Yesterday was the last day of the year 2012 and it ended with a wonderful 10k race in the outskirts of Berlin on the infamous Teufelsberg. This mountain is an oddity in the otherwise flat as a pancake city of Berlin. In fact, it is the cities highest mountain and has the sad history that it is formed from the rubble of Berlin left over from Allied Bombing during World War II. I had feared that this race might be a bit hilly, but it was REALLY hilly, at least for somebody who has spent the past three months running the flat roads of the city.
Yesterday also marked three months of regular running, starting to train for the Berlin Marathon 2013, running our second race and two months of having quit smoking. A lot of hard work has gone into the past three months.
The Silvesterlauf, like the Berlin Cross Country run was organized by the SCC (Sport Club Charlottenburg) and in general is a very well organized affair. As with most of their races the information on the website could give some more information about the actual run and conditions runners should expect, but overall these guys and galls run a really tight ship.
We did not head their advice to take public transport and rather opted to take the car – should have listened. Traffic getting there was horrible and finding parking involved some guts and willingness to use the walk to the starting line as an opportunity to warm up. When we arrived at the stadium which served as the start and finish for the race we picked up our numbers and timing chips and set off for the starting line.
We lined up in the rear quarter of runners and anxiously waited for the blast of the gun. Exiting the starting block the pack was quite dense but it was pleasant running. And then it arrived the dreaded ascent up the Teufelsberg. Other people go running in the mountains to get ready for flat races, we do it in reverse – go figure. Despite my best attempts to keep on going I did need a few short walking breaks in the long ascent of both hills.
Once the we reached the second peak (of the “Drachenflieger Berg” which translates into kite fliers mountain) came my favorite part of the run, a trail with a relatively steep drop down. Running here, going really fast, watching out for rocks and roots as not to fall was quite exciting. After that is was smooth sailing for the remaining 4KM and I found a fairly good running rhythm.
Our long runs in training definitely paid off and the 10K was a challenge, but not unbeatable. In the end I did miss my target of under 60 minutes by 1 minute and 34 seconds – but in the end, given the two hills along the way I am quite happy with the result. Maybe next time I will follow my own advice from the last race and go check out the running track before hand. At least that is already covered for the Berlin Half Marathon, given that I have run most of that race track before.
Overall, a great finish to 2012 and a really fun run. Definitely will give this one a crack again next year – and use portions of this track for hill training for the marathon later this year.
[map style=”width: auto; height:400px; margin:20px 0px 20px 0px; border: 1px solid black;” gpx=”https://www.noordinaryhomestead.com/wp-content/uploads/RK_gpx _2012-12-31_1300.gpx”]
