Hands down, this was my most amazingly-super-awesome-perfect-wunderbar race to date! Unfortunately, I'm having to retrospectively update this post. Technically I had much of it written just after the trip, but I became distracted from updating my blog, and then took some time away from publishing. I'm back-dating it, catching up, and moving on.
Berlin Marathon 2014
I've run a few marathons over the last couple years that I thought were well deserving of PRs. Unfortunately something always went against me. I was extremely fit for both Philly'12 and Boston'13, but neither were PRs. Chicago'13 busted my labia/hoohah. My PR from Cal'11 had become stale and a gigantic gorilla on my back. I've been dying to knock off. I've put in a ton of running over the last several years and a fresh marathon PR has been long overdue.
After recovering from injury during the first part of 2014, Berlin became my sole focus for 2014. It's a flat and uber fast course. The weather is generally accommodative. It literally is a world record course, time and again over the recent years. If you're gonna gun for it, this is the place to do it.
Going into Berlin, I felt very fit. I was carrying no lingering pains, and was very healthy. Everything lined up.
Ultimately the trip became much more than just a marathon. I was traveling with some good friends, and most importantly, I was traveling with my dad. It was an awesome father/son trip across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland that both of us will remember for the rest of our lives. He's always wanted to go, and what better way for him to see our fatherland than with Junior!
Before steins could be downed in Munich, or bergs could be climbed in the Alps... I had business to take care of in Berlin...
This is my long over due recap. The details as I remember them, but the stats don't lie:
I left Chicago on Thursday before the race. Met Dad at Ohare. Flight was typical and cramped. I didn't sleep much on the plane... maybe an hour or 1.5 hours at best. Landed in Berlin mid-Friday morning.
The hotel was the Savoy Berlin, which is near the southwest side of the Tiergarten. It was about two miles from the starting line, and somewhat close to the 20.5 mile mark.
Hit the expo Friday afternoon with Braulio, Scott, Eli, and Dad.
Had a ton of sleep on Friday night to help recharge the batteries.
I woke up a little later than expected on Saturday and had to do a solo-shakeout run. I backtracked the first 1K of the race, then out-and-backed the final 3K of the course. Visualizing the ending helped a ton during the race! Had I not seen those last few K ahead of time, I don't know if I would've closed the race as well as I did. All in, the shakeout was about 8 miles. A bit long, but nothing too taxing.
Dad and I did some site seeing with a double decker bus, ate a huge late lunch chalk full of carbs, then stayed off my feet the rest of the night and drown myself with fluids.
Sleep on Saturday night wasn't easy as I was still trying to adjust to the time difference, but I managed to get about 5 or 6 hours. I couldn't ask for more than that.
Race morning, I met with the other TTAU runners and we made our way to the starting line. Weather was a little chilly early but mostly hung in the 50s, and only had the slightest touch of wind - basically perfect!! With being healthy, hydrated, rested, and now the weather... everything was lining up well.
Scott, Braulio, and I staged together in the sub-elite / 'A' corral. Literally, the only people in front of us were the guys trying to break the world record... and they did! The first sub-2:03 race in history. It was extremely impressive standing with them.
Scott and I planned on running as much of the race as possible together. I specifically was shooting for a sub-2:38, which would've been a PR. We planned on going out with a 1:19'ish split and then coming back with whatever we could throw at it. The more negative the better.
Right from the gun, Braulio took off. Scott and I stuck together. His Garmin helped to pace miles while I kept track of the K. We were rolling mid/high 3:40's, which amounted to about 6:05's. The first couple K were actually a touch slower.
Once about 5K into the race, things started settling down and packs were thinned. By 10K we had accumulated a group of about 8-10 runners all rolling about a 6:00 pace. It was very smooth.
I found myself most often in front of the pack (shocker!) trying to set the pace. Scott was wisely either off my shoulder or in the back of the pack, letting us do the work. I recall feeling extremely antsy and having difficulty holding back. Occasionally someone would take charge of the pack and slow it down a little. The rabid rabbit inside of me found those uneven paces annoying. I didn't want them to mess with my own steady strategy so I'd respond by surging the front to keep us honest and thin the pack. Scott was reading out the pace from his Garmin. That helped keep me in check since we weren't used to the Ks.
We passed 16K at 1:00:09, which was roughly the 10mi mark. Everything still felt good. The weather was completely Goldilocks... not too hot, not too cold, little-to-no wind. We rolled through the half roughly on target, at 1:19:12. The easy part was done. In my mind, I needed to come back slightly faster, in at least 1:18:47. I needed to find 30 seconds in 13 miles. No slippage. There wasn't any room for error. I didn't want to pick it up too much too soon, but I was comfortable with starting to squeeze a little... Immediately after the split, I broke our pack by taking the pace below 6:00. Scott stayed with me.
21-25K averaged 5:58's. The next couple K were closer to 6:00. I didn't want to run north of 6 again though. At about 28K, Scott was drifting off my back and our original larger pack was busted. I wasn't sure if that was my doing by pushing the pace, or other people feeling the distance but I felt incredibly good and strong. At that point, I made the decision to truly go for it.
I started pressing the pace. Runners became few and far between... That 29th K was 3:38, which = 5:51 pace. I actually had no clue how fast that was because I no longer had the luxury of Scott's Garmin. I was purely running based upon feel and it felt beautiful!
It was thinning and I didn't have anyone to work with. All I could do was keep breathing and keep opening my stride. 30K: 3:39. Yep, I still had no clue how fast that was. I checked myself in the 31st K though, worrying that it was too much too soon. 31K: 3:45. But it still wasn't phasing me! I thought, "Fuck it, I'm committing."
32K: 3:36... that's a 5:48.9 pace with 10K to go in a marathon! It still wasn't phasing me. The rabbit was on the prowl for whatever was in front of me. Pulling myself from person to person, and passing. I stopped concerning myself with time and splits. I just ran.
31-35K averaged 5:53's. I kept opening that stride and hammering. It was incredibly freakish... I never felt even the slightest amount of pain!! This really became a race, and it was me just trying to chew up kilometers as fast as I can. Somewhere around 32K, I passed where Dad was standing. Unfortunately I didn't see him. He later claimed that I just blew by. I also soon acquired a lurcher that attach himself to my back. He made me do all the work and never ran next to me. Sucked my draft the entire fucking way. I couldn't drop him so I just used it as a means to push the pace even more!
36-40K averaged 5:48's!! I passed Braulio at about 40K. He was still holding a decent pace, but I had too much momentum for him to hang.
The final 2.2K, I just opened it up and threw everything I had at it. I keep saying that I didn't know how fast I was running. Maybe that's why I dropped the hammer like that? I lost all my inhibitions. I knew it was aggressive, but I also knew that I wasn't going to break. My 41st K, as I rounded the Strassen onto "Unter den Linden"... a blistering 5:41 pace. It then became a celebration as I went under the Brandenburg Tor. I started waiving my hands in the air and to the monster crowds. 42K at 5:48 (no doubt, slowed down because I was goofing around). Then that fucktard leach passed me. I tried to respond but somehow he just pushed even harder. Unbelievable... He beat me by a second... I closed that last 220 meters in 38 seconds... that's a 5:13 pace and half the time I had my fists and arms flailing in the air!
I was ecstatic. I crossed the finish line and my watch showed 2:36:26.
It's now months later and I still have no idea how I did it. At no point did I ever feel out of my comfort zone. To date, this is one of my single finest and proudest accomplishments in all of my life. Years and years of training all culminating in a beautiful race. Miles of trials and trials of miles.
A smarter man than me once said, "Sometimes the bear eats you, and sometimes you eat the bear."
I ran 2:36:26. Crushed my goal by over a minute. I went out in 1:19:12 (6:02 pace), and came back in 1:17:14 (5:53 pace).
The city of Berlin's logo is a bear. I kicked the shit out of that bear and then devoured him. There should've been a photo of me with bear blood dripping from my chops and saying, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"
On Monday morning, Dad and I went off to Munich to Oktoberfest for a couple days. We then rented a beautiful BMW 4-series and carved our way through the back roads of the Alps... first to Neuschwanstein, then Austrian where we stayed in a beautiful Alpine town and Gasthof, then Interlaken and Eiger/Jungfrau, then finished up in Zurich. We had a blast. We lived on pilsner, brats, kraut, and sauerbraten!
Photo Recap:
Data Recap:
I have a huge amount of data down here, but I can't help it. This was by far my most perfect running accomplishment to date, and I'm incredibly proud of it. I have to keep this info:
KM Split | Lap | Pace/Mi
01 | 3:49.9 | 6:10.0
02 | 3:49.4 | 6:09.2
03 | 3:45.5 | 6:02.9
04 | 3:46.3 | 6:04.2
05 | 3:46.3 | 6:04.2
06 | 3:47.1 | 6:05.5
07 | 3:45.0 | 6:02.1
08 | 3:45.0 | 6:02.1
09 | 3:40.0 | 5:54.1
10 | 3:39.4 | 5:53.1
11 | 3:45.0 | 6:02.1
12 | 3:51.3 | 6:12.2 (Long?)
13 | 3:51.7 | 6:12.9 (Long?)
14 | 3:44.9 | 6:01.9
15 | 3:30.1 | 5:38.1 (Short?)
16 | 3:52.4 | 6:14.0 (10mi: 1:00:09)
17 | 3:47.1 | 6:05.5
18 | 3:48.8 | 6:08.2
19 | 3:44.2 | 6:00.8
20 | 3:40.1 | 5:54.2
21 | 3:43.7 | 6:00.0
22 | 3:40.8 | 5:55.3
23 | 3:41.3 | 5:56.1
24 | 3:42.3 | 5:57.8
25 | 3:46.7 | 6:04.8
26 | 3:43.9 | 6:00.3
27 | 3:44.9 | 6:01.9
28 | 3:46.0 | 6:03.7
(Roughly the point I decided to start gunning it, w/ 14K to go)
29 | 3:38.4 | 5:51.5
30 | 3:39.2 | 5:52.8
31 | 3:45.1 | 6:02.3
32 | 3:36.8 | 5:48.9 (10mi: 59:29)
33 | 3:38.0 | 5:50.8
34 | 3:37.5 | 5:50.0
35 | 3:41.6 | 5:56.6
36 | 3:37.7 | 5:50.4
37 | 3:35.6 | 5:47.0
38 | 3:36.0 | 5:47.6
39 | 3:36.0 | 5:47.6
40 | 3:37.7 | 5:50.4
41 | 3:32.3 | 5:41.7
42 | 3:37.3 | 5:49.7
.2 | 0:38.0 | 5:13.6
5K Split | Lap | Pace/KM | Pace/Mi
05 | 0:18:56 | 18:56 | 3:47.2 | 6:05.6
10 | 0:37:33 | 18:37 | 3:43.4 | 5:59.5
15 | 0:56:19 | 18:46 | 3:45.2 | 6:02.4
20 | 1:15:08 | 18:49 | 3:45.8 | 6:03.4
25 | 1:33:42 | 18:34 | 3:42.8 | 5:58.6
30 | 1:52:15 | 18:33 | 3:42.6 | 5:58.2
35 | 2:10:34 | 18:19 | 3:39.8 | 5:53.7
40 | 2:28:37 | 18:03 | 3:36.6 | 5:48.6
2.2| 2:36:26 | 07:49 | 3:33.7 | 5:43.9
1H - 1:19:12 | 3:45.2/KM | 6:02.5/Mi
2H - 1:17:14 | 3:39.6/KM | 5:53.5/Mi
Tot- 2:36:26 | 3:42.4/KM | 5:58.0/Mi
2H - 1:17:14 | 3:39.6/KM | 5:53.5/Mi
Tot- 2:36:26 | 3:42.4/KM | 5:58.0/Mi
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