It’s funny how you start to believe you can do something. Last August I watched the half marathon, referring to the runners as crazy. In September I joined a company 5,5 km and surprised myself with the result. At the end of that month I watch the marathon runners, calling them insane. I still think it’s crazy, whether it’s a 21 or 42 km, but slowly I felt the urge to increase my running distance, just to explore what I would be capable of. As I ran a few 10 km’s, new ideas started forming in my head. Maybe I should sign up for the half marathon…
In November I started to increase my distances. 8 km. 10 km. 12 km. 14,5 km. If I could do that, then surely I could do 21 km? In December I felt comfortable enough to sign up, encouraged by a study friend whom I’ve never met in real life. Months passed and I developed a knee problem. A visit to the orthopedic surgeon resulted in a warning, “You are not a professional athlete you know. You shouldn’t run”, and a referral to physiotherapy. Luckily my physio thought we could work on training responsibly and she did not tell me to stop running altogether.
I kept going, rain or shine, or snowy, windy days. It didn’t matter. I had my program with 3 trainings a week. And this weekend, all the training finally paid off. On Saturday I went to the old Tempelhof airfield to pick up my number and the event T-shirt. In the afternoon I finally met my study friend ‘live’ over a coffee. It was freezing outside, with a killer wind, and I asked her how she was going to deal with that. I couldn’t store any clothes, so how would I make sure I wouldn’t freeze before the race even started? We shared ideas, nerves and excitement. On Sunday I was standing next to her as the count down started.
We stood in Straße des 17. Juni, the Siegessäule right in front of us. We were surrounded by people. there were over 32.000 participants this year. The crowd started moving, closer and closer to the official start. Adrenaline was rushing through my body and as I passed the start I looked behind me, shouting a ‘good luck’ to my friend. Then the race seemed to swallow me. I didn’t even really notice I was running. I was taking in the surroundings, looking at the people, holding signs with encouraging words.
The first 10 km flew by. Or I was flying. I don’t know. I was full of energy. I felt great! And I was running faster than my intended pace. In a way the race was like a giant slalom, running left and right around the people in front of me, with other people slaloming around me. I came to the Kurfürstendamm, which I knew was the halfway point. I had passed the 2 hour pacer, so I was confident I would reach my goal of running the race in under 2 hours. I just had to keep it up.
From here I used the water stops for some much needed hydration. Coming around to Potzdamer Platz at kilometer 15, I started to realise I was running. My feet were feeling it. People around me started to talk about ‘pacing themselves’ and how ‘breathing wasn’t the problem, but the legs were’. I ran past people who were walking or looked exhausted. The race started to take its toll. It was also here however, that I felt we were truly in the center of Berlin and soon I came around a big corner, heading for Gendarmenmarkt.
I felt my knee was swollen, since I could feel liquid moving inside of it. But at this stage, as I truly started to feel tired, I only had 3 km to go. 3 km! That’s nothing! So I pushed myself to keep up the pace, listening to the spectators and bands along the way. Then a lady was shouting ‘Only one more corner!’ and I was on Unter den Linden, with the Brandenburger Tor as my final destination. I heard a final cheer from one of the event volunteers and picked up the pace one more time. I started smiling from ear to ear as I made my final meters to the finish line. I made it!
Such excitement! I took a water, a banana and an alcohol free grapefruit beer. And I thought about how proud I was. I set a goal, trained for months and finished in a time I could never have dreamed of: 1 hour and 54 minutes. At first I didn’t even feel the cold. But it was creeping up on me as I walked through the crowd. I wanted to savour the moment, but I had to keep moving and slowly make my way home. Now it’s time to rest and let my knees recover. One thing I am glad about: from now on I will only have to run when I feel like it.
