Blogging isn't exactly my favourite thing to do, so I'll let the pictures desribe my latest marathon, the 2012 Berlin Marathon. My preparation was excellent. There were no injuries, no missed training sessions and plenty of good training runs. Conditions on the day were pretty good so all was set for me to go out for another crack at that elusive sub 2:40!
Unlike most marathons, this one never felt easy at any stage. It's possible that I was feeling either the effects of a little too much site seeing in the week leading up to the race or perhaps I'm simply slowing down due to age (nearly 45).
Pretty much from the get go I knew that I would have to dig deep in this race. The km splits were slower than I'd hoped for, the heart rate was higher and I was simply working harder than I had planned. In saying that, I'd come along way and I wasn't about to go home without having a red hot go at my sub 2:40 goal. It simply came down to trying to relax early on and concentrating on my form, hoping that a second wind would set in after 10 miles or so as it often does.
Still concentrating hard here. It was feeling much tougher than my face suggests.
Starting to breath deeply far too early! Went through 1/2 way in 80:02.
Followng the adidas line and chasing the orange man! Perfect tangent running here. Right on that middle stripe. Gotta be happy with that!
No more help from my orange friend!
Still following the adidas triple lines!
This must be the longest most painful straight! The Brandenburg Gates are behind me but the finish line just never seemed to arrive.
Running Ugly! - Not much more to say!
Slowing in the last 2.2 km's (could only average 4:03 pace).
It really hurt - my face ain't lying!
It's finally over! 2:41 exactly. Gave my all, left nothing on the course. My second fastest marathon ever after 2:40:43 in April.
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Splits:
0-5 km's - 18:49
5-10 km's - 18:56
10-15 km's - 19:07
15-20 km's - 19:00
20-25 km's - 19:05
25-30 km's - 19:07
30-35 km's - 18:53
35-40 km's - 19:11
40-42.2 km's - 8:52
Smiling now!
Still smiling!
Craig Lambert, Chris Dwyer, Mo Alkhub, Stephen Bodnar, Myself
Enjoying lagers @ Tiergarten - The Rewards!
