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41st Berlin Marathon
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Congrats to all on some fantastic running, lots of PBs and BQs:D:DI think she has just been running consistent 8 min/miles since she realised the PB was not on. Rumour has it MrStew was at 39k, so she might have stopped there for a minute
I did indeed stop to chat to Mr Stew:D He did the Stews proud; ran half, low HR, high fived all the way and is in super form:)
Me? Not so much;) I felt great for the first 5K (then again who doesn't in a marathon?:)) Not too bad at 10K but at half way I was feeling nauseous and HR sky high, dialled it back when I knew the PB was gone and I actually really enjoyed it up until I met Mr Stew and then there may have been a few tears:o After Half way I stopped taking gels etc and only sipped water so I guess my legs were empty at that stage. I was enjoying it again until 41K when I saw a man collapsed, ambulance with him and a defibrillator on. Naturally I got terribly upset passing, I really, really hope he survived, I can't stop thinking about him and his poor family. A young English guy who had passed me (I was passed by a lot of people;)) saw (or rather, heard) how upset I was and he came back and put his arm around me, ran with me for a bit and reassured me, I was so, so touched by his thoughtfulness.
A sh*t run from me but a great day for the Stews nonetheless, since February of this year every day is a great day in our house:D
Highlight of the day was crossing over the start line with Mr Stew.
Second highlight of the day was warming up with Shalane Flanagan! (Well obviously I didn't warm up with her but she was jogging by me as I warned up and Joe got a photo. It's such a pity she didn't get the US record)0 -
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Bib No.| Username | PB | Predicted Time | Actual Time
6504 |Terry049|3:08:27|2:52:00|2:59:30
8361 |yaboya1|3:08:26|2:54:59|2:59:11
18580|loughie|3:01:26| 2:59:12| 2:56:52
|Ferris B|3:12:21|2:59:55| DNS
19591 |FBOT01|3:13:16|2:59:59|3:00:59
8203|Caprica|2:56:08|2:59:59|3:00:31
19688|mcwotever|3:10:50|3:06:00|3:04:40
13171|withcheeseplease|3:17:29|3:08:00|2:59:58
|jahaco|3:11:49| 3:09:00|
2417|Marthastew|3:12:51|3:09:59|3:24:29
21853|Lex Luther|2:59:38|sub 3:10|3:18:54
27959|PDCAT|3:36:14| 3:29:59|3:26:57
19676|Benny Bulben|3:25:08|3:35:00|3:25:00
20759|benedictine monk|3:42:xx|3:39:59|3:59:14
20820 |Murph_D|3:46:15|3:39:59|3:36:17
20443|dwayneshintzy|3:48:09|3:39:59|3:52:32
7903|belcarra|3:21:12|<4:00:00|3:59:52
F5813 |niamhpamela|4:02:56|3:59:59|3:58:17
19579|jmcc99_98|4:04:35|3:59:59|4:01:36
F5811 |Amateurrunner|4:18:00|3:59:59|3:58:17
Bored this morning so thought I'd fill this in. Didn't get to meet everybody unfortunately. Some awesome performances in there with many of the targets well & truly smashed. Not one DNF either. Impressive for such a big group
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Bib No.| Username | PB | Predicted Time | Actual Time
6504 |Terry049|3:08:27|2:52:00|2:59:30
8361 |yaboya1|3:08:26|2:54:59|2:59:11
18580|loughie|3:01:26| 2:59:12| 2:56:52
|Ferris B|3:12:21|2:59:55| DNS
19591 |FBOT01|3:13:16|2:59:59|3:00:59
8203|Caprica|2:56:08|2:59:59|3:00:31
19688|mcwotever|3:10:50|3:06:00|3:04:40
13171|withcheeseplease|3:17:29|3:08:00|2:59:58
|jahaco|3:11:49| 3:09:00|
2417|Marthastew|3:12:51|3:09:59|3:24:29
21853|Lex Luther|2:59:38|sub 3:10|3:18:54
27959|PDCAT|3:36:14| 3:29:59|3:26:57
19676|Benny Bulben|3:25:08|3:35:00|3:25:00
20759|benedictine monk|3:42:xx|3:39:59|3:59:14
20820 |Murph_D|3:46:15|3:39:59|3:36:17
20443|dwayneshintzy|3:48:09|3:39:59|3:52:32
7903|belcarra|3:21:12|<4:00:00|3:59:52
F5813 |niamhpamela|4:02:56|3:59:59|3:58:17
19579|jmcc99_98|4:04:35|3:59:59|4:01:36
F5811 |Amateurrunner|4:18:00|3:59:59|3:58:17
Bored this morning so thought I'd fill this in. Didn't get to meet everybody unfortunately. Some awesome performances in there with many of the targets well & truly smashed. Not one DNF either. Impressive for such a big group
Well done everyone, interesting reading, tough luck to those who just missed their goal.
I have read several times before that to break 3 you really should aim lower (if you're capable), as in sub 2:58. It's a handful of seconds per mile, but buys a bit of wiggle room - maybe something to consider.
Obviously withcheese is either a serious sandbagger or just blows that theory out the window 0 -
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got home in 2:59:10 so I must have been sweating on you yaboya! well done - we seem to have had a very similar journey...put some in the bank early on and held on for dear life in the last 10K!
I nearly gave up twice. I found the heat (more the humidity probably) very hard on me because I sweat a lot. I couldn't drink enough and I wasn't absorbing the carbs either. I was pretty much tanked at 38K. Was slowing and when I tried to press the gas and got no result - that was when I panicked a bit.
I took a risk and stopped completely at the 38- and 40K-ish water stations and downed 3 cups at each. It was risky drinking that much in one go I think but if I couldn't absorb the water I was done anyway - so de-hydrated by then. The 3 hour pacer passed me somewhere in the last 4 K while this was going on but the water stops paid off and I was able to re-take him and beat the clock.
Fantastic feeling. Well done to all !!!
Is that you in my finish line photo in the green top with the Ireland flag?
EDIT: Well done yourself. 2:59:10? B*stard!
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The 3 hour pacer passed me somewhere in the last 4 K
That 3 hour pacer was a lunatic. I had fully intended to head off with that pace group but a mile or 2 in I realised he was a liability and left him at it. He was speeding up and slowing down and swerving around the road so I figured I was better off without him and the congestion he was bringing with him. I had been speaking to FBOT01 in the start pen before we headed off and he mentioned he was going to run his own race at his own pacing without sticking with a pacer so I knew if I could keep the 3 hour pacer and all his madness behind me and FBOT01 somewhere ahead of me in my eye-line I'd be doing ok.
I ran this way for a while and started to feel a bit guilty as I was blatantly starting to use FBOT01 as my own personal pacer without him realising but I didn't want to rock up beside him and join him cos I wanted to leave him at his own thing and I also didn't want to put that pressure on myself cos I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to hold his pace. Originally I had wanted to aim for a sub-3 in Berlin but really started to doubt myself early on (as in back in June) and said I should just aim for under 3:10 and arbitrarily picked a time of 3:08 based solely on thinking I should easily be able to do 7:10 minute miles. I had hoped I could revise my time down again at some point but between never getting an opportunity do run a pacing race and then picking up a few niggles and also flat out starting to doubt my whole approach to training I didn't feel I had it in me. That and I thought thinking I could take such a big chunk off my previous PB of 3:17:29 must be madness. Especially when I saw the table on this thread me with the biggest planned jump in improvement. I started to feel like a bit of a dope even thinking I could do sub-3. Self-doubt is a terrible thing!!
Anyway, as the race was going on I was really feeling comfortable but I knew that I should be and that it was how I was feeling at miles 20 and beyond was all that mattered. When I crossed the halfway point at 1:29:09 I was delighted - it was a new half marathon PB! Like I said, I didn't get to run any pacing races so my previous half PB was in the 1:34s from a year or 2 earlier. So if nothing else I had picked up a new half marathon PB for myself, regardless of how the rest of the day went.
I remembered from doing the Paris marathon the previous year that I pretty much ran the first 22 miles or so with a smile on my face well inside my target time but the wheels came off from there on in. Badly. So I was fully prepared for the same again in Berlin, but I would just keep on pushing on for as long as I could and deal with whatever came when it did. Up until about mile 18 I was still 100% enjoying myself, high-fiving kids, taking it all in. Every so often I'd check to see if I could still see the orange top and head-buff (now being work as a scarf) of FBOT01 and sure enough he was always somewhere there. He was my comfort blanket, in a non-creepy way
At around 36K I realised I was closing in on FBOT01 and a check of my garmin told me I was still running to pace so I gave him a little shout and he told me to carry on past. I think what actually happened though was a combination of FBOT01 starting to ease up a little and my garmin lying to me, as I ran that KM in 3:29 - a whopping 45 seconds faster than I was supposed to. I'm still not sure what happened there. But those seconds I put in the bank either saved me later or were the reason for my near downfall, I'm still not sure which!!
For the next few miles I was still back on pace and I remember feeling very positive. With 4 miles to go I remember thinking that even if I slowed up a bit and lost a minute a mile I was still on for under 3:05 and would have been delighted with that. But I promised myself I'd push on see how long more I could stick the sub-3 pace...
With 2 miles to go I really started to suffer. It was around this point too that the previously mentioned lunatic 3 hour pacer went by me. I started to fear I was being dropped and suddenly didn't want to settle for anything less than giving it absolutely everything I had to go under 3. I figured I had got to the point of being so close and wasn't sure when I'd ever be in such a position again (I thought back to this thread and the table and loughie's 3 times being around 3:01) and didn't want to miss my chance. Whereas up to now I had been trying to keep FBOT01 in my sights I now had a new target - that 3 hour pacer I had grown to irrationally hate so much and his taunting red balloon.
For what seemed like corner after corner I wormed my way around the streets of Berlin, desperately hoping to catch sight of the Brandenburg Gate. It just never seemed to come. I knew I could no longer count on my garmin to tell me how much I had left (if finished up telling me I had run 26.6 miles) so I just had to keep pushing on in the hope of making it on time. I figured as long as I tried to keep my watch pace close enough to my target as I could and not let the red balloon get too far ahead I might make it. Just.
Eventually I turned a corner and saw a big blue arch. Was that the finish?? It couldn't be, I couldn't see the Brandenburg Gate yet. Had they moved the finish to before the gate? How did I not know that? Or was the finish beyond that? Why would they put that there so close to the finish as if to tease you??!!! But just beyond I was able to make out the Brandenburg Gate and knew I must be close. I made it through the poxy random blue arch and the Brandenburg Gate was tantalisingly close but I knew from talking to a friend who had previously done Berlin that there was another drag beyond this to the finish and not to think you're done yet so I had to keep pushing on. It's funny talking to some of the others (I think it was loughie) who spoke of how beautiful it was approaching the Brandenburg Gate and seeing the sun shine through it and the finish just beyond and the noise from the crowd and what an amazing feeling it was. I was in hell. I didn't notice any of that. All I could see was that red balloon and a ticking clock.
I made it through and could finally clearly see the finish line and took one last look at my watch. And then another. And another. I felt helpless. All I could do was keep moving - there was no way I had any kind of spring left in me at this point - and hope I'd make it on time. And I did. Just. With 2 seconds to spare.
2:59:58
I could so easily have been 2 seconds the other side of 3 hours. And I'd have been gutted. But I wasn't. The relief. The elation.
I had severe doubts going into the marathon and was really disappointed in myself for not being better prepared. I had promised myself I'd have months of pilates done in the months leading up to September. I'd be doing a regular spinning class or a turbo session on my bike at least once a week. There'd be strength and conditioning. I go do a Vo2 max test. I'd nail down a proper training plan and stick religiously to it. I'd do a whole series of races to pace myself at good intervals as I went along.
I had done none of that was p!ssed off with myself. In the end I concocted my own training plan on the fly as I went along based on a 3 runs a week programme I had found that had worked out for me in the 3 previous marathons I had done.
I honestly thought I 99% wouldn't be able for a sub-3. But I told myself as long as there was even a 1% chance I might manage it I'd have to give it a go. Between fearing a niggle and doubting my training I wasn't sure if I'd make it, but I told myself I'd rather try and fail than settle on pacing for a conservative time and finish feeling fresh and wonder what could have been. I'm just so relieved and happy now that I decided to go for it. Obviously!
Another thing that made the weekend though was meeting up with the boards peeps. It was great to put faces to the usernames and spend time hanging out. I also can't help but feel I owe FBOT01 massively for my sub-3, even if he missed out on his own by the slimmest of margins, but I'm sure that won't make him feel any better. Not only that but I told him I owed him a pint and he somehow managed to pay my bar-tab later in the night, so I'm extra in his debt!
This started as a little post and has morphed into a bit of a race report so I'm going to leave it there! For those of you running DCM I'll hopefully see ye there. And to the rest of you, it was a genuine pleasure meeting you all in Berlin.0 -
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