Showing posts with label race recap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race recap. Show all posts

November 5, 2018

Berlin Marathon 2018 Race Recap


September 16, 2018 I ran the freaking Berlin Marathon! It was my 7th marathon and 3rd World Major Marathon. It was quite the experience! So much on an experience it’s taken me a month and a half to finally get this post live.  I plan to blog about my time in Germany as well as how I planned for this trip, but let’s just focus on the race for this recap.

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Planning for the Berlin Marathon
Like many large marathons these days, the Berlin Marathon uses a lottery system. Check out their registration page for information on registering (Registration for the 2019 race ends 11/7/2018)! The entry fee this year was 125€-this does not include a race shirt (you can pre-order one when you register). The race also has you choose between a post-race poncho and being able to drop a bag of clothes off for after the race, which is unlike other races I have run.

I talked a little bit about my training in recaps one and two-I never got to my final training recap before flying out to Berlin (whoops!).

Travel-wise I booked roundtrip flights to Munich. We left Thursday from Baltimore, arrived in Munich technically Friday morning, and caught a small flight from Munich to Berlin later that morning. It was a bit exhausting not flying straight into Berlin. I’d also probably give myself an extra day or two to get acclimated to the time change before an overseas race. I wanted things to be relaxing so I booked a hotel in the Mitte neighborhood, right near the Alexanderplatz and a train station.

2018 Berlin Marathon Expo


The race has over 40,000 runners, and I heard the expo was very crowded Saturday, the day before the race. After checking into our hotel and grabbing a bite to eat I headed over to the expo at the old Berlin Tempelhof Airport (the place is huge and has lots of history-one of the 3 iconic European pre-World War II airports!). We got there with just over an hour to spare. The expo was really crowded and took a bit of time. 


The expo included time outside of the airport as well as two full airport HANGARS before getting to the actual bib pickup in the back. First I showed my bib confirmation and then ID, then received a participant bracelet I needed to get into the expo and race corral. The official gear was by Adidas, and if you have ever raced a World  Marathon Major or huge marathon you know it gets crazy crowded plus some things sell out. I picked up my pre-ordered race shirt, and I also bought a race t-shirt (youth sizes for the win!) and hat.

 

There was the 6k Generali Breakfast Run the day before the race that thousands of people participated in. I instead went to a November Project shakeout run. It was fun to meet people from some different tribes as well as see a few friends and of course get a sweet spray-painted tag on my shirt.



Later in the day I spent way too much time on my feet walking around and doing some sight-seeing. I even spotted some of the Berlin Marathon Inline Skating race which is so unusual. I had pizza the night before the race and an alcohol-free beer. It happened to be a Neapolitan Italian pizza place that was some of the best pizza I've ever had.



Race Day

The Berlin Marathon begins later in the morning, just like the Boston Marathon. Wave 1 began at 9:15 AM, but maybe because I was jetlagged it didn’t feel very late in the day. I left myself plenty of time to navigate the pre-race area, but ended up having LOTS of time before the race. I hopped a train from right by my hotel and then walked right over to the starting area by the Reichstag Building. Bag check around 7:45 AM was very quick to get through. There was a giant field where I hung out.

  
Race photographer caught me checking out social media
I even found a little port-a-potty with like ONLY 3 people in line as I was walking over to ask someone which way the start corrals were (MARATHON RACE DAY MAGIC!). The race area was near the Tiergarten which is like the Central Park of Berlin. It was easy to follow all the signs to bathrooms and the race corrals. I was in the last corral of the first wave.



I spent a lot of time just waiting around in the corral. I ended up meeting a woman from the Boston area and another from New York, both who recognized my November Project tagged tank top! It was truly amazing to be in such an international race surrounded by runners from all different countries, hearing so many different languages around me in the corral. 


They had a big jumbo screen playing videos with runners speaking about the race in different languages and then played some Shakira song that everybody but me knew. It was also really cool because we could see on the screen when the hand cyclers and elites started.


I had planned to fuel with a mixture of Honey Stinger Ginsting gels, Huma Gels, a couple GU gels and carrying Nuun Hydration in a handheld bottle because the on-course nutrition was different from standard Gatorade such as in most big U.S. marathons. The race actually offers the option for us non-elite runners to have bottles of fluid on tables (just like the professional elite runners). There actually wasn't that many bottles on the tables so I probably should have done that! They had iced and hot tea on course which was unique. I had a few cups of the iced tea which was yummy and okay on my stomach. There were also some different sport gels and these things called gel chips that were cola flavored-I had one on my race bag from the expo. It tasted like a cola marshmallow. The electrolyte drink was Beetster which yup, is beetroot plus other extracts like lemon. I love beets and drink beet juice before races, but didn’t want to mess with it during the race.


There was a big balloon release at the start of the marathon which was so fun! 


Miles 1-6: The first few miles of a marathon are always exciting. I told myself to settle in and try to not get caught up in all of the runners around me. It was awesome trying to soak it all in. I kept reminding myself that I’m in Germany running the Berlin FREAKING marathon right now! Very quickly I found out the water stops were a mess due to plastic cups (see my overall recap bullet points at the end of the post) so it was hard because I usually follow the squeeze-the-cup drinking method during races.

Mid-run selfie right after the start


Miles 7-12: Around mile 6 or 7 I found the 3:30 pace group come from behind me and decided to stick with them. With pace groups sometimes I get anxious because there’s a lot of people clustered around them, especially in a big race like this one. I was looking out for my boyfriend around Mile 8 because that’s when we planned he would be able to see me since we weren’t sure how he’d get around the course. I didn’t see him which was honestly a bummer because I thought it was the only time I’d see a familiar spectator face on the course. I was still feeling pretty happy and good during these miles. 


I didn’t feel as comfortable as I wanted by the halfway mark, but I tried to just focus on sticking with the group and not looking at my watch. There was plenty of sights to take in and lots of beautiful scenery running around Berlin to distract me from the mileage left to go. 


Miles 13-18: At this point I was trying to tell myself that I was feeling strong and all was well. Yes, I spent a lot of time during marathons playing mind games with myself! I was running pretty consistent splits which is something I apparently do well during big races (according to my boyfriend who was tracking me and trying to find me). I was trying not to look at my watch really (which I had in miles so no worries about kilometers throwing me off!). I was sticking with the 3:30 pace group and really focusing on just staying with them. There were a few times from 16-18 that I got ahead of them which felt good. I had moments of getting anxious that the group got ahead of me when I slowed down or stopped at water stops plus I like being more near the front of pace groups to avoid the feeling that I’m chasing rather than running with the group. With the later start date plus the warmer-than-usual temperatures in Germany for the race (and my whole trip) I was feeling warmer than I liked. The high for the day ended up being 74 degrees so it was definitely in the 60s by 11 AM- noon.



Miles 19-finish: I was not feeling hot for most of these miles. It was probably a combination of the jetlag, it getting warmer out, plus just being at the end of the marathon. My legs were feeling tight, and the pace wasn’t feeling easy. I walked through the water stops and stopped to stretch my calves out at Mile 23. Despite feeling crappy, my pace wasn’t super slowed down. I looked at my watch and saw I could still make it under 3:35, which was my goal for the race so I asked myself “how badly do you want it? Do you want a BQ because you can get it girl”. I decided at Mile 23 I wanted it, and I pushed it to the end. 

From Mile 21 to the end I focused on just hitting the next mile marker (via my watch, because kilometer markers were obviously more frequent). It was so VERY exciting to run through the famous Brandenburg Gate. I knew that the race finish was past the gate so that last 0.2 ish miles was definitely in the pain cave. I started crying once I was running through the Brandenburg Gate because I was so happy and grateful to be running my 7th marathon and be in Germany.



Crossed the finish line in 3:31: 27. It was my second fastest marathon. I was hoping to have a bigger kick the last 10K to get sub-3:30, but I'm still really happy and proud of this race. I'm happy that I mentally fought through and made the decision to keep pushing when the going got tough. 


Smile and stop the Garmin! 

Post-race
Once I finished I had my obligatory my-legs-are-on-fire-I-feel-nauseous crouch down followed by the usual volunteer telling me to “keep moving along”. I got a water and my bag of snacks (ALL BIG RACES should bag snacks so I don’t have to carry everything!). Since I had opted for the poncho instead of dropping clothes off, I got my nice thick Berlin poncho.


Despite being freaking Germany, land of beer, there is alcohol-free beer for runners at the finish line. I partook in it because German alcohol-free beer isn’t actually so bad, plus electrolytes and all the good recovery things minus the alcohol. Don’t worry, a real deal alcohol-filled beer was in my future.





My boyfriend and I had gotten German SIM cards for our phones so we were able to call/text to meet up together by the Reichstag building. My last text message to him actually didn’t go through because there were so many people using cell phones! When I found my boyfriend he was helping a runner from Italy use his phone to call who he was supposed to meet up with-see so much fun international runner love! 


Once I found out Kipchoge set the world marathon record today, it was SO MUCH COOLER that his face was on the back of the medal! 

I slowly walked back to our hotel to shower and change before having beers and schnitzel. I spent the evening outdoors at a Berlin beer garden with some of my new November Project friends, a.k.a. the perfect post-Berlin Marathon evening.


THE GOOD:
-The race is huge with over 40,000 and energetic. There are always other runners and spectators around!
-The race is super international with people all over the world running it. It made for a beautiful running community and experience.
-The course is flat and fast-no wonder many world marathon records including the latest this year by Kipchoge (2:01:39) were set in Berlin!
-The races photos looked awesome! I ended up buying all of them because Sportograf, the photography company offered a deal for downloads of all race photos for only 29.99€! Pretty good deal, especially for a race I may only ever run once.

THE BAD:
-Oh the plastic cups. The water stops at the Berlin Marathon were horrendous. They were very crowded and bottlenecked but also the race uses plastic cups so the ground was covered with them at the water stops. There was the crunching under my feet and it also made a slippery hazard. I ended up walking a few steps to drink through them.
-On course nutrition. Not the usual Gatorade and water from US races, which I know I can handle. It hard to have to carry enough of what you train with/use, especially depending on the weather and where you are travelling from.
-It’s a big race. This is partially a good thing but can also be a bad thing. You are surrounded by runners the whole time which can feel crowded, especially if you are used to smaller races.

That’s my big ol’ Berlin Marathon race recap. 3/6 World Marathon Majors completed! After a lot of back to back marathon training cycles, I'm ready for the off-season from running and some new goals. 


Have you ever run an international race? Have you ever run the Berlin Marathon?

As always follow along on Instagram @breathedeeplyandsmile to see what I’m doing in the off-season!  



May 8, 2018

The 2018 Boston Marathon: Miserable yet Amazing


Every one of my friends who I talk to asks me “How was Boston?” and my response has been “::sigh:: Miserable and amazing”. That’s the truth.

Settle in for my big Boston Marathon race recap. I thought about shortening it, but I like having all of these thoughts down on the interwebs to look back on. You’ll get expo and logistics thoughts in a following post!

Boston Marathon 2018 Race Recap


PRE-RACE

The week of the marathon the weather forecast was not looking good. Eventually 3 or 4 days before the race the forecast was saying 100% rain. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. Where in the eff do you ever hear a weather forecast saying 100%?!?! The weather was forecasted to be raw with temperatures around 40 degrees (real feel colder), rain all day, and 20 mph E/SE winds (that’s a headwind). People talked online about how it rained in 2015 when they ran it and how it wasn’t so bad. I wanted to hope that the forecast would change or at least it wouldn’t be so bad. My parents were in town for the race and literally only came to one other half marathon ever-where it also poured rain (are they unlucky?Just saying.) My mom overheard someone in her hotel grabbing shower caps to cover her shoes so I did the same. The concierge said he thought they were out but luckily found a couple for me (#runnerprobs).

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I woke up in Cambridge at my Airbnb Monday morning feeling anxious. Part positively, part negatively. I woke up to the wind howling and rain beating down outside the bedroom window. Yikes. I layered up my outfit and ate a Honey Stinger salted caramel waffle and banana along with some Nuun. I cut holes in my trash bag poncho. I packed my little Athlete’s Village bag with my headphones, gels, extra Honey Stinger waffles, old race heat sheet, gloves, and an extra trash bag.
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Garbage bag chic with shower caps on shoes as an accessory

April 14, 2017

Inaugural Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon Race Recap


My recap of this last April's inaugural Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon in Walt Disney World 2016 is here, just a week before this year's race. 

 As I mentioned in my post on my favorite Disney eats, my sister works at the parks so it was an excuse to visit her. My friend was also running this race as his first half marathon and had a place for me to crash which makes it more enticing because the price tag on this race was $185 which is A LOT for a half marathon, or a race in general. 

There is a 5K and 10K, and half marathon during the race weekend as well as the Dark Side Challenge (10K Saturday, half marathon Sunday).  

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Pre-Race

I stayed at the All-Star Disney Resort with my sister the night I got to Florida so getting to the expo was easy-I just caught a bus over to the ESPN Wide World of Sports.  First there was a huge room where you go and get just your bib. I love when your name is printed on your bibg for races like this one. All of the cast members/employees I encountered were very nice and helpful. 


Next you head over to another giant stadium room where the actual race expo is. They had lots of fun vendors, but it wasn't too crowded when I got there early on Saturday morning. They had some cute things, but I don't really buy anything at most race expos anymore. I did end up getting Sparkly Soul headbands (Star Wars themed)- one for me and one for my sister.


I loved this graphic of the course map hanging up.  Everything in the expo was pretty well-organized. 

October 27, 2016

The Big Chicago Marathon 2016 Recap {Expo and Race}

I have been putting this off because I don't even know where to begin talking about the Chicago Marathon. I've also been dealing with some foot pain and grad school midterms which can take a person's mind off blogging. Anyone else feel like their marathons go by in a blur? After it's over I only remember certain sites, certain miles, and certain feelings (including those steps across the finish line). 

The Big Chicago Marathon 2016 Recap {Expo and Race}

Because of my grad school schedule I missed some fun things and had to get into Chicago late Friday night. I was feeling like a cold was coming on all week which had me thoroughly freaked out about the race. Saturday morning I ended up taking the train downtown to meet up with Kelly Robert's #SportsBraSquad Shake-Out Run at the Westin on Michigan Ave. I had met Kelly briefly at the November Project Summit in Ontario in July but finally got to have a quick chat and snap a photo with her.  She's fabulous and had a nice big group for a 2 mile shakeout run that included lots of beautiful city views and selfies. 


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Also kudos to Oiselle for hooking us up with some swag. I am in love with this shirt! 

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You should totally go to Kelly's NYC Marathon shakeout run if you are in town for it! After a quick pit stop at Trader Joe's for bananas, bars, and beet juice with Emily  before heading over to the expo. 

Since this is my third year in a row, I knew what to expect. Things were still really organized as I expected. I suppose I was feeling a little bit anxious about the race and that my boyfriend hadn't up with me yet so I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.  Also the expo is far more crowded on Saturday than it would have been on Friday so that is something to get used to if you haven't been to a big race expo, particularly a World Marathon Majors race one. 

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So I quickly grabbed my bib and bothered strangers to take photos of me, despite still being kinda gross looking since I didn't shower post-shakeout run. 

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No big race expo is complete without a stop to the Nuun booth to say hello and grab a cute new water bottle to add to my collection. 

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I also got to check out the Moji booth and try out some massage products that I took home with me. This Moji Foot Pro is fabulous on the bottom of your tired feet, especially if you freeze it first!

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As always, I love all the awesome Nike graphic photo backdrops around the expo. Perfect for getting pumped about the 26.2 miles happening the next day!

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I also co-hosted the We Run Social meetup with the fabulous Heather which was nice, despite some people being confused that we were not in fact speaking on the Runner's World stage but rather just meeting near it! 

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There was a few more photos before getting showered and relaxing. I grabbed some pasta with Erica for dinner. I had some pasta with chicken and marinara sauce as my pre-race dinner. 

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Before bed was iPod and Garmin charging as well as laying out all the goods I needed for the next day. 

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{Lululemon Run Swiftly tagged shirt, Lululemon shorts, Ciele hat, Feetures! compression socks, Brooks Launch 3 running shoesHoneyStinger Ginsting gels & Huma gels, Nuun Hydration Lemon-Lime Energy, and Run Gum in peppermint} 

I had worked with Coach Suz (she's fabulous!) to have her consult on my training plan and race day plans and offer her suggestions so I had a general idea of how I wanted to run the race. I was feeling anxious and unsure of how I felt about the race pretty much up until I got to the starting area.  Once I felt the chilly weather (despite not being quite as chilly as I prefer) and all the marathon excitement in the air, I was really happy. 

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It was also possibly that things were going super smoothly. I got dressed and had a banana, Salted Caramel HoneyStinger waffle, and Nuun. I took the train into downtown and caught one just as it arrived from the Austin blue line station. I moved through the security checkpoint super quickly this year and EVEN found a port-a-potty with only 6 people ahead of me in line. There were Nike pacers in line too so I'm almost positive it wasn't VIP or anything and was just covered by bushes so it was less crowded. The realist that I am, I was thinking that things were going too smoothly to be true but tried to roll with it. 

Miles 1-5: Pace groups make me anxious because of my self-placed pressure to keep up with the group, but I decided to line up with the 3:30 pacers anyways. Hats off to the guys that were super fun and amazing.  The start is really crowded which kind of helps with runners starting out slower and not going out too fast so I didn't worry. The beginning miles with the pacers was super crowded and for the first 5 mile I was almost tripped and bumped into people multiple times which was really freaking annoying.  It's such a big race and the 3:30 pace group seemed popular. Especially since I have run this race now twice before, I really tried to soak in the race and excitement with no music or anything. My GPS was yet again messed up because of the tunnels so I really focused on just staying with the pace group.

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My boyfriend got this cool shot of me running by and smiling at around Mile 3ish. 

Miles 6-10:
 I told myself to just try to settle in, stay comfortable, and follow the pace group but not freak if I wasn't right next to a pacer. The pacers were great with one guy telling the guy in front to pull back. I was feeling great and tried to settle in and stopped at most of the water stops. I wasn't carrying any water because it annoys me so I made sure to stay hydrated.  The miles were moving past especially because I wasn't paying attention to my watch. It was nice to feel comfortable with the pace group and not have to worry about anything but running and keeping them in sight.  Still no music and lots of crowd support! 

Miles 11-15: I feel like in my marathons I always am dreading and waiting for the wall so I talked to Suz about throwing in some faster strides and changing my mentality. This time I stuck with the pace group but was feeling really good and was annoyed by the crowdedness of the group behind the pacers so decided to run in front of the pace group around mile 14. I kept my mentality the same as I had at the Philly Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon this year where I tried to just run where I felt good and not get freaked out by the pace. I also took an extra gel around mile 12.5 as Suz suggested to give me an extra boost when I usually start to freak out on the inside.  The pacers reminding everyone from Mile 11 onwards to stop at the water stops was also super helpful. 

Miles 16-20: Around Mile 16 I turned on the iPod. I also peeked back behind me a couple times before I just kept running and knew that if I saw the pace group pass me, I'd have to keep up-but I didn't see them. I kept telling myself my mantra "I am comfortable, I am strong" and reminding myself how crappy I felt at this point last year and how my legs felt good this year. My breathing wasn't heavy or labored, and I was having fun. Once it hit 18 I tried to periodically check out my watch but not let it determine the race for me.  Around 18 the thoughts that I had a fast enough 3:30 BQ (and PR) in reach but tried to not get ahead of myself because as I knew, the marathon is a 20 mile warm-up with a 10K race.  I saw my boyfriend at Mile 18 who had some water and was literally stunned as I ran by smiling and giving him the thumbs up, telling him I felt great. 

Miles 21-26: Obviously my legs started to hurt after mile 20 as is expected with a marathon. I knew at this point that I was crushing it and only had to make it to the finish. Mile 22 on was just giving it all I had left in the metaphorical fuel tank. I had my music and the crowds to help push me. At Mile 22 was the November Project-Chicago cheer station which was a huge boost to get some cheers and high-fives.  During this last stretch I focused on just getting to the next mile marker.  Making it to the next mile was a nice mental game that helped push me to the end.  The miles blur together now. 

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Around Mile 23, pushing it to the end. 
As I got to Mile 25, all the emotions start to hit me. It was different because usually I get more emotional during the race but was surprisingly composed during this marathon (mostly because of my mental game).  Once I was at this point I knew I would make it and tried my best to push it to the end.  As I crossed the finish line I was in tears and just broke down sobbing after I finished. Two different people asked me if I was okay, and I told them it was just happy tears, no worries. 

As I waddled towards the fountain with my Goose Island beer in hand, which tastes effing amazing after a marathon, I was SO damn happy. You can see it in this photo below. That moment of relaxing, with a beer in hand, all by myself was is my favorite post-race moment to savor. 

 I was ahead of the 3:30 pacer, completely surpassing my A goal for the race. I grabbed my bag and had texts from friends. Suz texted me that I crushed it. I was confused because friends were saying I had run 3:34 because the live tracking on the app had gone by gun time not chip time (which I later found out) and caused me to freak out that my results were messed up. 

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Suz texted me my actual race results which made me feel awesome. 3:27? WHAT?!


I met up with my boyfriend and some friends and was on top of the world. ON TOP OF THE WORLD. I was kind of in disbelief that I ran a marathon in crushing my goal time and it wasn't that painful. I mean my legs hurt, and I don't think I could go faster but I did it. Despite not really believing in myself until race morning. Over a 7 minute PR and a nice cushion over my 3:35 Boston Qualifying time.  

Third time's a charm, Chicago. I LOVE YOU. 

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The race was a little warm (not as much as last year thank goodness), but perfect for hanging out afterwards. After frantically finding the results tent I learned that their tracking system was down and others had messed up tracker times so I felt confident that my time was not completely messed up. I threw some sandals on and just hung out with friends jamming to the live band. 

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Oh and I used my beer ticket to grab my free beer (the one at the finish doesn't count-I love you Chicago). It was so sunny out I actually got a little sunkissed on my face.  

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After a shower and some relaxation, I headed out to Small Cheval for my post-marathon meal of choice-a burger, fries, and a beer. Amazing

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Finally the night was ended with a few more beers and some Jeni's Ice Cream in Wicker Park. I was going to go for the double scoop, but the triple scoop was the marathoner's special for the same price so obviously I went with that. The perfect end to the day! 

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The race day was better than I imagined and now I'm a little worried I won't have a better marathon!  Thank you again everyone for all the love, support, and good vibes!

What is your favorite big race moment?