Berlin

The dreaded weekend had finally arrived, dreaded not because of the company or the location but because of the marathon that Angus and I were running on Sunday and the fact that neither of us were feeling supremely confident given our less than perfect build ups. Nonetheless, it was a good feeling to be leaving work early and boarding the plane to Berlin on Friday evening and an even better feeling when we discovered that Jamie's father had a pretty good grasp of German. After a bit of a shake up through security in Frankfurt we made it to our hotel in Berlin which was right near the airport, so close you could almost watch the planes as they were driven down the road....yes, down the road, whoever said the Germans were efficient wasn't wrong.

The weather wasn't so flash on Saturday so after getting up early to avoid the crowds at marathon registration, Kelley and I got a train out of town and visited the Tropical Rainforest Biodome. This huge ex cargo hanger was home to a few trees, some wildlife, a couple of glorified swimming pools and some mean water slides and it was certainly a lot nicer than being outside, but it was a pretty strange place.







After the greasiest pasta I have ever eaten it was off back to the hotel for an early night to get a good sleep before the race.

Sunday dawned dull and overcast, absolutely perfect running weather. Haile Gebrselassie proved this by winning in a world record time of 2:04:26 - I was a mere minute per km slower which I think I'll be able to make up if my legs grow about 18 inches longer. I was very happy with my race though; I ran the whole race at a very even pace and finished with my best time of 2:47:39. Angus also ran well but faded over the last 5km which he was disappointed about and finished in 3:26. It was good to recognise the familiar faces of Kelley, Jamie and her parents around the course amongst the thousands of others yelling strange stuff in German.

Runners in front of the Reichstag after the marathon



On Sunday night we went out for a well earned German dinner and indulged in a bit of 'beer trading' where the prices of beer were dictated by the demand of the drinkers which was quite funny.

Monday was a slightly brighter day so we wandered slowly around the city, visiting the Reichstag, Potsdamer Platz, the Holocaust memorial, Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie before being held up for over an hour on the plane as everyone had to get off and identify their baggage. We were then told that we had been rebooked on the second leg of our flight in the morning but some quick thinking and good luck saw us safely on the plane back to London that night, tired, but pleased to have made the flight.

Remains of a Cathedral in central Berlin, bombed during the war.



Potsdamer Platz



Brandenburg Gate



Checkpoint Charlie