Berlin Marathon weekend

Loved it!

It wasn’t a PB for time but it certainly was for enjoyment! Running through Brandenburg Gate with only a few hundred kilometres to go I was buzzing!! Id kept my heart rate steady for the entire run but it definitely spiked at that point!! Crossing the finish line in 3:56 I was elated. Having dealt with a long-term injury which is still in the background, I wasn’t brimming with confidence going into the event and really didn't think a sub 4 hour marathon was on the cards.

My journey to the Berlin Marathon started around this time last year when the public ballot opened for entry to the following years event. Some of the guys from my running club had just taken part in the 2023 event and were absolutely raving about it and really selling it! Discussions soon turned to 'well who wants to do it next year?' Getting swept away in their enthusiasm regarding the event I thought I’ve entered the London Marathon ballot about 6 times and have never got in so my chance of getting into Berlin are probably just as poor but I'll give it a go on the off chance! Fast forward 3 months and I get confirmation that my ballot entry was successful! .............OMG I’m actually going to be doing an international marathon!

At this point I was struggling with my hamstring tendonitis and having previously ran Manchester marathon in pain with the same injury I knew I didn’t want to put myself through that again so I had to think of a plan going forward.

In January 2024 I was undergoing my Coaching in Running Fitness course with UK athletics. Chatting all things running with other wannabe coaches on the course discussions soon turned to what future marathon plans any of us had. I explained my situation and was recommended a company that could support me with recovering from an injury whilst training for a marathon. Obviously I already had really good knowledge regarding strength training from my previous qualifications and was in the middle of a run coaching course however I don’t have any physiotherapy knowledge and this was a key element that was missing. The sign up was not cheap but after a lot of investigating, procrastinating and faffing around I decided to bite the bullet and commit to a 12 week programme. I’m so glad I did! Not only has having my own bespoke programme been great for my personal running it has also taught me a lot and added to what I already know about coaching others, in turn making me a better coach myself.

In training I slowly built up my miles, incorporating interval runs, tempo runs and long runs and committed myself to 3 strength and conditioning sessions a week. This approach created a really strong foundation for all the miles I would be undertaking in tgeh marathon.

Friday 27th September 2024 and the time had come to pack my bags and fly off to Berlin with Mike a friend from my running club. Annoyingly we had to get connecting flights via Amsterdam but the transfer time was long enough so we didn’t foresee any problems.... how wrong were we!

Bad weather in Amsterdam meant that many flights were cancelled and the remaining flights had to queue to land causing massive delays, on top of this we happened to board the plane when the baggage handlers were on a shift change so we had to wait even longer! As you can guess we missed our connection to Berlin but with 2 more flights after ours going out we were hopeful that we would get on one of those and still get there that evening.

We got to the transfer desk to be told that we had been booked on the evening flight..... the following day! What! this would mean we would have missed the Marathon Expo and the race number collection meaning we would not be able to run on the Sunday! This was not going to plan. The 9 hour sleeper train from Amsterdam to Berlin was looking like our only option to get there in time, something we really were not looking forward to. We explained to the KLM member of staff our situation fully expecting her to say how sorry she was but there was nothing she could do to help. She took our passports and now redundant boarding passes off us and disappeared. Fifteen minutes later she returned walking back to us with a big smile on her face. She didn’t explain how she did it but she got us on the next flight out of Amsterdam that night!! Woohoo!! We were so grateful and couldn’t thank her enough.

Landing in Berlin later than planned we board the 45 minute SBahn train to the centre of Berlin. The train was packed so we sat eating our snacks on the steps of the train trying to ensure we were still getting all our carbs in ahead of the event. This was not quite the Italian restaurant we had hoped to be sat in! Arriving in the centre we then took the decision to jump in a taxi to our individual hotels, at this point we were shattered and has been travelling since 10 am that morning and the thought of getting on another train was not appealing. At 12am I walked through the door of my hotel room and flopped on the bed. Finally!

Waking up Saturday morning the sun was shining, and I was delighted to be in Berlin safe and sound. Following a breakfast of porridge, banana and a large pretzel, I met with Mike and we made our way over via the free metro and underground trains to the historical former Airport Tempelhof where this years marathon Expo was being held. We collected out wristbands and race numbers, posed for photos, looked at the old war planes and had a mooch at all the merchandise they had on offer. It was all very tempting however I restrained myself and only bought one tshirt as a keep sake. We left the expo and headed back to the centre via the underground system and a lovely Italian restaurant where we had a late lunch of bread, pasta and an alcohol free beer, we were carb loading after all. Pleasantly stuffed we went our separate ways to put our feet up for the evening at our hotels and rest as much as possible before Sunday trying to counteract the travel fatigue and amount of walking we had been doing the days prior. Despite how tired I was, I didn’t sleep very well Saturday night which is very normal before a marathon however I did feel rested from lying on my bed reading and eating bagels the night before so felt fine other than a sore throat and a bit of a sniffle I was good to go. It was marathon day, no going back now!

Cup of tea, water, porridge and with my banana in hand I leave the hotel and board the train making my way to the start line. A mixture of excitement and nerves make themselves known to me but concentrating on going the right way keeps my mind occupied for a bit. I find my way easily to the start and get in the longest queue ever for the toilet, standard marathon routine even if you dont need a wee! The sun was shining but gosh it was cold! My scheduled start time for my wave 9.45am so I had nearly 2 hours to kill before I would be starting, not my best planning! Luckily someone had disposed of a foil blanket in a bush so I quickly grabbed that and wrapped it around me to keep warm.

The atmosphere at the start was buzzing, lots of people of all races and nationalities chatting and mingling with nervous anticipation for what they were about to do. The music was pumping and the announcer declared it was nearly our time to start. Fifteen minutes later than planned we shuffle forward closer to the start line and start abandoning our warm layers. I take my first gel in preparation to start running as soon as we cross that line.

5,4,3,2,1 we were off! We are really doing this. Berlin Marathon 2024 is actually happening!

The first few miles were glorious, the legs felt so good I had to keep reminding myself to slow down and not get swept away with everyone else around me, something I've fallen victim to in previous marathons. I settled into my pace and stuck to it. The miles ticked by and it was soon time to take another gel even though I didn’t feel I needed it. This strategy of fuelling before you feel you need it was integral to me not ever hitting the wall at any point in the race. Before I knew it, the half marathon point was just ahead of me and I still felt so fresh. 'Surely I’m going to bonk soon, this is going to well' flashed through my mind. Pushing those thoughts to one side and enjoying the fact I felt so good I carried on sticking to my fuelling and hydration plan which invloved sipping water at each station and taking two salt tablets at mile 8 and mile 16.

I was nervous about getting to mile 18 as this was the furthest I had ran in this training block and I knew mentally this is where the wheels could fall off. Again I used my mental resilience and pushed this thought away reminding myself that I felt good and all my cumulative training miles plus the strength work I'd done was enough to get me to the end. 'You've got this Hannah, trust your training!'.

Before I knew it my watched ticked to mile 20. Just 6.2 to go! 'I’m going to finish this!'. The final few miles were great, amazing support from the crowds and everyone at home whose words of

encouragement were pinging through on my watch.

I look up and see Brandenburg Gate, nearly there! I run through the gate beaming knowing that I’m only 500 metres from the finish line. The crowds are loud, the music is blaring and all the runners around me find that extra bit of pace to cross the finish line in style! I cross the line, arms stretched out wide delighted to have completed my very first international marathon!

The chaos of the finishing village was in full throw, queues for medals, then a different queue for goodie bags and another queue for a poncho made the exit a long one. Finally getting my way out I go to look at my phone to work out how to get back to my hotel, my battery was dead! How am I going to get home now. I'd used my phone all weekend to work out the correct trains and without that now I was feeling a little lost. Using a bit of luck and looking at an old fashioned map I eventually found my way back to the hotel. A gorgeous hot shower and a chill on the bed was just what I needed before the marathon runners after party on the evening.

Hosted in a traditional German Beer Keller I look around and see that everyone is proudly wearing their marathon medals! The evening is a proper dedication to all things German. Lederhosen, Beer Steiners, Blow horns, folk dancing and the stodgiest food buffet you have ever seen! Just what we all needed! The evening was great fun with lots of dancing, singing and chatting to fellow runners.

The next morning I was thankful for only having a couple of beers as we had planned a day of walking around and doing a bit of sightseeing. Checkpoint Charlie, The Berlin Wall, the Nazi exhibition was allreally interesting if not upsetting but a good opportunity for us to walk around and stretch out the post marathon legs which I must say to my surprise felt amazing!

We finish our sightseeing with lunch then make our way back to the airport hoping an easier journey home awaited us.

Checking the board for our flight and you guessed it, delayed. Here we go again! This delay meant we would only have 5 minutes to get our connecting flight, impossible when the other gate is the other side of the airport! As our flight was the last outgoing flight that night it meant we had to wait to get on a flight the following morning. I was gutted. I was really missing the hubby and kids and just wanted to be home. We leave the airport without our luggage and fight our way onto an airport shuttle bus to a hotel on the outskirts for a few hours sleep before being picked up at 5am to get our flight home. With our £15 compensation voucher we bought some breakfast in the airport then boarded the plane. It was actually on time. I was finally going home!

Berlin Marathon was amazing and an experience I will remember for ever, if you ever get the chance to do it then you should, maybe just book direct flights!