Berlin Marathon

Berlin Marathon

Berlin Marathon

( 37 reviews )
100% of reviewers recommend this race
  • Berlin,
    Germany
  • September
  • 26.2 miles/Marathon
  • Road Race
  • Event Website

Mark

Illinois, United States
5 4
2014
"The Major that cares"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Mark 's thoughts:

I left my Berlin Marathon experience feeling like the race organizers really care about the runners. That said, there are a couple issues that leave the race short of 5 stars, but just slightly. More on those laters...

Registration: From the start, things go well. You are presented options. Of course you sign up to run. That's one fee, and by majors standards it's small. Next- will you want a finisher shirt? You'll certainly want to rent the timing chip that will be required (very different from in the US). Check the boxes and add a few euros to your cart. How about a pre-race massage at the expo? A jacket? Want your medal engraved after the race? All are options... Berlin does a VERY good job offering all the stuff you might want up-front. You pay for it, it prints on your bib, you get your goodies at the expo. I really liked the system, but given the time lag between registration and race day, I honestly was surprised at some of the stuff I'd already bought! I tried paying cash at the engraving booth, and the girl was kind enough to point out that I'd already paid!

Pre-race communications: After registration, the Marathon shares a steady stream of information, in English, on their very good English website. A few nits: for runners traveling far to hit this Marathon, the information comes relatively late. What corral have I been assigned? What do I need to pick up my bib? These things are confirmed just a couple weeks before race day... Patience is required. Also- the whole corral process is weird. The registration site isn't clear on what's required (you give them an estimated finish time for no reason). I had to email in a link to an official qualifying time to get placed. Do not hesitate to bother their help email to get the info you need. And oh yeah- your race number has nothing to do with how fast you are... they are assigned alphabetically by last name!!!

Expo: The Expo is in the old/closed airport, and is pretty cool. First the airport is historic- it's where the berlin airlift took place. They set up booths outside in the hanger, which is a really cool environment. But yeah, it's not a US expo with a ton of crap pushed down your throat either. But I found the Euro stuff interesting, and there's a bunch of rollerblading stuff to check out too. Like all expos, you walk to the end to get your packet, then pick up goodies on your way back.

Race Shirt: I think it's important to point out that the race shirt is nice. Given the trend in the US to give away crappy shirts (hello Chicago Marathon!) and make folks pay extra at the expo for any of the expensive ones, it was nice that the shirt design was thoughtful and kinda cool, in a Euro way, with a map of the course on the back, etc.

Shake out run: Berlin cares so much about the runner that they organize a saturday AM shakeout run too! You meet up at a palace, and hit the streets with thousands of fellow runners as you make your way to the olympic stadium where you end your shakeout with a victory lap on the track where Jesse Owens set his medal record in the '36 olympics. The shake out was REALLY cool.

Rollerblades: Saturday afternoon is the rollerblader marathon. European roller blading is a pretty good spectator sport. Hint- watch at the finish if you want to catch the dudes with bloody knees. We started at like the 5km point and they were all too fresh for such a spectacle.

Race day check-in: Things go well the morning of the race. It's well organized and spread out sufficiently so crowds aren't a problem.

Gear checks- There are a zillion gear check huts, you'll need to find yours based on bib number. This is a feature- they take your gear bag and hang it on the wall with a small number of others in each little hut. When you come to pick it up after the race, they have people spotting you as you approach who run back to the huts w/your number and magically hand you your things! no waiting in a long line, they care about you!

Bathrooms- there are lots near the corrals. People wait anyway in long lines near the gear check. Not necessary, but if you've got time to kill, go ahead.

Start Corrals- it's a pretty long walk to the corrals. You walk through a wooded area where lots of folks are peeing. This is a euro thing- it's OK to pee on a tree in the middle of a city in Europe- you won't be at risk of jail time like in the states. So if you feel the need- go for it. And don't judge those who do- you're not in Kansas any more!

Race: The course is flat. The weather is typically good. Berlin pays big bonuses for records, and the fastest pros come after it here. These are all positives. There's no good reason you won't set your own record here (as long as you get the right corral).

Course Navigation: The streets are NARROW. Corral placement becomes VERY important if you're running for a PR. In my case, my PR goal was 5 mins faster than the min in my corral (I was in the 3-3:15 corral, and ran a 2:54). It took a lot of patience to start slow and let things open up before starting to pass the other runners, but it DOES open up after 5k. I ran a beautiful negative split as the result :-) The course itself includes a striped blue line to indicate the shortest path through/around the corners. This is particularly helpful given the curves and sometimes unexpected barriers that are part of the course- just follow the blue line.

GPS: I was concerned about GPS accuracy in the urban setting- tall buildings lead to errors that can be misleading! Good news here- The only issues for GPS is at the very end of the course- you can trust your Garmin all through the first 24miles. But be careful- my GPS drifted off course as we navigated the final turns through the downtown area at the end! I was actually running my fastest pace, was jacked with adrenaline, and dying out there while my Garmin told me I was running ~1 min/mi slower than I actually was! It gave me a sense of desperation for the finish that I didn't need to have... check my track here if you like details: http://www.strava.com/activities/200516023/overview

Course Pacing: there are no mile markers. I didn't expect any, but had read at least one site where someone claimed they had some. EVERY km is marked pretty clearly- I hit lap to get splits on the course and managed to spot/catch all but about 4 of the 42 :-) Just make a pace band in km and it's no big deal.

Hydration: Yeah, this is an area for improvement. I actually had to stop at one point to force my way to the end of a table I almost missed. The water stops are short, on one side of the road, and hard to understand. They give out Tea? Don't fear, it's lemony iced tea and delicious! But you'll get it all over yourself as some German lady stiff arms it to you in it's plastic cup. They don't bother with many stops in the beginning of the course, which is a GOOD thing. You don't need water that soon, and until the crowds stretch out it would be a disaster on the narrow roads to have them anyway.

On course Experience/Scenery: Truly, it's just OK. Berlin isn't the most beautiful city in the world anyway. Running down the Ku-damm is OK. The finish under the Brandenburg Gate IS very cool. But again, the gate itself isn't the finish- there's a bit more to go after it, don't be fooled. The crowds are pretty good though- well distributed along the course. I was a little disappointed that it took almost 10km before I heard a stereo blasting 99 luftballoons along the course- hahaha. And you'll learn that Germans LOVE drums.

Race photos: Marathonfoto did a pretty poor job getting race photos with the interesting stuff in the background. "Look- there I am with HALF of the Brandenburg gate in the background! " Not one picture with the bombed church from the Ku-damm in the back? Oh well. But be aware there are HD cameras at a couple of the 5k split mats along the course, and at several places along the finish. This IS very cool- you can watch yourself online after the race- they know your splits and show you a little chunk of video from each camera that you are in. You can buy a download for like 10 bucks too- pretty cool, one more way this race caters to the runner!

Finisher Medal: It's the classiest, nicest I've gotten.

Finish area: The ultimate way they cater to the runner? How does a field of free massage tables sound? Pretty good? How about having a separate masseuse FOR EACH LEG? That's right, the local massage school sends an army of students who pair up and donate their time to ever so gently rub your legs after your run. Somewhere my buddy got a pic of me with two Madchens taking care of my legs- I need to track him down and get that pic! From the massage field, you head over to the gear claim, and as I mentioned, they bring your bag to you! A really nice touch. Just outside the finish area you can meet your family/friends, and walk over to the medal engraving area, where they take your medal and have it engraved in 5 minutes! A really efficient, well run operation.

Post race party: Lots of runners miss out on this. They rent out a small club/concert venue and host an after party the night of the marathon free to anybody who ran. They introduce each of the top 3 pros with amazingly well done montage videos, bring them out on stage and have a short interview with them that involves dancing around on stage. Then the Euro disco hits start up and everybody does their awkward post-marathon disco dancing. The Germans seemed to really enjoy the freedom to dance poorly with a built-in excuse of post-marathon legs ;-) Ok, that was just mean. Honestly, the party was a lot of fun on a Sunday night. The opportunity to meet the world record holder and get an autograph was icing.

Go get yourself into Berlin and do it. Do ALL of it- the shakeout, the post party, the race.

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