Berlin Marathon 2018. The World Marathon Major.

Having to start your race so late in the day seems to bring more harm than good. Your body is very used to 4 am to 6 am starting time. 10 am starting may seem to be ideal initially, but it does bring some other challenges.

I went into the race feeling not too well. All maybe due to the lack of rest and partially due to the over distance shakeout. My normal shakeout run has always been 3 km. With tired and not fully acclimatized body from various reason (food, sleep, weather), it had finally taken its toll. I have reduced my expectation for the run itself. I knew that I couldn't have the race that I wanted. So I decided to just try my best and not beat myself up for it.

My starting time was 10 am. There were few pens. The elite would start at 9. Mine was supposed to start at 1 hour later. It was cold but sunny when I got out from the hotel. But still I braved myself with minimal clothing still. I had 2 layers on me; the normal inner that I always wear and the Srikandi Runners shirt. There was a place where you can regroup with your family members after the race. You would be arranged according to the alphabet of your surname.

I had to part ways with hubs at the gate. There were many people manning the gates. You had to show your wrist band to show that you are still the same person who took the race bib earlier. The wrist band couldn't come off, unless you cut it off. So chances of someone else running the race will be very minimal, if not none.

I had a decent amount of time inside. Went further in to get to nearby portaloo. Based on what I read, there supposed to be many more inside. So I went straight inside. There were long queues for toilet. We had to stand quite awhile. And it was not over until it was almost gun time. The countdown had even started if I'm not mistaken. So some of us went ahead and used any toilets that seemed to be available upfront. So much for civilised queuing earlier.

Crossing the starting line was of course magical. There cannot be any better starting line, at least for me at that time. It was almost the best place to start a race ever. It was on road Strase des 17 Juni. It led towards the monumental Victory Column. It was surrounded by Tiergarten (Berlin's version of Central Park). It was simply perfect. The energy from everyone was to the roof.

The first few kms went by pretty fast. I tried so much to control my pace. It seemed to be a good 6mins plus pace earlier on. But the pace got a bit faster than I should by 10km plus. I was hoping that I would be able to sustain the pace, given the course profile and temperature, but it got backfired by 20km plus. So, big lesson learnt; effort don't lie. If you are capable of THAT effort, you are only capable of THAT effort. The main thing is to identify THAT effort. Pace wise, you may be able to push it a bit, but effort is not. From hoping that Berlin to be on my side, it went right towards the other side instead. I lost it too early on at about 25km. Succumbed to walk. Couldn't hold the rhythm any longer. Pushed myself to continue the run after each stop. Enjoyed the rest of the run with collecting Ultra Sports gel. The gels have beetroot, which was what I was looking for.

It's almost a year from the race now. Not sure why did I take too long to complete the post. I had forgotten quite a fair bit of it. But as I am writing this, one thing in particular that come to mind was how struggling I was to get back to running from the intermittent walks (which was not that intermittent actually). The only thing that helped was the motivation was quite high. My ultimate aim, as predicted based on the result from the Ipoh 7 Bridges Tuneup race was, I might be capable of 4:20 full marathon. So I had that as my ultimate target. Anything lesser, at least for me to break the 4:30 barrier. Couldn't exactly remember when was that 4:30 mission crushed, but the realisation was actually quite early. The breakdown started at km 25, the alternate walk and run has helped me to get back into the rhythm by a tiny bit at about 3 hrs into the race. Anything below your lactate threshold is the way to go. Only then that I managed to identify that threshold. And that was how I pushed myself to the finish.

As for the weather, the race day was the day when Berlin decided to be sunny. I had 2 layers on me. which is both good and bad. Bad, it was so humid, I almost felt suffocated. Good, since I had 2 layers, I could take off the outer one. Wrapped the outer shirt around the waist. Good thing that the bib slide itself to the front, because that's how my pictures were identified.

As for the race, the energy and the crowd was overwhelming. The view was definitely fantastic, but of course you were so much into the race, you couldn't have enjoyed it as much. Water station, were abundance. Refreshments were served on long lines. Number of volunteers were huge. Even their jackets were fancy. I wish I could have one myself. Especially loved the beetroot drink. It was so nice. They served very nice warm tea as well. Not sure how did the tea has an almost perfectly warm temperature.

The finish was another magnificent place. It's one of the fanciest finish, if not the most. Upon seeing the the Brandenburg Gate, I took out the Srikandi flag that I put on my wrist throughout the race. I put the flag high up before the gate, passed through it elegantly, I hope, and focus on the final ~500m to the finish (the gate is not the final finishing line. you still have quite some distance to go). I took raising the flag a responsibility and I hope I had delivered the responsibility well. To wave the Srikandi 937 flag high, in Berlin land, at the World Marathon Major.

The feeling to have finished the race was almost like Cloud 9. I was ecstatic and euphoric at the same time. Grabbed whatever jacket you could find, although you were not exactly cold, since it was actually quite warm. But I had to have this memorabilia, just like the way I have seen it in most pictures. Met Manal on the way out. She was sitting and feeling amazed of herself again. Took some pictures with her as well, and headed out after, which was a very long way out. When I was almost at the tail end of the walk (probably almost 1km), I realised that the Srikandi flag was not on me. I panicked. It was such an important thing. I was so screwed if I cannot bring one back. My legs were so painful, I was so tired, but I had to turn back and try to look for it. I went all the way back to the finishing line. It was a very painful way back. There was none. Long story short, it was nowhere to be found. I had initially hoped that I could get some massage at the finish. I had to bid goodbye to that. It was already so late. I had to head back to the hubs, who had waited and most importantly, made my dream a reality.

Interestingly, but of not much surprise, there were a lot of Malaysian running as well. Met Cho's wife at the start of the race. Met few Msian as well (part of the gaited community), we chatted a bit before I left them. Ran alongside CK, a chinese guy, who thought I was very similar with Rina Hashim. We ran and chatted together quite a while before I had to eventually left him as well. Before we left the venue, we checked on the finish line, and to our luck again, we saw Dian Sastrowardoyo  finishing through he Brandenburg Gate.

I had a very quick shower, cause both of us were famished. Didn't even rest properly and went straight out. I had the medal on me, and wore it with no shame. To my surprise many others were wearing it as well. It was like the accessory of the day for everyone.

So that was it.

Berlin was...special in every way.

First overseas race. I had never had an oversea race, not even Singapore
A fast course. My very best bet to have a great timing. Flat course, nice cool weather, no prayer worries.
It was my first major (really hope that it won't be the only one).
My comeback post injury and health condition.

All are recipe for a PB. But one that I couldn't deliver. Few key issues identified were (1) the longer than required shakeout. Legs were not as fresh as it should (2) went out too fast too soon. I might have been able to shave off that 5 mins if these 2 did not happen. Anyways, we can always learnt from past mistakes. Fast forward to close to a year now, I had more satisfaction from Twincity 2019 MWM 2019 and definitely Ultron PIIACUF 2019.