A Journey To and Through Berlin

Signing up for an international marathon seems like a great idea, especially if the

marathon is a world major, but there is so much more that goes into than I thought. The journey to Berlin started ten months ago, when I found out that others were signing up and going. To qualify, I needed a 2:45 marathon, and thankfully I had a time good enough to qualify, so I decided I would hop on the trip as well, and the group slowly got bigger and bigger. There ended up being over 20 of us making the journey across the Atlantic.

Thursday at 10 a.m. I met up with Randy, Jess, and KK to drive to Boston for our flight. It was a little over a four-hour drive, but with stops, it took a little longer, and we parked at a park and ride to shuttle to the airport, where we got to relax for a few hours before having to take off. This also gave me time to get most of my math homework done, so I would not have to worry about it the rest of the trip.

The flight takes seven hours, which sounds like a lot, and it left at 8 p.m. I had never been

on an overnight flight before, but I do know that I am too tall to get comfortable on a plane, and even though there was a little more room on this plane than a traditional flight, it was still tough. It was fine for sitting, and I enjoyed a three-hour movie before attempting to sleep, I figured I would need to be very tired to try and sleep, and it did not work too well. I tried all sorts of positions. Just laying back as far as I could, trying to curl up sideways, I flung my legs over the arm rest, and I even tried to rest my head on the chair in front of me, but nothing really worked. I mustered up maybe two hours of sleep. It was so minimal and distracted that my watch did not even record sleep for Thursday night. Then when we landed in Munich, it was weird, because it was six hours ahead and bright out, despite it being the equivalent of 3 a.m. back home. At that point my body was so confused that it did not even matter.

The flight from Munich to Berlin was only about an hour, and I think this was my easiest

sleep, because I was so exhausted, but again it was pretty minimal. By the time we got into

Berlin and shuttled to our hotel, it was after 3 p.m. on Friday. After almost a day of sitting, we

decided to walk 5km to the expo to pick up our bibs. Along the way, I stopped and got a nice falafel on a pita from some random shop along the way, and I still think that is the best food that I have had all trip. I do not even consider myself much of a falafel fan, but it was incredible. I also had not eaten a real meal all day, so that might have played a role in it.

The expo was at an old airfield, and it was not much different than any of the other big

race expos, but there was one unfortunate circumstance. While we were waiting for our bibs, the system went down. We were literally a few people away from getting our bibs, and now we were stuck standing there for what felt like forever, but it was probably closer to 20 or 30 minutes while they troubleshooted the problem. Thankfully after that we took the train back, and we made it just in time for our dinner reservations at 8, and by the time that was over it was around ten, I was ready for bed, my eyes were heavy and could not stay open, and thus ended two days, but it all felt like the longest day of my life!

The hotel we stayed at was associated with the Berlin Marathon, so they hosted a shake

out run in the morning, and we got to run to the start line and see some sights. It was a nice and easy run, and it was great to see some of the prettier buildings in Berlin, plus there were people from different countries on our run, which was also great to see. Then we had a breakfast buffet after, where I chowed down on so many pancakes and chocolate croissants. It was ideal. The rest of the day was mostly spent lounging. For lunch I had a sandwich, and the creamy mustard on it was amazing! Then the hotel had a spaghetti dinner for us to finish up the carb loading.

Race day morning was not too bad. I actually got some sleep the night before, and since

we were walking distance from the start, we were able to get up at 6, walk down stairs and eat more pancakes and chocolate croissants, change into racing clothes, and make it to the starting area with plenty of time, but the starting area was so hectic. Understandably so, there were over 50,000 people there. To go to the starting shoots, we had to walk through the woods of this park, and people were going to the bathroom everywhere! (and not just peeing) There were port-a- potties, but of course not nearly enough. I waited in line by the start line for the chance to use one, but I was like five people away, and there was less than ten minutes till the start, so I elected not to wait, I used another weird outside toilet to pee in and headed to the start.

The corral was packed! I was in corral A, and there were people climbing over the gate,

so that they could be closer to the front, but I just meandered in right where the gate was open. I scooted in as far as I could and stopped. No point in pushing forward or backwards, that would be too much work. Also, people in the middle were launching their warmup clothes off and empty water bottles off to the side. It was chaos! While waiting, the guy next to me nudged me and asked me how far we were running (he was joking), then he asked how fast to run, so I told him as fast as he could for as long as he can, and I asked him if he brought snacks, and he pointed to his arm sleeve, where he had inserted his gels, so I showed him my short pocket where mine were hidden. It was a nice relaxing way to get rid of the prerace jitters. Then the gun went off, and 50 seconds later I made it to the start line and started my 26.2-mile journey.

The start was pretty cool. There are two sides, and it takes you to a roundabout with a

statue, and half the group goes to the left, and the other half goes to the right. Honestly it felt like I was slow jogging. I was so concerned with how slow it felt that I had to look at my watch, and the pace said 5:56, so that was good. It was by far the easiest sub 6 pace has ever felt, and after the first mile, there was a guy on the side of the road that had a sign that said something about staying strong through the pain, which made me laugh, because hopefully no one was experiencing pain yet, but I would need to see that sign again in like 20 miles.

The weather for the day was perfect. It started in the high 40s and ended in the low 50s. It

was incredible, but I was surprised that after a few miles when I was in the sun that I started to feel hot. It was not oppressive by any means, but I was not expecting to feel hot at all. So when I went to the water stops, I would get a cup to drink and a cup for my head. Also around mile three or four, the race started to spread out more. There were still runners everywhere, but I did not feel as trapped, it was easier to move around. This was also around the time where our cheer crew was supposed to, so I made sure I was on the right side like they said, and it was so exciting when I saw them, and Jess got a great picture of me!

Then I got to mile 7, 8, 9, and 10. I got concerned around here. I started to feel my glute

muscle, not even in a bad way, but it was like sending me messages that it existed, so I was

worried that it was a warning sign that it was going to get tired, so I had that nagging my

thoughts, and then I felt my stomach feel a little hot, and then it felt like I needed to go to the

bathroom. I was almost positive at this point that there was no way I was going to finish the race without having to use a port-a-potty (damn the pre-race bathroom line). Thankfully, I was racing, so I got distracted, and the feeling went away for while.

At the halfway point, I started to feel some of the fatigue. I had just taken my second gel,

which was my only 100mg of caffeine gel, the other two were just 30mg, and while consuming it, I was gagging, which sounds awful, but for some reason it always makes me laugh. Probably because I am having such an adverse reaction to something that is supposed to be helping me. It did not help that the water stations were super spread out, like every 3 or 4 KM, so there was nothing to wash it down, and the water was so inconsistent it was hard to plan, but I stomached it and used the boost well. Right after half way is when I was running at my fastest.

I love the crowds at races. They give me so much energy and help me to run faster, so

naturally after halfway when I was starting to feel fatigued, I started looking to the crowd for

help more. Sadly, this crowd is not the same as the Boston crowd. There were a ton of people out there lining almost the whole course, but they seemed more interested in just finding the one person they were cheering for than the people currently going past them, which is fair, but it felt like if you so much as make eye contact with someone in Boston, they would explode in a cheer. I still did garner many cheers, and I needed every one of them.

The ones that give me the most energy are high fives from the kids, because they think it

is so cool, and honestly not too many people gave them high fives that were running around me. So there were multiple times when I went to the far left side of the street, where no one was running, so I could give them high fives, and this would make the other adults around start to cheer for me too. So despite losing some momentum from slapping five, the emotional energy return was worth so much more. The other group of people I always yelled out to were the Mexicans, who were spread out all over the course waving the Mexican flag, so when I ran past I would yell Viva Mexico, and they would erupt. It was awesome. The other people I enjoyed were the ones that would read my name off my bib to cheer for me. It was funny to hear my name in a German accent.

The people who did not cheer that made eye contact with me while I smiled at them were

also funny. They would get a confused look on their face, like do I know this guy? Why is he

smiling? Then they would be gone in a flash. I do not know what it is. The people I have met

here are not mean, but they also are not overly friendly, so maybe that plays into, but I kept

trying anyways.

Most of the race I felt really good, but the fatigue really started to set in around mile 20,

but it was pretty easy to tell myself to stay positive because there was only 10k left. I always tell myself I have run 6 miles thousands of times, this is no different (of course in reality it is very different). Then I got to mile 23… It felt like every muscle in my upper legs were sore and that a cramp could happen at any moment. Thankfully this did not happen, and I knew that if I ran decently, I was still set up handily to reach my goal, so I allowed myself to be passed by the amazing people that still have the energy to push hard at the end, and I just kept telling myself I was going to survive and begging the crowd for some attention to energize me, and thankfully it was mostly working. People told me to keep smiling, so I did.

In Boston, I was welling up with tears as I neared the finish and the crowd was going

crazy, and when I saw the sign that I was one km away, and I could see the Brandenburg Gate in the distance the tears felt like they were about to come. I knew I was going to make it, and I could not believe it. I was going to hit my goal. As I ran down the straight away there were people lining both sides of the road, so I scooted as far to the right as I could so I could be right by the fans, and many of them did cheer especially when I put my hands up. I ran through the gate and put my hands up in celebration, even though I still had 500 more meters, and I went back to the right side and collected some high fives before crossing the finish line in 2:36:09. I averaged 5:57 per mile, and I placed 626 th out of 54,280, which is a world record for finishers, thus achieving my goal of averaging under 6:00 per mile in a marathon and being in the top 1,000 for the second time at a world major.

Honestly, I was expecting a flood of tears if I achieved this goal. It had been such a long

year. I was hurt for the first three months of the year, and that injury started in the middle of

October the year before, so it had been almost 5 months of not being able to train, and I had to start back from zero. Just one mile a day slowly building, wearing an ankle brace, and having to use orthotics. Finally, by July I was starting to feel fast and good again, and I ran the Boilermaker well, but a week later on one of my favorite trails I fell and banged my knee, and I basically took another month off of training due to a deep bone bruise.

The silver lining is that this gave me time to rebuild without wearing the ankle brace and

orthotics this time, and I finally found a way to relieve the pressure in my ankle that had still

been causing me serious discomfort despite my continual training, but I thought it was over. I thought the month off from workouts was going to crush my sub 6 dream that I had built up for 10 months, but it did not. I got in so many high-quality long workouts the month and a half leading up to the race that I was able to start to feel confident again, but I was still weary going into it. I went for it anyway. I had an amazing opportunity, and I did not want to waste it. There were so many limiting factors along the way, but sometimes the only choice is to persevere.

Now for the gross part. I had just had the race of my life, but now the bell was tolling for

my stomach, and I needed the toilet, badly. I went into the first port-a-potty I could find, and

when I finished going to the bathroom I looked up, and all the toilet paper was gone… I had been warned about this for pre-race, so I brought toilet paper, but I threw it out before the race started because it would have just dissolved from the sweat if I held onto it, and I did not expect to face this problem after the race. So I ripped the empty rolls off the holder and used those. There was some leftover tissue on the floor, so I used that, and I even used an empty plastic bag that someone probably used to carry their toilet paper. I did not use the banana peel in the corner, but I thought about it. It was awful, and as my dad said that must have been a humbling experience after that run, and it was, but it was also pretty funny.

Once that was over, I happened upon Ryan and Simon, and we worked our way to the

family meeting area, where we got to welcome others in as they trickled in before moving spots and enjoying an amazing fresh pretzel along the way (thank you Katie for the pretzel). There was an after-party spot, where I tried to eat my other snacks, I drank water, I used the bathroom again, but my stomach would not recover. This is normal for me after a marathon, so eventually I said I was going back to the hotel. I had a Gatorade like drink waiting, and I think that is what I needed. Plus I took a shower, and I felt so much better after.

Then I left again to go cheer on KK. I met up with some of the group right around the

41km mark, one away from the finish, and we erupted into cheers for KK as he went past closing in on the finish. We all finished the race, no DNFs! We worked our way back down to the after party and found our other friends and hung out for a little while.

I was sitting next to a guy from Amsterdam, and when I told him my time, he did not

believe me, he was like you mean 3:36? He was not the only one who looked at me in disbelief when I told them my time that day, which is an awesome feeling. So then he asked me how I do it. I told him that I just run a lot and do a ton of long tempos, but he was convinced that there was something more to it, like genetics. I told him I don’t know; I am just a normal dude that likes to run.

Needless to say, it was a great day, but it was not just a great day because I ran fast, it was

a great day because of all the pieces coming together. There was so much training that went into it that it was great to put to use. It was great because there were so many people out there cheering. It was great because I knew some of the people out there cheering and taking pictures, and it was great because there were so many people that were back home cheering me on and excited for me. It was great because we all finished the race. It was so nice to talk to my dad after the race, and it was amazing to see how many people that reached out to me on Facebook, Instagram, and Strava. I am beyond thankful and so lucky to have so many people around me that care and cheer me on. It does not go unnoticed. Also thank you to Miles and Macros for supporting and caring about me even when I was at my lowest point this year, they were always checking on me and rooting me on as I got back up to speed! Thank you everyone! Now, it is time to get back on the trails!