9.26.10 was a silent observance of my mom's birthday as well as a celebration that I finally finished all of the five World Marathon Majors! In addition, the Berlin Marathon served the purpose of helping me to raise funds for the National MS Society. To date, I have raised more than $20,000 for various MS charities, running different marathons in numerous cities across the world. As a runner with MS, I am blessed to have my good health and the ability to do what I love more than anything in the world- run. Thanks to all who gave!Let's face it. Ten weeks of training doesn't prepare anyone for a PR race, but I went for it anyway. Entering the starting corals, we met with cold and rainy conditions, not ideal for a marathon. Despite the weather, our group, which included a large group of German runners whom we have had the pleasure of touring Berlin together, was quite jovial; many of us were dancing and laughing to the pre-race music, trying to stay warm.
Figuring a 9:58 average pace was all I needed for a PR time, I went out slightly on the fast side, feeling pretty good. The rain kept many spectators away, and with so many international runners, there wasn't much opportunity for conversation along the route. So I pretty much kept my head down and focused on one mile at at a time. The first 13 were fairly solid miles (mile splits as follows: 9:54, 9:47, 9:46, 9:46, 9:37, 10:05, 9:37, 10:05, 10:31, 10:15, 9:49, 10:08, 9:50). Crossing the half way mark at 2 hours and 10 minutes on my Garmin (official time was at 2 hours 12 min to the half way point) left me with the idea that I'd likely not PR and I'd have to settle for a finish time somewhere between 4:25 and 4:30. But things pretty much slowed from there, and the impact of a shortened training season was felt. (mile splits for the second half: 10:06, 11:07, 11:07, 11:27, 12:35, 11:13, 11:15, 11:30, 11:35, 13:11 (ouch!), 13:04, 12:31, 12:14). Definitely one of my slowest marathons, but an amazing experience nonetheless. Maybe its also time to consider retiring, but I'm definitely taking some time off to really heal.
I am grateful for having the opportunity to meet such fantastic people during this journey, some of whom will travel to Chicago next year for the 2011 marathon. At which time, I hope to reciprocate the warm reception that we experienced in Berlin. After the marathon, Tina, Joy and I left for Prague and enjoyed a few days of sight seeing and some amazing memories along the way!
