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Berlin marathon. The experience

Can we do it again? Please! Please! Please?!


It's been nearly a week since the big race and I'm still glowing from the experience. I know I had spoken before about the excitement and compared it to what I had experienced in previous races but… this time it was for real. I set out on this journey with the goal of hitting a new PB. You know, the flattest course on earth, record breaking course, the best athletes of the planet come to Berlin to give it a lash. Truth be said, for mortals like me, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Berlin have all been flat with perfect weather conditions so I don’t think it would've made a difference. I built the expectation for this one out of something that I wanted to do… just because.

On Friday morning I set out on the early Aer Lingus flight to Berlin. Apart from a few of families and two guys in suits, I think the rest of the plane was full of runners. For the next two hours you could hear bits of conversations and all of them were running related: stories of past races, stories from runners long gone, pace per mile, hydration tips, the lot.
Once in Berlin, it was the same thing but a thousand times bigger. Public transport was jam packed with people travelling to the expo to collect race bibs or coming back with bags full of impulse-shopping content "I didn't mean to buy this, but I REALLY need it now that I've seen it". The expo itself was crowded but not impossible to navigate. What can I say? If 46,000 runners are collecting bibs, it's likely to get crowded. Oh, and it rained… Jayney Mack did it rain.

On Saturday I was meant to do the breakfast run that finishes at the Olympic stadium. I watched videos from previous editions and it looked like fun; people are encouraged to dress up in costume and bring flags and what not. I couldn't make up my mind but after a rotten night sleep and waking up at 7 I decided to go out on my own around Tiergarten and come back in time for the Ireland match. Best decision ever as I got to see some of the elite runners going through their morning routine.
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Location: Berlin, Germany

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