City 10 done: Berlin

Last weekend I did the big Berlin 25km road race.....

At the start of the race I was a little nervous as it dawned on me 25km is quite far (a lot more than my most recent runs) but since it was the only time I had been in a race of this length it was guaranteed to be a personal best no matter what the result!

I was put in the first start wave for the run and this was the first time in any event that I was so close to the front that I actually saw the elite runners coming out and lining up on the start line. They look pretty fit.....

The start gun went and within a few seconds I was off listening to my “party pop” playlist. The route was pretty flat and went past many of the top attractions including the Brandenburg Gate. It really was a fantastic route and a wonderful way to see the city again. After the 10KM and half marathon runners split off from the 25KM route I found myself essentially running alone. The leaders were pretty far ahead of me and I didn’t seem to have any other competitors nearby me either. It almost felt like I had the city streets to myself (bar some supporters along the sidelines) which was brilliant. 

I can’t deny that it is a long race and took a lot of mental preparation and focus to not get distracted by how far it actually was to the end. However; soon enough the Olympic Stadium was in site so I knew we were on the home stretch. I have to say though that those last two kilometers were pretty hard, especially as you have to circumnavigate the entire stadium knowing that just inside is the finish line. Despite the torture of knowing it was so close it really did feel amazing to go into the tunnel into the stadium and hear the crowd the other side when you hit the track.  It was a real treat of a way to end a race (second only to the marathon in Athens.)

Upon crossing the finish line I knew I had done well but wasn’t expecting this result:

Time: 1 hour 36 minutes 57 seconds

Overall place: 21^st

Men’s place: 15^th

Age group (male 30) place: 2^nd

Very pleased with myself I celebrated with some beers on Charlie's Beach:

I also came home to the following email from my running coach:

Top run, just seen results and shows that you ran very close to your half marathon PB then continued at very similar pace (10 seconds per mile slower by my calculations) for a further 3.9k, so that's fine stuff. It's a big haul so do allow recovery. Bet you didn't expect to come 15th as you stood on the start line!

So that's city 10 done for the challenge and I am almost approaching the half way mark!

Some nice re-tweets and messages below:

Until next time.....