They say good things take time. Well this has certainly taken some time so I can only hope its good!
It’s been about 4 months since I ran the Berlin marathon where I came 14th in 2:16:49, so I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on my run. I’m reasonably pleased with my result but there’s always room for improvement and it’s good to know things weren’t perfect on the day so I can learn from my mistakes and build on any weaknesses. My buildup went really well and I knew I was on for a pb provided nothing disastrous happened so it was good to get a return on all the training with a 65 second pb.
I’ve experienced the hospitality of the Berlin marathon before and they certainly know how to organise a race and look after its athletes. I arrived in Berlin on the Thursday before the race and was picked up in a nice shiny new BMW - top choice of headline sponsor there from Berlin.
I got to the hotel, checked in at the athlete desk, then went and dumped my things in my room so I could get some lunch before it was all gone (read hungry Kenyans!).
After lunch I chilled for a bit before heading out for a jog around Tiergarten where the race starts and finishes. About half a mile into my run I had to turn around as my intended route was blocked off with barriers and police and I could hear chanting and helicopters overhead. Turns out it was some kind of protest due to Big Pope Benny being in town. I was hoping he’d hang around until Sunday so he could get the Popemobile pimped out with a clock and be the lead car, but sadly, my wish didn’t come true.
I won’t go into all the intricate details of the next few days but it’s safe to say I ran a couple more times, ate a bit more and most importantly I kept well hydrated. I got my race kit ready and attached my personalised bib to my vest.
I also sorted out my drinks the night before so they could be put on the special drinks table for the race. With them being every 5km I usually go for something along the lines of: 5km water, 10km sports drink, 15km sports drink, 20km water/gel, 25km caffeine sports drink, 30km caffeine sports drink, 35km caffeine sports drink, 40km water. I put about 150ml in all the bottles except for the water which I just fill up so I can tip it over myself. I try to take on as much as possible for the first half of the race and I usually don’t have everything from 30km onwards. From memory, I don’t think I’d take any more than 500ml of liquid during a race.
I’ll get back to the task at hand, running a marathon, fast. The plan had always been to shoot for 2:15 and throughout the days leading up to the race I had identified a few others looking to run that sort of time. There were a few of the Brits, a Slovenian, a South African, and my Italian roommate and occasional training partner Paolo, so a nice little group looked likely and someone had kindly laid a nice little blue trail for us to follow.
I set my alarm for 5am so I could get out for a quick run before breakfast. We were staying quite close to the Brandenburg gate so I headed in that direction to practise my finish by running through it, albeit much slower than I anticipated 6 hours later. On the way I also took the opportunity for some more sightseeing by running through the holocaust memorial which was very eerie in the darkness!
Once back I had some breakfast and then got all my gear ready and headed to the start which was a short walk away.
I arrived at the elite tent in good time but underestimated how long I’d take to get my race kit on and by the time I was suitably dressed we were being called to the start line. I wasn’t too worried as I don’t do much of a warm up anyway so a few strides beforehand would suffice. We were herded back behind the line and I managed to get on the front row but I was a bit far from Haile to get any TV action from it. It was about here I made my first mistake as I didn’t lock the touch sensitive bezel on my Garmin. The gun went, I started my watch and we were off. About 400m later I realised I hadn’t started my watch as I had inadvertently flicked to a different screen! Not to worry, I had a cunning plan to reset it at 5km as that should be 16 minutes flat and I could work out my splits based on that discrepancy. In hindsight, this was a silly idea as the chances of hitting 16 flat were very slim and 16 minutes is not as easy to account for as 5 or 10 minutes would have been. Next time I’ll know at least.
The first couple of kms were bang on target at 3:12. There was a small group at this stage consisting of Paolo and a couple of others. The Brits who were also looking for 2:15 were up ahead slightly and the gap was slowly increasing. There was a slight rise over a bridge in the 3rd km and approaching the 5km mark I got ready to reset my watch. We ended up going through 5km in 16:07 which meant the time I saw on my watch was now out by 16 minutes and 7 seconds. It would become very difficult later in the race to account for this but at least I had the clocks every 5km to remind me of where I was at.
The next 5km were a little slower again and we passed through 10km in 32:20. Paolo and I were leading the small group and there was a slight breeze in the first half, enough so that I noticed my heart rate drop 1 or 2 beats when we turned a corner out of it. I suggested to Paolo that we let someone else share some of the work as I knew I was working slightly harder than I needed to be but nothing eventuated as the other guys were quite happy coming along for the ride. It’s always a difficult situation to be in because you run the risk that someone else taking the front might not be as concerned about the pace and let it slip. Another one for hindsight though as I believe had I been able to tuck in behind for the majority of the first half then I would have been in a much better position come the 2nd half. In future I will try to conserve as much energy as possible knowing that I may be slower to start with but also knowing that I can hopefully make up for it later.
The guys ahead were putting about 10s per 5km on us and I clocked it maxing out around 15km at 30s. As every km passed it was slowly closing which helped keep my mind busy and probably why the 2nd 10km came in a bit quicker at 32 flat. By the time we reached halfway it was down to 10 seconds.
Halfway was where I decided to say goodbye to my favourite running cap that I’d got from the Venice marathon in 2008 I loved this hat and wore it quite a bit but it was well past it’s better days. It had a nice ventilation gap where the cap had come away from the peak and the fabric on the peak was falling off so I could only wear it backwards as I couldn’t see properly wearing it forwards! It was time to finally lay it to rest so I had decided what better way to go than to leave it on the course where it could get trampled by 35000 runners. I wanted to drop it in front of one of the cameras on course earlier on so I could watch its last moments after the race. Trouble is, I didn’t see any cameras and by the time I reached the halfway mark I figured it might as well be now. As I crossed the halfway mat I ceremoniously took off my hat, threw it in the air behind me and said to Paolo “It’s time to get serious”. I really should have pulled out the classic Flight of the Concords line instead and said “It’s business time” but I’ll have to save that one for next time;)
Halfway came in 67:51 which was a little off the 67:30 target (only 1sec/km I guess) but I was feeling good. We caught and passed the 3 Brits in the next few km and Ant Ford came with us. Somewhere around here Paolo dropped off the group slightly but I wasn’t really looking around so didn’t know what was going on behind. 25-30km is a tough little section by Berlin standards as it has a small steady incline over a few km which makes it hard to keep pace. This 5km section was my slowest so far but not too bad coming in at 16:16. Around 30km Paolo reappeared and was back running with us but it wasn’t long before he back off again, this time for good. It would have been good to have Paolo stick with us for a bit longer but it wasn’t meant to be this time.
We were basically dead on 2:16 pace through 30km with the 3rd 10km passing in 32:22. By now the sun was out and I was starting to work harder but it was good to be running with Ant as we were keeping a good pace. The kms ticked by and I was waiting for the 35km marker to check my progress. It was here that I first noticed we were falling off 2:16 pace which was disappointing but given things were getting harder it was somewhat expected. My quads were getting tighter and my stride length was shortening but it was time to guts it out to the finish and not let all this hard work come undone.
Over the next few km I was trying to lend some encouraging words to Ant, along the lines of “this is where the fun begins” and telling him I was hurting (I’m sure that helps?!). Not only to keep him going, but also to take my mind off the hurt. I got a bit excited going up a small incline with some good crowd support and managed to get a gap on Ant so can’t have been hurting bad enough, though a bit of adrenaline does wonders, if only for a very short period. I was feeling a little better now but the adrenaline soon wore off and I was back to hurting. I finally started passing some people from ahead and I was on the lookout for the 40km marker as I had no idea where I was at anymore time-wise. I was hoping to be around 2:09 flat which meant I had a slim chance of dipping under 2:16 as all I would need is 7 minutes for the last 2.2km (I say “that’s all” but it’s actually very hard!). That plan went out the window though as I didn’t even see the 40km marker or clock! Turns out I was through 40km in 2:09:37 so I was nearly 40s off 2:16 pace.
After 40km there are a few corners to navigate and it helped keep me going knowing that Ant could come storming past me at any stage. He’d beat by around 40s over the UK 10000m champs (by our own admissions he’d had a great race and I’d had a not so great race so reality was we were a little closer) so I was keen to keep my marathon record intact against him after I went 1 up in Seville. I’ll take anything in those dying stages to keep the legs moving and get the last ounces of energy from the body. There’s a slight rise before you hit the main road at 41km heading home for the Brandenburg gate. This is always a nice sight even though it takes over 3 minutes to get there but once there it's just over 400 metres to go.
It was in this last stretch that I was passed for the first time during the race. An Italian guy came storming past me running about 3 minute kms and how I wish I could have gone with him! Never mind, the end was so very close. As I passed through the Brandenburg gate I could see a few guys ahead but they were a bit too far to catch and pass. I still gave it as much as I could and as I got close enough I could see the clock above the finish line was on 2:16 something with 2:17 fast approaching. I gave it one final push to make sure I got in under 2:17. 10 seconds to spare, which on a good sprinting day for me equates to about 100m;-)
I got through the line and was ushered towards the elite area where I went straight for the massage table after grabbing something to drink. I ended up on the table beside new world record holder Patrick Makau who was getting a lot of attention. I’m sure there are loads of photos floating around with Patrick on the massage table and this random pasty white guy beside him! I was lucky enough to see Patrick later on and managed to get a cheeky photo with him, luckily I was wearing my Kenya top.
Offcial Splits:
5km 16:07 (16:07)
10km 32:20 (16:13)
15km 48:22 (16:02)
20km 1:04:20 (15:58)
25km 1:20:26 (16:06)
30km 1:36:42 (16:16)
35km 1:53:01 (16:19)
40km 2:09:37 (16:36)
42km 2:16:49 (7:12)
1st Half 1:07:51
2nd Half 1:08:58
It’s been about 4 months since I ran the Berlin marathon where I came 14th in 2:16:49, so I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on my run. I’m reasonably pleased with my result but there’s always room for improvement and it’s good to know things weren’t perfect on the day so I can learn from my mistakes and build on any weaknesses. My buildup went really well and I knew I was on for a pb provided nothing disastrous happened so it was good to get a return on all the training with a 65 second pb.
I’ve experienced the hospitality of the Berlin marathon before and they certainly know how to organise a race and look after its athletes. I arrived in Berlin on the Thursday before the race and was picked up in a nice shiny new BMW - top choice of headline sponsor there from Berlin.
I got to the hotel, checked in at the athlete desk, then went and dumped my things in my room so I could get some lunch before it was all gone (read hungry Kenyans!).
After lunch I chilled for a bit before heading out for a jog around Tiergarten where the race starts and finishes. About half a mile into my run I had to turn around as my intended route was blocked off with barriers and police and I could hear chanting and helicopters overhead. Turns out it was some kind of protest due to Big Pope Benny being in town. I was hoping he’d hang around until Sunday so he could get the Popemobile pimped out with a clock and be the lead car, but sadly, my wish didn’t come true.
I won’t go into all the intricate details of the next few days but it’s safe to say I ran a couple more times, ate a bit more and most importantly I kept well hydrated. I got my race kit ready and attached my personalised bib to my vest.
I also sorted out my drinks the night before so they could be put on the special drinks table for the race. With them being every 5km I usually go for something along the lines of: 5km water, 10km sports drink, 15km sports drink, 20km water/gel, 25km caffeine sports drink, 30km caffeine sports drink, 35km caffeine sports drink, 40km water. I put about 150ml in all the bottles except for the water which I just fill up so I can tip it over myself. I try to take on as much as possible for the first half of the race and I usually don’t have everything from 30km onwards. From memory, I don’t think I’d take any more than 500ml of liquid during a race.
I’ll get back to the task at hand, running a marathon, fast. The plan had always been to shoot for 2:15 and throughout the days leading up to the race I had identified a few others looking to run that sort of time. There were a few of the Brits, a Slovenian, a South African, and my Italian roommate and occasional training partner Paolo, so a nice little group looked likely and someone had kindly laid a nice little blue trail for us to follow.
I set my alarm for 5am so I could get out for a quick run before breakfast. We were staying quite close to the Brandenburg gate so I headed in that direction to practise my finish by running through it, albeit much slower than I anticipated 6 hours later. On the way I also took the opportunity for some more sightseeing by running through the holocaust memorial which was very eerie in the darkness!
Once back I had some breakfast and then got all my gear ready and headed to the start which was a short walk away.
I arrived at the elite tent in good time but underestimated how long I’d take to get my race kit on and by the time I was suitably dressed we were being called to the start line. I wasn’t too worried as I don’t do much of a warm up anyway so a few strides beforehand would suffice. We were herded back behind the line and I managed to get on the front row but I was a bit far from Haile to get any TV action from it. It was about here I made my first mistake as I didn’t lock the touch sensitive bezel on my Garmin. The gun went, I started my watch and we were off. About 400m later I realised I hadn’t started my watch as I had inadvertently flicked to a different screen! Not to worry, I had a cunning plan to reset it at 5km as that should be 16 minutes flat and I could work out my splits based on that discrepancy. In hindsight, this was a silly idea as the chances of hitting 16 flat were very slim and 16 minutes is not as easy to account for as 5 or 10 minutes would have been. Next time I’ll know at least.
The first couple of kms were bang on target at 3:12. There was a small group at this stage consisting of Paolo and a couple of others. The Brits who were also looking for 2:15 were up ahead slightly and the gap was slowly increasing. There was a slight rise over a bridge in the 3rd km and approaching the 5km mark I got ready to reset my watch. We ended up going through 5km in 16:07 which meant the time I saw on my watch was now out by 16 minutes and 7 seconds. It would become very difficult later in the race to account for this but at least I had the clocks every 5km to remind me of where I was at.
The next 5km were a little slower again and we passed through 10km in 32:20. Paolo and I were leading the small group and there was a slight breeze in the first half, enough so that I noticed my heart rate drop 1 or 2 beats when we turned a corner out of it. I suggested to Paolo that we let someone else share some of the work as I knew I was working slightly harder than I needed to be but nothing eventuated as the other guys were quite happy coming along for the ride. It’s always a difficult situation to be in because you run the risk that someone else taking the front might not be as concerned about the pace and let it slip. Another one for hindsight though as I believe had I been able to tuck in behind for the majority of the first half then I would have been in a much better position come the 2nd half. In future I will try to conserve as much energy as possible knowing that I may be slower to start with but also knowing that I can hopefully make up for it later.
The guys ahead were putting about 10s per 5km on us and I clocked it maxing out around 15km at 30s. As every km passed it was slowly closing which helped keep my mind busy and probably why the 2nd 10km came in a bit quicker at 32 flat. By the time we reached halfway it was down to 10 seconds.
Halfway was where I decided to say goodbye to my favourite running cap that I’d got from the Venice marathon in 2008 I loved this hat and wore it quite a bit but it was well past it’s better days. It had a nice ventilation gap where the cap had come away from the peak and the fabric on the peak was falling off so I could only wear it backwards as I couldn’t see properly wearing it forwards! It was time to finally lay it to rest so I had decided what better way to go than to leave it on the course where it could get trampled by 35000 runners. I wanted to drop it in front of one of the cameras on course earlier on so I could watch its last moments after the race. Trouble is, I didn’t see any cameras and by the time I reached the halfway mark I figured it might as well be now. As I crossed the halfway mat I ceremoniously took off my hat, threw it in the air behind me and said to Paolo “It’s time to get serious”. I really should have pulled out the classic Flight of the Concords line instead and said “It’s business time” but I’ll have to save that one for next time;)
Halfway came in 67:51 which was a little off the 67:30 target (only 1sec/km I guess) but I was feeling good. We caught and passed the 3 Brits in the next few km and Ant Ford came with us. Somewhere around here Paolo dropped off the group slightly but I wasn’t really looking around so didn’t know what was going on behind. 25-30km is a tough little section by Berlin standards as it has a small steady incline over a few km which makes it hard to keep pace. This 5km section was my slowest so far but not too bad coming in at 16:16. Around 30km Paolo reappeared and was back running with us but it wasn’t long before he back off again, this time for good. It would have been good to have Paolo stick with us for a bit longer but it wasn’t meant to be this time.
We were basically dead on 2:16 pace through 30km with the 3rd 10km passing in 32:22. By now the sun was out and I was starting to work harder but it was good to be running with Ant as we were keeping a good pace. The kms ticked by and I was waiting for the 35km marker to check my progress. It was here that I first noticed we were falling off 2:16 pace which was disappointing but given things were getting harder it was somewhat expected. My quads were getting tighter and my stride length was shortening but it was time to guts it out to the finish and not let all this hard work come undone.
Over the next few km I was trying to lend some encouraging words to Ant, along the lines of “this is where the fun begins” and telling him I was hurting (I’m sure that helps?!). Not only to keep him going, but also to take my mind off the hurt. I got a bit excited going up a small incline with some good crowd support and managed to get a gap on Ant so can’t have been hurting bad enough, though a bit of adrenaline does wonders, if only for a very short period. I was feeling a little better now but the adrenaline soon wore off and I was back to hurting. I finally started passing some people from ahead and I was on the lookout for the 40km marker as I had no idea where I was at anymore time-wise. I was hoping to be around 2:09 flat which meant I had a slim chance of dipping under 2:16 as all I would need is 7 minutes for the last 2.2km (I say “that’s all” but it’s actually very hard!). That plan went out the window though as I didn’t even see the 40km marker or clock! Turns out I was through 40km in 2:09:37 so I was nearly 40s off 2:16 pace.
After 40km there are a few corners to navigate and it helped keep me going knowing that Ant could come storming past me at any stage. He’d beat by around 40s over the UK 10000m champs (by our own admissions he’d had a great race and I’d had a not so great race so reality was we were a little closer) so I was keen to keep my marathon record intact against him after I went 1 up in Seville. I’ll take anything in those dying stages to keep the legs moving and get the last ounces of energy from the body. There’s a slight rise before you hit the main road at 41km heading home for the Brandenburg gate. This is always a nice sight even though it takes over 3 minutes to get there but once there it's just over 400 metres to go.
It was in this last stretch that I was passed for the first time during the race. An Italian guy came storming past me running about 3 minute kms and how I wish I could have gone with him! Never mind, the end was so very close. As I passed through the Brandenburg gate I could see a few guys ahead but they were a bit too far to catch and pass. I still gave it as much as I could and as I got close enough I could see the clock above the finish line was on 2:16 something with 2:17 fast approaching. I gave it one final push to make sure I got in under 2:17. 10 seconds to spare, which on a good sprinting day for me equates to about 100m;-)
I got through the line and was ushered towards the elite area where I went straight for the massage table after grabbing something to drink. I ended up on the table beside new world record holder Patrick Makau who was getting a lot of attention. I’m sure there are loads of photos floating around with Patrick on the massage table and this random pasty white guy beside him! I was lucky enough to see Patrick later on and managed to get a cheeky photo with him, luckily I was wearing my Kenya top.
Offcial Splits:
5km 16:07 (16:07)
10km 32:20 (16:13)
15km 48:22 (16:02)
20km 1:04:20 (15:58)
25km 1:20:26 (16:06)
30km 1:36:42 (16:16)
35km 1:53:01 (16:19)
40km 2:09:37 (16:36)
42km 2:16:49 (7:12)
1st Half 1:07:51
2nd Half 1:08:58
