I was on official tour to Germany and decided to club it with a short vacation with family. I also thought I should try an International marathon as I had not run one. Little did I know; what a wonderful experience this would be. The Real Berlin Marathon is truly an international race with – hold your breath – 40,000 runners at the start!!! There are people from over 100 countries and they all converge on Berlin for this annual exercise in self-flagellation. Imagine the logistics of making arrangements such a huge crowd of runners – especially the WCs to cater to 40,000 urinating and defecating runners!
My training was not much as I had to cope with an Indian summer and the Mumbai rains. Nevertheless, I decided on a conservative pace because I was in a foreign land with family and you don’t fool around with a marathon especially when you are 40+. I left my hotel on a dark damp cold morning to make my way to “Berlin Hauptbahnhof” and saw hordes of runners making their way towards the venue. I felt lonely as I saw everyone in a group. I dropped my clothing bag and went to my coral at the start. There was a warm up with thumping music and girls standing on a pedestal showing some groovy warm-up moves. I ignored it as any sensible marathoner knows – conserve energy! It was now 15 mins to the start and the place was truly crowded with impatient runners primed for the marathon, getting edgy. Then…….we were away and I made the sign of the cross.
I cruised thru the first 15K. There were more than 60 bands along the route playing jazz blues, swing, bossanova, sambas and rock. At one point I saw a “big band”, brass and all, playing “Take the A Train” and then at another point there were about 15 “grannies” playing huge Congos, drumming in unison – just fantastic. Berliners are very proud of this event and turned up all along the route, cheering runners. I saw many people hold up placards with “…….. I love you”, “Papa, you are the best”, “Go……go” etc. I was feeling the strain now, I think, due to the sight-seeing I had done with Monsoon and Bryan over the last 8 days.
I stopped at all watering stations and this was an experience in itself. There were at least 400 runners crowding for water and it was difficult to get your cup and drink it. To add to your woes you had to tread carefully on the road because there were about 20,000 plastic cups thrown by runners who left before me! I ate bananas that were handed out and felt some relief as my energy stores seemed to be replenished. I lost about a total of 8 mins due to this ordeal for water in addition to two pit-stops for a leak.
At the 25K mark I felt a vice clamping on my quads. I managed to hold my pace and looked for the dreaded 32K mark. It is so true that this point tells a story of the ones who ran sensibly and the ones that were ambitious. I saw, true to scientific fact, runners now reduced to a walk. Together with other runners, I held on to my pace and decided to increase it a bit as I felt strong. The vice around my quads now felt as if I was in the gestapo’ torture chamber. There was only the pain to focus on as I ignored the street bands. They were irritating now as I felt they distracted my focus on managing my pain. The only thought that carried me forward was the desire to see my family as they were waiting for me at the finish line. Km marks passed by…….36K, 38K ( I had missed 37K because of my pain), 39K, 40K, 41K….I saw the historic Brandenburg Gate, a truly emotional moment for all runners as we run thru’ these gates that mark the 42K point. I was not prepared for what I saw; the crowds were impossibly huge as most everyone who had a loved one running was on the side barricades. Thru’ hazy, pain-filled vision, I tried to focus on where my family would be and then I heard……”Daniel”!! I saw my wife wave out and would you believe it – she made me stop in my tracks to get a picture of me. Oh the pain in my legs!!! Anyway I ground to a halt as I felt it is worth the picture - I was facing the wrong way though! I now raced the last 195 meters and sighed in relief at a well executed strong finish marathon in 4:12:26.
We were not done yet. I had to walk with other fellow runners, a distance of about 3K before I could reach the “Family Reunion” area. Every runner complained about this until - they saw – would you believe it – FREE BEER being served to all runners – 2 glasses for each!! Imagine the expense “Berliner Pilsener” had to undergo as sponsors. It means they gave away close to 15000+ liters of beer! There were tents for a shower and each shower tent could hold about 50 persons while showering needle spray hot water. I saw 50 stark naked men dancing in the showers and did an about turn as I felt my clothing bag would disappear if I joined them.
I was united with my family in an area which had food stalls selling everything from sausages to crepes, waffles, beer and Thai food. There was a large LCD screen showing runners still coming in for the finish and below it there were roller bladers doing their thing showing off complex moves. I collected my “provisional certificate” and got my medal engraved with my name – a prized possession. The next morning I collected a copy of the “Berliner Morgen Post” which had promised that they would print the names of all finishers. Yup, my name was there, alright. I said a silent prayer, for all had gone well and my tally now came to eight marathons.
