Berlin Marathon: 3hrs 24mins 18secs

Sep 30, 2012

2 min read

Really mixed emotions going in to Berlin. Original plan was to run it with my brother and a mate - both had to drop out, and then in the week running up to the race I got some kind of man flu that knocked me out for a couple of days.

But I felt well enough to run and I am really glad I did not bail. The night before I was so nervous I only managed 5 hours of broken sleep. For race day, the weather was fantastic. Not much wind, quite cool and glorious sunshine. Start area set up well and not problem at all getting into your pens. As the countdown began I was bottling it - I hadn’t risked running all week, so would it turnout? Would I implode after a few miles? I decided to go off at 3:20 pace and see what happens.

Everything was going ok until about 25km when I started to feel my legs draining. I broke the race down in to 5km blocks and kept going. I also started to notice that there were loads of Danish supporters (I found out later Copenhagen is only 4 hours from Berlin).

However, by 30km I knew sub 3:20 was impossible. My aim was to make sure I nailed a PB and if possible get sub 3:25 and be in with a shout of Boston qualification.

I was so pleased to see the Brandenburg Gate - but the finish is about 400m beyond it. This was going to be close, my watching was now past 3:24, my legs would not any faster and I thought I was going to puke.

All’s well that ends well - as I stopped my watch on the finish line and read 3:24:18 I also burst into tears. Man Up Soderberg and get packing for Boston!!

At the end I crashed on the grass with my alcohol free beer and basked in the sunshine. You don’t get many moments in life like this so savour it and remember it.

My after race treat was a massive pizza in Va Piano followed by a Venti Caramel Machiato in Starbucks next door. Both were delicious.