Berlin Marathon

I ran the Berlin Marathon on Sunday, capping six months of training since we've been over here. Everything about the race was excellent. I went in expecting to run about 3:05-that's what my training told me I was capable of, about 4:20 per kilometre. I actually ran 3:03:25. The weather Sunday morning in Berlin was perfect running weather. After rain the previous two days, it was cloudy and a little cool, but no rain and little wind.
I got off well early in the race, it took me a couple of kilos to work my way through the crowd and find my pace, but that's not a concern in the marathon. At the halfway point I was at 1 hour, 30 minutes and 53 seconds - very close to 3-hour pace, although I didn't think I had enough in me to run the second half faster than the first half. However, at 30km (about 20 miles), I was still at about that pace and feeling good, so I decided to try to pick it up and go for it in the last 10km. I did pick it up - briefly. Then, as my training indicated, I tired, and the last few kilometres were slower, and more painful, than the earlier ones.
Nonetheless, it was a great race. I ran basically exactly what I thought I could, and it's always gratifying to actually accomplish what you believe you can. The two halves of my race were also very close - I slowed down by less than two minutes in the second half, which is excellent. And it was a personal best by 25 minutes - something I will probably never be able to say again.
While my performance didn't make the news outside of this blog, some of you may have seen the Berlin race in the news as Haile Gebreselassie (probably the greatest distance runner ever) broke the world record in the marathon while winning the race. He got to start in front of me, and consequently I never saw him during his run, as he ran 2:04:26, beating me by about an hour. But Chelsey got a picture of him early in the race. He's in red, surrounded by his pacers. However, as I finished, he was taking a victory lap past the spectators lining the finish route. I tried to give him a high-five, but he turned to wave at the crowd before I got to him. Still, running right past Haile was a fantastic way to finish a fantastic race for me. (Incidentally, this is the second time he has set a world record in a race I also ran in. I think he should probably hire me as a good luck charm from now on).
Chelsey was a cheering maniac during the race, making use of the Berlin public transportation system to cheer for me at six different spots during the race. The process of trying to pick me out from the thousand runners streaming by made taking pictures difficult, but she got a couple. In the first picture Jason's wearing green and he's near the right side of the picture. The second picture's of Haile.