On 29th September I took part in the Berlin Marathon, my 18th marathon overall and 13th Abbott World Marathon Major. This was also my second time running Berlin after the 2017 Berlin Marathon was my 1st time running a World Marathon Major and third marathon.

Ever since then Berlin has had a very special place in my heart, not specifically because of the race or it being my first major but more so the personal memories which came after the race. In 2017 the race fell on my mothers birthday meaning I was away and missed her birthday. She was in a care home at the time so I went in to visit her the day after I returned home on the Thursday. I showed her my medal with great pride, despite not running a good race in my eyes. Mum was never really a big fan of me running and the time dedicated to the training but she showed some interest in how the race went.

I remember pushing her in her wheelchair back to her room that night, wearing my marathon medal around her neck and wearing my bike helmet (I cycled to the home). I dropped her off in her room, helped her into bed, said goodnight and made my way home.

That was the last time I ever spoke to her and my last memories with her. She passed away that night.

With that special memory from the Berlin Marathon I have been hesitant to return and run it again, not wanting to taint that memory in someway.

After completing the six world marathon majors at the 2023 Boston Marathon, I now have a new goal of running the 6 for a second time around. I am half way through having run New York 4 times, London 3 times, Boston 2 times and the rest once. This will be my second Berlin star so I felt like I could justify coming back and running it again now.

I had spent the summer training for the Chicago Marathon in two weeks time and was registered to race the New York City Marathon three weeks later. Those plans changed when my NY flights were cancelled and replacements were double what I had previously paid (convenient?) so I cancelled New York. It was that same day Sports Tours International posted on Instagram that they had some cancellations for Berlin.

I already had a 24 mile long run on the plan for 29th September anyway, so figured, what’s an extra 2 miles if you are running that far anyway. So I signed up and planned on running it as a last long run before Chicago. Keeping it nice and steady then start the taper tomorrow.

I arrived into Berlin late Friday night, arriving at the Park Inn Hotel Alexanderplatz just before 1am Saturday morning after a very slow train journey from the airport.

Saturday morning I was up early, walked across town to run the Tracksmith Berlin Shakeout Run, then walked from there to the expo for the Bib Pick Up and Expo. After all that was done, it was lunchtime and time to head back to the hotel to sort out my Berlin Marathon Race Gear and put my feet up for the rest of the afternoon.

Early evening I headed out to Potsdamer Platz to go to Pizza Hut for my traditional pre-race pizza. A large BBQ Meat Feast with 7up.

I was in bed for 8pm although didn’t get to sleep until around 9 but then slept straight through to my 6:15am alarm. Just over 9 hours sleep the night before a race is a novelty, clearly running this race as a steady long run with no time pressure helps with the pre-race nerves.

I ate two pots of porridge oats in my room, washed it down with a 500ml bottle of Maurten drink mix 320, CAF 100. Topping up the carb levels. Then mixed up a second 500ml bottle, this time with Maurten Drink Mix 320 (no caffeine), I sipped on this on my way to the start and whilst waiting around. I also carried a Maurten Solid 160 bar with me which I had planned to eat at the start village but on the day I decided to not eat that, I still felt quite full from the porridge and two bottles of Maurten, plus there wasn’t as much waiting around at Berlin in comparison to the likes of Boston and London this spring. I did run with that Solid bar in my pocket and let me tell you this, it didn’t age well at all, its not the best tasting thing at the best of times but after over 4 hours in my sweaty pocket, it was a little battered.

Train To The Start Area

I left the hotel at 7:30 to head to the start area with the Sports Tours team. They had a rep leading us out to Alexandraplatz station and to the platform. Brandenburg Tor station is 4 stops away, around 10-15mins so it’s a quick journey from the Park Inn. The challenge was getting on a train. As you can imagine, they were packed, the first two came and people crammed in but we couldn’t make it. Finally on the third one we just piled in and got on.

For me, this was a big mental challenge. Back at the 2024 Boston Marathon, I fainted on a hot crowded train after the race and ended up in the ER, missing my flight and having to spend an extra 2 nights in Boston. Since then I have avoided busy trains, hence walking to yesterdays shakeout and to the expo. My heart rate peaked at 140bpm during that 15min journey but I made it, I had overcome a mental barrier and claimed a mini personal victory from this trip.

Start Village

The start village felt a little chaotic and disorganised yet at the same time most people seemed to know where they were going. Once through the barriers having shown my wristband and race bib I headed for a toilet to let out some of that 1l of Maurten.

All the toilets I found on the way to the start corral had huge lines waiting, in the end I followed what most male runners were doing and used a bush.

Once in the corral I waited around for about 20mins before the gun went out. I had taken a red hoody to throw away as it was fairly chilly but to be honest, the weather today was perfect. At race start it was 8’c, sunny with next to no wind. It did warm up but only to around 13’c so as good as you could ask for.

With using this race as a training run and coming in with a whole host of injuries, I was going to target 7:20/mi pace and see where it takes me. I usually run my long runs at 7:30/mi so I was going slightly quicker and with the injuries I had only managed one 18 mile and one 20 mile long run over the 2hr mark so I don’t really have the usual mileage built up.

Injury wise, I have had achilles tendinopathy for the last 2 and a half years, I can run and train through that but not ideal. What has been different this time around has been the injuries and issues resulting from fainting on the train in Boston. When I fell I hit my head hard, that lead to a cut, 11 stitches a lost tooth and shoulder pain. That shoulder pain has been the big on going problem, it progressed into neck and back pain, I have restricted mobility in my neck, basically I can’t turn my head to the right and the back pain is from a slightly spinal injury. Needless to say, the neck and back have caused many issues during training. I have missed a lot of long runs, had to cut the weekly mileage and the back and mobility issues have now caused hip, groin and IT band injuries.

Most people would be taking a long period of rest now not racing two marathons in 14 days.

Following Chicago I will take that period of rest, the physio has suggested 12-16 weeks rest and rehab to work on my back. This will in turn work on the hip, groin and IT issues and the rest will benefit the achilles pains too. Just got to make it through these two races.

As I said earlier, its a no pressure kind of race.

Berlin Marathon 2024 – 3:11:05

 Mile 1 – 7: 7:17, 7:12, 7:07, 7:16, 7:02, 7:03, 7:09

The start of the Berlin Marathon is iconic, all 58,000 runners lined up on the same straight at the same time, it looks amazing and the sight of the thousands of runners heading out on their 26.2 mile journey always gets to me.

As you would expect running around 30sec per mile slower than you have trained for, these first 7 miles felt very comfortable and relaxed.

The first mile I found I was really having to check myself and hold back on getting pulled into running a faster pace than I had planned. Being in corral C probably mostly with other runners who put down 2:50 – 3:00 as their expected time, I was getting passed left, right and centre. So many people were coming passed and it was a little de-moralising feeling like I was going so slow. I kept reminding myself, it’s a training run, don’t go with them!

As you can see from the splits above, miles 2 – 7 were faster than the planned 7:20/mi and by quite a bit in places. It was difficult to hold back and not run my usual pace and cadence. The good news though, the hip and groin felt good. Again, I kept telling myself, its only mile 4, mile 5, only mile 6, still a LONG way to go and the hip and groin have to hold up to the full distance.

I was running with a 800ml bottle filled with SiS Go Electrolyte mix, after the dehydration and exhaustion causing the fainting in Boston I had trained with a larger bottle to ensure I was taking more fluids on throughout the race. Luckily, today wasn’t hot or humid so it was less of a concern but by carrying my own hydration it meant I could run down the middle of the road when the water stations came up. Getting out of the way of the crowds and people cutting you up, holding a consistent steady pace. Judging by the plastic cups I was running over, I was glad I had my bottle too, those cups looks very difficult to folder and drink out of.

Mile 8 – 14: 7:05, 7:12, 7:11, 7:14, 8:00, 7:11, 7:12,

Not too much to write home about here, miles 8 – 11 were more of the same. Comfortable running, feeling really good and no hip or groin pains.

After mile 11 I decided to use one of the toilets at the side of the road, I spotted one which wasn’t in use and jumped in, this cost me 40secs but its a training run, no pressure today. I figured those 40secs to relieve the pressure on the bladder and in turn the groin area will be worth it over the next 15 miles. I even considered doing it again in another 11 miles (didn’t bother in the end). That was more or less the only notable thing from this 7 mile block.

What I did do after the toilet was change my watch from current lap (mile) to live pacing so that I could run at the 7:20/mi pace again and not be tempted to make up the lost time and bring the lap pace back to target. I had already run every mile comfortably inside the target pace so probably not far off breaking even despite the pee stop.

Back on the ball again in mile 13 and 14. Through half way in 1:35.56 in 7,243rd place.

Mile 15 – 21: 7:06, 7:22, 7:12, 7:33, 7:13, 7:13, 7:11

From this point you can start to tick off the mental milestones. Mile 16, single digits remaining, mile 18 second longest run of this block, mile 20, longest run of this block, mile 22 train station and back, we all have that one training route which we can look at when the miles are tough in a marathon, mile 23, the classic “just a Parkrun to go”.

Today I didn’t call on those mental milestones, I just wanted to get to mile 24 and hit that 24 mile last long run that was in the TrainingPeaks plan then I had a choice. Continue on at whatever pace I was still hanging on to at that point or 2 mile cool down or pick it up to marathon pace for the last 2.

Before all of that, I had this 7 mile block to tick off. Mile 16 was the first split which tipped over the target pace. I was venturing into the mileage I had only run twice in training for this one, mile 17 back on track again before randomly slipped 13secs off target in mile 18. Looking at the Strava profile post race both miles 16 and 18 had an uphill gradient. I won’t say hill as I never noticed them on the course but they do trend upwards. That’s my excuse because the next 3 miles were back on track.

Mile 22 – 26.2: 7:02, 7:06, 6:49, 7:11, 7:28, 7:06

Mile 22 came and went, still feeling really good. My feet were starting to ache a little now but you expect that 22 miles into a run, if thats the only issue at this point, things are going well. The hip and groin were starting to ache but not too much, at this point I knew I would be able to make it to the finish even if they really started to hurt. I could walk 4 miles if needs be (I didn’t need to).

At mile 23 I semi-lost the plot. I got confused thinking I was in the 24th mile so I only had 2 more to go and it was that decision time. Feeling good I went with the, lets pick it up now and run the last 2 miles (actually 3.2 miles) at sub 3 marathon pace (6:50/mi).

That mile 24 I went passed so many people, I saw three people who I had been trying to run with in the first 10k but they ran away from me. Now I was picking up my pace and flying passed so many people starting to suffer. I know just how they feel, I’d say in all bar 1 of my 17 previous marathons, I have been in their position 23 miles in.

When my watch ticked over and showed mile 24 in 6:49 I knew I had messed up and gone a mile early. I lost confidence in myself and backed down the pace back to what I had been running at. That turned out to be a good decision, I think had I tried to stick at 6:50/mi pace I would have been in for a tough last 2 miles.

Getting close to the finish and through some turns and taller buildings I think my GPS dropped out for a moment, I clocked a 7:28 mile 26 but I was still running around the same pace as the rest of the race, if not picking it up slightly when I had the Brandenburg Gate in sight.

Running through the gate and heading down to the finish line felt great. I had run start to finish without stopping to walk, this is something I had only previously done in the 2018 New York City Marathon, 2019 Tokyo Marathon and 2024 London Marathon. That’s back to back non-walking marathons now.

I love this photo below though, I remember this girl come flying past me, sprinting to the finish, putting everything she had into it. I looked at her time earlier and have to call out, she ran 2:59.59! how cool is that, putting all that effort in at the end paid off with a sub 3. I don’t know if this was her first sub 3 or if she had ran many before but you have to love the determination and effort she threw at it.

Brief roundup:

All in all, I really enjoyed my second Berlin Marathon and did not taint the memories I have of Berlin and my mother from 2017.

I set out with the goal of running a steady, controlled, relaxed way and did just that. The 7:20/mi pace target was kinda stuck to, I averaged 7:14/mi so right in the ball park. I went out in 1:35.56 and came home in 1:35.09 a 45sec negative split showing the consistency and that slight burst of pace in mile 24.

The hip and groin had held up well today, the physio treatment on Wednesday had worked wonders but the bigger question is how they will feel tomorrow, Tuesday or Wednesday. This race has given me a big confidence boost ahead of Chicago in two weeks time. I don’t think I have a sub 3 in me right now but if I could recover well over the next two weeks, there is no reason why I couldn’t run another steady race like today and maybe sneak 7:13/mi pace to be quicker.

Two ways to look at this race:

1. I was 15mins slower than when I ran the London Marathon 5 months ago, the injuries from the fall in Boston at the root cause for that slower pace and time.
2. Despite taking it steady, running the race as a training run with multiple injuries, I crossed the line in 3:11.05 which was 29:59 faster than when I raced Berlin in 2017 and also a 6 minute autumn marathon PB.

I’ll take the second outlook on this one. I knew it wouldn’t be a PB but a lot of positives to take from today. I ran a course PB an autumn marathon PB (that’s a thing now) and I had got on a very busy train.

I did walk back to the hotel, not daring to get on the train post race like in Boston so a half win there but I did make it back to the hotel with no fainting so I am happy about that.