Berlin Half Marathon Post Race Report & Things Learned

Since I was getting a bit wordy in the race report, I decided to split this into two posts. To read more about the Berlin Half Marathon, click here.

Berlin Half-Marathon Post Race Report

Right as you cross the finish line, there are just people everywhere. They are primarily runners who are recollecting their wits, but there was definitely a bit of pandelerium close to the finish line.

The first aid station you come to is water, then instant tea to bring your blood sugar level back up, bananas, plastic blankets to help warm up, medals, and finally, the creme de la creme — Erdinger Weissbier (wheat beer). It’s alcohol-free of course, otherwise everyone would be plowed in about 2 sips…but it’s actually an idea way to replenish nutrients in your body and restore electrolytes.

It’s pretty amazing how well your body adapts to the situation when you finally finish the race. One minute you are exhausted and just want to crawl up in a ball somewhere…and the next minute you’re feeling excited and happy. I won’t say that I was ready to run another half-marathon at that point…and feared sitting down on the ground anywhere because I wasn’t sure I would be able to get back up. But we took a few minutes to collect ourselves and drink a few things before we made our way over to the gear bag trucks.

Since we had a babysitter at home and a little girl who was fairly sick (at least when we left), we didn’t really want to hang around too long at the post-race festivities. Plus we were tired, a little sore and definitely in need of a shower and some real food.

All in all, it was a great experience and this is a fun, easy half marathon because it’s super flat. Anyone thinking about running it definitely should register soon. They actually sold out in 2013, which I don’t think has ever happened in the past.

And if you run for bling, here’s what the medal looks like. Kinda boring, but when you think about it, it actually looks like a gold bar. So that’s kinda cool. 😉

Things Learned during the Berlin Half Marathon

1. Body Glide the bottoms of my feet. I only ended up with two blisters and they weren’t nearly as bad as I thought they would be. But no blisters at all and less achy feet would have been really nice.
2. I must do some thigh strengthening exercises if I don’t want to kill my knees. I also think I need to work more on my foot strike and probably try alternating my shoes again since I’ve only been wearing the Boost lately.
3. Having a cheerleader by your side can make or break your pace. If it weren’t for Stefan, I’m sure I would have had a much slower time. Although sometimes, I am really good at kicking my own butt when I have no one else to answer to. But it’s definitely nice to have someone to share the race experience with.
4. I need to boost my self mentally before the next race and eliminate words like “can’t” and “quit” from my vocabulary! That may prove to be tricky, but I really let myself get down and feeling defeated when I should have been thrilled that we were doing so well. If I had just kept going, our time would have been amazing.
5. If you want someone to take a photo of you, offer to take a picture for someone next to you who is doing a self-portrait (bound to be 4 or 5 of them in arm’s reach). Then ask if they will take a photo of you also.
6. To give yourself the most space for running (and so you don’t have to run past everyone who is slower than you) you have two options: (a) Underestimate the time you’ll need to complete the race and try to get in the group faster than you, but line up toward the back of the group so you don’t get run over. (b) Line up as early as possible so you’re at the front of the crowd.
7. Cross UNDER the time clock at the finish line to get the best photos of yourself. Stefan and I actually crossed together. But unfortunately I was cut out of the photos because I was too far too the side.
8. Have some food ready to eat at home for after the race. We waited longer than we should have after the race to eat anything and we just about famished by the time we finally figured out what to eat. Plus it’s so much harder to decide on food when you are starving. We probably should have just picked up something on our way home.