Report from Phil and Jane:
A strike by refuelling workers at Heathrow resulted in a short delay in flying to Berlin but we arrived full of enthusiasm.
We spent what was left of Friday settling into our hotel and looking around. We had chosen a central location, so the Hotel Berlin was not the cheapest, but it meant a 20minute walk to the main shops and a 25minute walk to the start/finish of the marathon. A pasta restaurant for dinner, of course, though they went a bit OTT on the garlic in Phil’s meal! The Antica Roma’s Roman tunic-clad waiters didn’t interest Jane, it goes without saying.
Early Saturday morning we took a bus out to Schloss Charlottenburg for the Fun Run. Adidas handed out all manner of goodies to the couple of thousand participants – hats, balloons, rattles, etc. So it was a noisy as well as an excited throng that made its way the 4 miles or so to the Olympic Stadium. We did one lap of the excellent stadium before going up into the stands for a few bites to eat and stealing a peak at what is left of the original and adjacent 1936 stadium.
Trying not to tire ourselves, we decided to take a bus tour on Saturday afternoon. As it happened, it largely followed the marathon course, taking in all the key tourist sites of the former East and West Berlin. The fact that it took 2½ hours by bus was perhaps worrying! The start/finish area was out-of-bounds, not least because it had also been used by 10,000 inline skaters doing essentially the same marathon course that morning.
More pasta that evening with an eat-as-much-as-you-like buffet at our hotel. We might have liked it more if it weren’t a bun fight to get a look in!
A good night’s sleep was interrupted with an early morning alarm call to join the hundreds of other runners enjoying a hearty breakfast in our hotel. At least a short walk followed, but with more runners than in London, it was a bit chaotic. There were plenty of strategically placed loos but, if possible, they were even more ‘basic’ than usual. With start and finish close together at least kit drop-off/collection was straightforward. Unfortunately, it had started to drizzle with rain and proceeded to do so for much of the race.
The start was carried out in stages with 10 minutes or more between each of the three phases from the single but broad gateway. We bumped into a couple of B&B harriers en route, including Dick Griffin. Meanwhile, Brian Smith and Dave King were obviously off at a fair gallop, as we saw nothing of them. We did see a few other Brits but they were few and far between. There were precious few charity, personality or costumed runners either – not quite like London’s traditions. Although the route passed a number of high profile locations it did seem rather drab – perhaps the weather was dampening spirits somewhat too. Neither of us had a particularly good race with troubles of one sort or another, our hoped-for times going out the window at different points.