49 Miles in Berlin

Forgive the absence. Mike and I just returned from a wonderful 8 days in Berlin. I will save the trip details for a later post. Right now I just want to talk about the running!

I ran six days in Berlin and covered 49 miles total. 35 of those were outside. The rest were on the ol' mill in the hotel. We spent the first day sleeping in as late as we wanted since we had been up 27 hours from traveling. On day two, however, we were ready to rock and roll! I had two long runs planned for each weekend, both 13 miles.

Since we had barely been around the city at that point I tried to map the simplest route possible. It ended up being very easy to follow and we saw a lot of great sites along the way! I think running is the best way possible to see a new place.

We left around 7 am so the streets were nice and quiet. I should also mention that the summer temps in Berlin are 55/75 with no observable humidity. Yeah, pretty much heaven. That's how summer should be, in my opinion.

The Tiergarten aka the Central Park of Berlin

Mike at the Victory Column

Approaching Museumsinsel

At the Brandenburger Tor

Along the Spree River

On our way back through Potsdamer Platz I found the wall line

I was really good about remembering to bring the long run basics with me - handheld water bottle, compression socks, body glide. I did, however, forget about fuel. I don't use gels and instead look for licorice, fig newtons, etc. I actually brought a bag of swedish fish with me specifically for the long run, but got too hungry on the plane and all of a sudden WOOPS! they were gone. Rather than test new food in a new place, we decided to forego the fuel. If we were running any longer it would have been really tough at the end, but 13.5 miles on a banana and piece of baguette for breakfast ended up working out okay. I only started getting ravenous during the last mile.

It's amazing what a weather change will do for your pace. I felt totally relaxed and casual, using minimal effort, and we ended up running both long runs in the low 9's. Crazy considering a 10 minute pace felt like a death the week before on the east coast.

Other than taking the scenery and enjoying the weather, the runs were pretty uneventful. I did fall flat on my face at mile 12 of our first long run. Too busy looking at pretty dresses in the store window. Thankfully I was unscathed except for an annoying bruise on my right hip bone and some dirty hands and knees.

I think the strangest thing about running in Berlin was just not seeing that many other runners. Considering the city hosts one of the world's best marathons every fall, I would have thought Berlin to be a runner's haven. Don't get me wrong, we did see some, especially on our second long run when we headed into the Tiergarten more and ditched the tourist hot spots. However I could probably count them on two hands. Strange indeed.

In my next post I will talk about the most important part of any vacation - the FOOD!