BoBr-ov log

First off this post will be in English so I can share it easily to all my friends from all over Local folks who can’t understand English use your best online friend google-translate or you will get my report live eventually.

My running season was full of ups and downs. With all hard training I’ve done in past months I went with clear head to my main goal. To finish Berlin Marathon in one piece with smiley face and maybe just maybe if there will be a chance to finish it below 3:30.

I will mostly stick to Berlin Marathon experience from runners perspective and not from some touristic point of view. After all we went the to run Drive to Berlin took us 10 hours on friday with all pit stops and congestions along the way. We drove directly to expo place to pick up numbers. Thank god we did because already on friday afternoon there was huge crowd of people there. Cant imagine how it was on saturday. After all it’s almost 41.000 runners + several thousands of family and visitors going to same huge airport being used for expo. Anyway we picked everything up and then a bit of browsing through the massive exhibitors area. We found that offer itself is fresh and interesting but the prices were a chapter for itself. Not even one percent of discount nowhere to be found. It’s like all prices were crazy skyrocketed for no particular reason. At the end I bough 2XU compression calf guards in white color and put them on immediately for next few hours just to adapt to the feeling. These compression products are supposed to be helpful and high quality. I trusted my friends recommendation. Till now I’ve been using compression socks from CEP but usually these didn’t help enough with my weak calf muscles. After whole year of preparations and trainings I’m still having calf issues So I said to myself this 2XU will be the last thing to try. Thank god for this decision.
On saturday some of friends went on morning run organized for everyone. With this free run one can already get the feeling of how big is this event. River of thousands of people running to the Olympic stadium. I didn’t want to run and instead of running i did some walking through the city. I planned to join friend at the stadium but after getting lost in the city and geting back on track at the end the organizers wouldn’t let me in the stadium Back in hostel I felt tired but still had energy for going out to lunch. After lunch we rather stayed inside to just relax and get mentally prepared for the race. Last glimpse on weather forecast wasn’t promising, it was said it will be sunny all the day and up to 25 degrees
On the day of race I overslept because my phone-alarm died out of battery during the night Woke up at 6:15 and had to leave hostel at 6:30. Ahhh and had nothing prepared Rushing through things I needed to pack I didn’t have a chance to eat a proper breakfast. Only 2 spoons of cereals Not a good start at all. Almost running to S-bahn and catching it at the last second I didn’t even had a ticket. Driver just waved his hand and didn’t complain Finally we made it to start area which was getting slowly packed with people from all sides of city. It was quite cold before the start that’s why I didn’t wear running equipment yet. We split up with friends in the wardrobe area. Last minute decision was to pack my heart rate monitor belt. I felt I don’t need it and I felt I can go without heart rate readout. Last chance for toilet and off to starting box. It was getting too crowded so one could follow herds instinct to get to right place After all it was a huge pack of 41.000 runners on the street all waiting for the same goal: to reach the finish line of 42km run through Berlin. I managed to squeeze forward so I had only about a minute of walk to reach the start line. After start line it was running all the way. Ok a bit of crowd during first kilometer but other than that no problems.
I fixed my eyes on ideal line being drawn on the road. Second what I tried to fix was my steady pace. I knew I should run like chicken without head and I should relax and just go with the feeling. On 9km it suddenly started to hurt in left Achilles tendon. The pain would not go away for next 6 kilometers but I set my mind to different thoughts just not to think about the pain. On 10km distance I ate first sport gel with some water and Basica refreshment drink. On 14km which is one third of race I noted time 1:05. I said to myself oh god this is too fast I can not hold this pace till finish. From 15 to 20 I slowly decreased speed and on 21km I had time below 1:40. Still too fast for my feeling but it didn’t feel hard. Yet At that time I ate 3rd sport gel and this 3rd one was some new one I have never tried before. I know it’s typical mistake I should have tried it before. Anyway the gel was special because it had also some proteins inside but the taste was terrible. Even the density was wrong and I could hardly swallow good portion of it with lots of water. It’s all for the good I though. Man was I wrong. It took some time for this crap gel to kick in. And when it did I started to suffer in stomach pain. From 23-27km I was feeling sick all the time almost throwing up. I knew I have to hold on somehow just for my digestion to fight this gel. And it did. From 30-35km I kind of took it easy because I knew I had already good time in my hands. But, there always is a but, things can change. At 35km I got hit-stopped with so called wall. It’s like running out of energy with increased heart rate and faster breathing. Maybe the high air temperature contributed to this as well. Legs were tired but they could go on. I decided to keep running till next kilometer mark and then walk a bit just to lower my heart rate. I used this technique in previous hard runs already and I knew I will not loose so much time. And during this time I already started to calculate if I’m going to make it till finish under 3:30 or not. It didn’t matter anymore as long as I finish this misery. I lost about one minute per kilometer in that period of problems. It’s all in the mind.
At 40km mark I said to myself this is it you have to wake up now and finish it with glory. From the very distance I could already see the famous Brandenburg Gate which was a sign of 42km distance. Not the finish itself because the finish is at 42,192km So I rushed to the finish line with smile on my face. My official time on big clock was just about above 3:30 but that’s gross time. I knew my net time is below my wishes so at the end I made it! It was 3:28:53!!! Feelings were indescribable. I was so happy like a little baby getting it’s first candy
Immediately after finish I felt extremely exhausted even with slight headache. I took some cups of drinks and went straight to some grassy field which was in shade. I just laid down there for some 15 minutes to finally gather what I just achieved and to start feeling my muscle pains. Did some stretching and then to the wardrobe tents and to the friends reunion area.
With getting colder and calmer I started to feel the Achilles pain again. It was coming back but this time it was multiplied to the point that every step was hurting me. We then went celebrating with big and late lunch and in the evening some drinking
Thank god I had so many massages last week. And thank god my calf muscles didn’t complain at all. Yesterday we drove back and now I’m still in relaxing stage. I can fell my thigh and other muscles especially going up and down on stairs Achilles is still not in good shape and I just hope the pain will go away during this week.

Now that I’ve accomplished my big goal for this season I had enough of running for some time. There is still NewYork to be conquered which I’ll take it easy just for fun with no ambitions.

Big thanks to everybody supporting me along the way. Without you I could not achieve all these goals. Thanks again!

My run snapshot from Polar running watch (with no heart rate):

Iz Berlin