We did it! Joey, Katy, a few friends from school, and I--oh, and 47,911 other runners, ran the 49th Berlin Marathon at the end of September. We all put our names in the lottery last September even before Joey and I were sure we were going to stay a second year in Berlin. And voila!
This was the most fun I have ever had training for a marathon. We mostly did our long weekend runs together in the beautiful Grunewald forest near our home. Katy (who ran her 15th, yes 15th marathon), Joey (only his 7th-lame:), and I were so happy to have stayed injury-free throughout and to complete the final 42 kilometers on race day!
Here are some pre-race pics. The race didn't start until close to 10am which was a challenge. I like being done with my runs before I get hangry for lunch but I managed...I also love that we took the train from our house to the start of the race - such a fun experience.
The crowd was insane. I swear we never ran more than 100 yards without fans. They lined the streets from start to finish, including lots of friends/colleagues from school. The best fans by far though were Kiefer, Charlie, Scout, and their cousins Carmen and Leo.
I think they made it to 4 or 5 different spots on the course, sprinting around from place to place to find us and hug us (even as stinky as we were) and cheer us on, and it was such a fantastic sight each time we saw them, such a pick-me-up!
Not only were the fans amazing but we were running almost shoulder to shoulder with other runners the entire 26.2 miles. It was such a fun race. Joey said it was his favorite marathon so far! (--I like the 'so far' part!) What a day! What a memory!
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