Berlin race report
The Berlin marathon was the same day as North Shore - Sat 9/19. Unlike most
marathons, the start time was 4pm! So, I got to sleep in, which was quite nice.
Due to the time difference, I believe the start time was just 30 minutes or so
after folks were arriving at the finish line in Duluth. Early weather reports
had me concerned about some rain on race day so I was going to buy a set of rain
wheels @ the expo, but the weather wound up being perfect - not a cloud in the
sky, and a temp of about 70 degrees.
The marathon expo was huge - it was located at the old Templehof Airport,
located in southeastern Berlin. It's no longer used as an airport. The
Templehof Field pre-dates WWII. Templehof was used to land planes during the
airlift when the Soviets tried to starve out the folks in West Berlin, hoping to
drive them out entirely, and (re-)claim that part of the city. The expo took up
a pretty big part of the bldg - imagine a space the size of a Target Greatland,
or Walmart SuperCenter. That's how big the expo was. If you'd lost all your
luggage and skate gear, you'd still be okay - there were over 100 vendors, with
boots, bearings, wheels, clothing, probably 2 dozen different sports drinks, and
on and on and on. Wandering thru all of that was wave upon wave of people. The
expo was for the inline marathon on Sat and also for the running marathon on Sun
9/20.
There were almost ***7,700*** skaters, and a little over 40,000 runners. NY was
bigger 1-2 years ago, but according to the #'s I looked up, Berlin is now the
biggest.
Race day was a little confusing at first. Along with a huge # of competitors
comes an equally large staging area. A # of the equipment vendors were present
as well as a large food village. The changing/shower/clothing drop-off tents
were at the end of a large field in front of the Reichstag (German parliament).
The start line, with 7 starting blocks of a little over 1,000 skaters per block
were "nearby" - a few blocks distant.
As per what Timo told me, the course is very, very flat. Most of it is very
smooth, although I did note some bumpy patches (chip & seal?). You cross over
rail tracks several times, but I didn't note anyone having trouble at those
spots. Skaters were also very good at using hand signals for approaching turns,
rough spots, debris, etc. We do this for each other at the veloway of course,
but this was the first time I've encountered this in a marathon.
One really fun thing about having a marathon in a city like Berlin is that you
wind up taking a tour through history as you skate the course - the Reichstag,
Otto von Bismarck monument (he united the various German states into one country
in the 1800s), and on and on. Several times we skated over a double row of
bricks embedded in the pavement - remnants of the Berlin Wall.
So, the race. This is the biggest event I've ever been in. In fact, it's the
only "big" event, in terms of # of entrants, that I've been in. The
psychological impact of being in such a sea of skaters was amazing. As each
wave took off, everyone behind erupted into applause. Finally, we got to my
wave. I registered for the 2nd-from-the-rear wave, expecting at the time to
come in at or just over 2:00:00.
Finally, it was time for my wave to start. It took a while to get up to speed -
as a # of you know, it can be quite a traffic jam. Looking at the total depth
of my wave, I was about ¼ back from the front. I finally got up to speed and
got to work. The 1st KM marker sign I noticed was 15km. Oy vey - 27km to go!
Time to settle in for the long haul :-).
I drafted a little bit, although not as much as I had expected to - I was
passing everyone in my wave. Several times, others were drafting off of me!
This was a first for me, and kind of a cool feeling. The race packet noted
several sharp/dangerous turns. In reality, the turns themselves aren't bad at
all in my opinion. The danger came in skating with such a huge crowd, so I had
to pay much more attention to what the other skaters were doing, particularly in
the turns. I noticed a few falls, where someone would clip someone else's
skates. Yikes.
I started to pick up my pace a little bit when I saw the 33km marker. I was in
a small pace line (maybe 5 of us?) as we came around the final turn, and saw
Brandenburg Gate in the distance - we had to skate thru the arches to the finish
line, which was just a little further on. I got into my crouch and was going to
try and ditch the rest of my pace line, but got an unpleasant surprise - the
"road" for the 70m or so in front of the gate was some of kind masonry blocks or
tiles (not cobblestones, but they had a similar effect). Imagine the bumpiest
chip & seal you've skated on, and then double the bumpiness. That hit my legs
hard. I was able to stay with my line, but couldn't ditch them at that point.
That was a bummer - I wanted to fly thru the finish line, because it's flanked
by elevated stadium seating, and I was looking forward to skating thru the crowd
;).
I changed into my street clothes and found the tent for print-outs of
preliminary times asap. I was very happy with my time - 1:46:46 - a personal
best, beating my previous best by a little over 15 minutes. So, I splurged and
paid the 9 euros to get my finisher medal engraved with my name and time. In
retrospect, I think I could have finished a few minutes faster, had I worked
smarter, and not harder. Still, I know what I need to work on. And no rest for
the wicked either - I've set more ambitious goals for the next event.
The event gets incredible support from the city. Spectators were lined up
almost continuously on both sides of the course, for the entire course. At
every turn, and many of the intersections we went straight thru, polezei were
stationed to help us stay on course. There was plenty of medical support - at
the start, the finish, even some personnel on bikes/motorcycles. There was an
after-marathon party that I've heard is legendary, but I couldn't attend - I
foolishly booked a flight so early on Sunday that I had to get up at 4am to
ensure I got to the airport on time. Next year, I'll start my trip with the
marathon, and do the sight-seeing after. I also want to watch the running
marathon next year - I hear it's pretty amazing to watch as well.
Thanks again to everyone that helped me train, and I hope some of you can come
to Berlin next year. I'll definitely be there.
Notes for my non-skating friends:
1) North Shore/Duluth - biggest inline marathon in the U.S., finish line is in Duluth, MN. About 4,000 skaters each year.
2) pace line - a # of skaters skating in a tight line, each skater is within 18" of the skater in front/back of them, technique is known as drafting, letting the skater(s) in front of you take the wind resistance; you can skate faster/longer doing this than you can solo
3) world-class skaters can do a marathon in 1:15 or less
marathons, the start time was 4pm! So, I got to sleep in, which was quite nice.
Due to the time difference, I believe the start time was just 30 minutes or so
after folks were arriving at the finish line in Duluth. Early weather reports
had me concerned about some rain on race day so I was going to buy a set of rain
wheels @ the expo, but the weather wound up being perfect - not a cloud in the
sky, and a temp of about 70 degrees.
The marathon expo was huge - it was located at the old Templehof Airport,
located in southeastern Berlin. It's no longer used as an airport. The
Templehof Field pre-dates WWII. Templehof was used to land planes during the
airlift when the Soviets tried to starve out the folks in West Berlin, hoping to
drive them out entirely, and (re-)claim that part of the city. The expo took up
a pretty big part of the bldg - imagine a space the size of a Target Greatland,
or Walmart SuperCenter. That's how big the expo was. If you'd lost all your
luggage and skate gear, you'd still be okay - there were over 100 vendors, with
boots, bearings, wheels, clothing, probably 2 dozen different sports drinks, and
on and on and on. Wandering thru all of that was wave upon wave of people. The
expo was for the inline marathon on Sat and also for the running marathon on Sun
9/20.
There were almost ***7,700*** skaters, and a little over 40,000 runners. NY was
bigger 1-2 years ago, but according to the #'s I looked up, Berlin is now the
biggest.
Race day was a little confusing at first. Along with a huge # of competitors
comes an equally large staging area. A # of the equipment vendors were present
as well as a large food village. The changing/shower/clothing drop-off tents
were at the end of a large field in front of the Reichstag (German parliament).
The start line, with 7 starting blocks of a little over 1,000 skaters per block
were "nearby" - a few blocks distant.
As per what Timo told me, the course is very, very flat. Most of it is very
smooth, although I did note some bumpy patches (chip & seal?). You cross over
rail tracks several times, but I didn't note anyone having trouble at those
spots. Skaters were also very good at using hand signals for approaching turns,
rough spots, debris, etc. We do this for each other at the veloway of course,
but this was the first time I've encountered this in a marathon.
One really fun thing about having a marathon in a city like Berlin is that you
wind up taking a tour through history as you skate the course - the Reichstag,
Otto von Bismarck monument (he united the various German states into one country
in the 1800s), and on and on. Several times we skated over a double row of
bricks embedded in the pavement - remnants of the Berlin Wall.
So, the race. This is the biggest event I've ever been in. In fact, it's the
only "big" event, in terms of # of entrants, that I've been in. The
psychological impact of being in such a sea of skaters was amazing. As each
wave took off, everyone behind erupted into applause. Finally, we got to my
wave. I registered for the 2nd-from-the-rear wave, expecting at the time to
come in at or just over 2:00:00.
Finally, it was time for my wave to start. It took a while to get up to speed -
as a # of you know, it can be quite a traffic jam. Looking at the total depth
of my wave, I was about ¼ back from the front. I finally got up to speed and
got to work. The 1st KM marker sign I noticed was 15km. Oy vey - 27km to go!
Time to settle in for the long haul :-).
I drafted a little bit, although not as much as I had expected to - I was
passing everyone in my wave. Several times, others were drafting off of me!
This was a first for me, and kind of a cool feeling. The race packet noted
several sharp/dangerous turns. In reality, the turns themselves aren't bad at
all in my opinion. The danger came in skating with such a huge crowd, so I had
to pay much more attention to what the other skaters were doing, particularly in
the turns. I noticed a few falls, where someone would clip someone else's
skates. Yikes.
I started to pick up my pace a little bit when I saw the 33km marker. I was in
a small pace line (maybe 5 of us?) as we came around the final turn, and saw
Brandenburg Gate in the distance - we had to skate thru the arches to the finish
line, which was just a little further on. I got into my crouch and was going to
try and ditch the rest of my pace line, but got an unpleasant surprise - the
"road" for the 70m or so in front of the gate was some of kind masonry blocks or
tiles (not cobblestones, but they had a similar effect). Imagine the bumpiest
chip & seal you've skated on, and then double the bumpiness. That hit my legs
hard. I was able to stay with my line, but couldn't ditch them at that point.
That was a bummer - I wanted to fly thru the finish line, because it's flanked
by elevated stadium seating, and I was looking forward to skating thru the crowd
;).
I changed into my street clothes and found the tent for print-outs of
preliminary times asap. I was very happy with my time - 1:46:46 - a personal
best, beating my previous best by a little over 15 minutes. So, I splurged and
paid the 9 euros to get my finisher medal engraved with my name and time. In
retrospect, I think I could have finished a few minutes faster, had I worked
smarter, and not harder. Still, I know what I need to work on. And no rest for
the wicked either - I've set more ambitious goals for the next event.
The event gets incredible support from the city. Spectators were lined up
almost continuously on both sides of the course, for the entire course. At
every turn, and many of the intersections we went straight thru, polezei were
stationed to help us stay on course. There was plenty of medical support - at
the start, the finish, even some personnel on bikes/motorcycles. There was an
after-marathon party that I've heard is legendary, but I couldn't attend - I
foolishly booked a flight so early on Sunday that I had to get up at 4am to
ensure I got to the airport on time. Next year, I'll start my trip with the
marathon, and do the sight-seeing after. I also want to watch the running
marathon next year - I hear it's pretty amazing to watch as well.
Thanks again to everyone that helped me train, and I hope some of you can come
to Berlin next year. I'll definitely be there.
Notes for my non-skating friends:
1) North Shore/Duluth - biggest inline marathon in the U.S., finish line is in Duluth, MN. About 4,000 skaters each year.
2) pace line - a # of skaters skating in a tight line, each skater is within 18" of the skater in front/back of them, technique is known as drafting, letting the skater(s) in front of you take the wind resistance; you can skate faster/longer doing this than you can solo
3) world-class skaters can do a marathon in 1:15 or less