVING

Miles 5-10, which I had now picked up to a 6:40 pace were fun because we were in a very urban space. It was still fairly crowded with runners and so paying attention to your footing was paramount.

LETS TALK ABOUT THE WATER

Every aid station had PLASTIC CUPS, like clear Solo Cup with water and Marten Drink. I was so shocked that Europe was using these instead of some wildly new biodegradable vessel. 

Miles 11-16 were around 6:50 and at the Half I was definitely getting into my head. I really wasn’t enjoying the course because there isn’t much to look at. Berlin isn’t a very ‘tall’ city and the course is flat, so it’s a lot of the same visuals. You could definitely tell you were moving into new neighborhoods at times though.

THE BACK HALF 

For Miles 17-21 I felt my pace slowing and energy fading a bit as I crept closer to a 7:00 mile. I was trying to find cool landmarks to look for to take my mind off things. By now the temperature was creeping into the 60s and that wasn’t helping. 

As we neared the end I slowed up a bit more with a few miles breaking the 7:00 barrier (7:11 and a 7:13) and my legs were obviously on fire. The course at this point was very wide again as it was urban, there were even train tracks you needed to be aware of. 

Friends warned me that the last mile was a series of turns until you get to the straightaway, and they were right. It’s kind of disorienting.

Similarly to the Boston finish, the Brandenburg Gate takes such a long time to get to once you see it on the straightaway! It was pretty epic though, passing through the historic arches and on to the finish. 

I hit a 3:02:26 which I was thrilled with, especially since this was my comeback race from a hamstring tear 1 year prior.

HYDRATION

I wandered around the finish area and took a few photos before exiting. Erik was staying on the southern part of the finish, so we were going to meet up later. I popped into this food hall called The Cube where I proceeded to get a large order of french fries and a beer. My NYC friend David met me here as well and we had a bit of a celebration. 

Back at the hotel I called Emily to give her my race update and then chilled for a few hours.

MEET ME AT THE BEER HALL 

I met Erik to celebrate at a German Beer Hall (I thought it appropriate) called Augustiner am Gendarmenmarkt which was a quick train ride away. We sat at the bar, which of course is one reason I picked the spot, they had a legit bar and ordered some giant 1L beers and schnitzel. 

The place was perfect and wildly lively with marathoners and their friends celebrating. We had a young guy come up to us and start chatting about how he bailed after Mile 16 or something. He asked how we did and after Erik and I told him 3:02 and 3:05, he was like “Oh. Wait, how old are you guys?”

Erik and I hung about and celebrated, reminiscing about various parts of the race before calling it a night. It had been a great day.

IN CONCLUSION

What a great comeback race! Berlin was amazing and definitely an experience I won’t soon forget. It was also an extremely well organized race (aside from the expo line). Next up, London and Tokyo to complete my 6 Star mission.