Am I Ready For Berlin?

I think I am ready for the travel to Germany or other parts of Europe that is in the itinerary, but running Berlin Marathon....well, maybe not. How's my preparation so far? The longest run I had so far is 28km and only averaging around 55km mileage a week. Highest being around 65-70km. I have only have about 4 weeks to prepare and hopefully I could hit at least a 35km run and a couple of 30kms.

Just received the confirmation letter to my participation in Berlin Marathon via email. So, you may like to know "What's in the goodie bag?" Well, it's not as generous as the races in Singapore or Malaysia. If I'm not mistaken, we get a clothing bag and a sponge. What else? I'll find out soon enough. The rest of it, will need to be purchased. Since I'm heading to a land far away from home, I thought it'll be appropriate for me to purchase the event's t-shirt and also the finisher's t-shirt to keep as momento (yep, both need to be purchased). Kind of regret of not buying the Melbourne Marathon event's T last year.

Berlin Marathon being the top 5 Marathon Majors (London, Chicago, New York and Boston) attracted 40,000 runners this year and it was sold out by April 20. Some of the stats I got from the internet (source: worldmarathonmajors):

Recent particpation:

Year    Finishers      Male     Female

2007     32,638       26,136    6,502

2008     35,913       28,354    7,429

2009     35,035       27,965    7,070       

If some of you are interested in going next year (price may differ next year), these are the fees for this year's race:

Registration fee                        : €80.00 (didn't get to register at an early bird price)

Event T-Shirt (CLIMACOOL)       : €30.00

Finisher T-Shirt (100% cotton)   : € 20.00 (yeah....I know, only cotton Ts)

Medal engraving                        : € 8.00 (at least you know the medal is yours, right?)

Championship Chip (Rental)      : € 6.00

That is a total of €144.00! Well, thanks to Tiger Beer and Nuffnang for sponsoring!

There will be a 3-day Berlin Vital Fair which opens its door on 23 Sept till 25 Sept. Registered runners are also invited to run the Breakfast Run held one day before the real race. Everyone particpating will get a taste of atmosphere come race day. The start will be at Charlottenburg Palace

and ends at the blue track of the Berlin Olympic Stadium.

This is where Usain Bolt smashed the 100m and 200m WR last year.

There will be whole lot of other events happening on the eve of race day, with the Inline-Skating Marathon being the highlight of the day.

On race day itself, the itinerary of events will be as follow:

8.35am Start Wheelchair Competitors

8.45am Start Hand Cyclist

9.03am Start Runners/Power Walkers (not sure why the 9.03am starting time)

The Course Map

 

The start and finish line -

Boulevard “Straße des 17. Juni“

Time limit for marathon will be 6:15. I've registered myself as a 3:15 runner, so hopefully I will end breaking my own PB of 3:18. That will also be a Boston Marathon qualifying time for my age group. No...not really planning to run it, but it's good to know that you can qualify for it, right? Haha. I will be a little disappointed if I can't achieve the time, but at least I get to soak up the atmosphere on race day.

The Finishing

There are more information on Berlin Marathon at their official website or guide book for participants.

As for top names running the race, the bad news is that both Haile Gebrselassie (current WR holder) and Samuel Wanjiru (2008 Olympic Champion, 2009 London & Chicago Marathon winner) will not be competing in the event.Too bad....

MMh...now I'm thinking, should I go print myself a running vest with some for some form of promotion to our country or maybe Sarawak? I wonder if the Tourism Ministry would want to sponsor this...hehe.