Berlin: What to Do & What to Eat

Every summer since we have been together, Mike and I make a point to get away for a week, usually traveling to Central America or the Caribbean. This year I really wanted to go to Europe. It had been a few years since I'd been transatlantic and was dying to get back, even if that meant leaving my relaxing beach week behind.

We ended up settling on Berlin for a few reasons. For one, I had always wanted to go there since I did my study abroad in Rome. My roommates went for a weekend and said they had a blast. Secondly, Berlin is billed as being pretty cheap for a major European capital. Now having returned, I can vouch for that. We spent less money than we did on our honeymoon in Costa Rica and I still have euros left over!

Running aside, there is plenty to do in Berlin and we easily filled 8 days with activities. I won't torture you with the 500+ photos that I took. Instead, here is a sampling:

Complimentary breakfast every morning at the hotel usually included green tea, fruit salad, yogurt with muesli (there's so much muesli in Europe!) and toast or a roll with jam

We walked 3-6 miles every day cruising the sites and just enjoying the city:

Cool sculpture on Kurfurstendamm Strasse

Potsdamer Platz

The Bode Museum. We saw 15+ museums and memorial sites

Schloss Sanssouci in Potsdam

At the Reichstag on a gloomy day

Berlin Wall Memorial

At the Berlin Zoo

On our last day, when we felt comfortable with the roads, we rented biked and cruised around for 6 hours

I've never seen so many cyclists in any city. All ages. Everywhere. 

Food-wise, I can't recommend Berlin enough. Surprisingly we ate cuisine from all over the world except for traditional German fare. The city is extremely diverse and international. You can find everything from Chinese to Italian to Vietnamese to Ethiopian.

Bruschetta for one? Yes please! From one of the many amazing food trucks at the Sunday flea market, Flohmarkt am Mauerpark

From another flea market cart - perfectly ripe watermelon spears in a cup

So many wonderfully delicious quick-stop cafes for pizza and panini

Many scrumptious salads were eaten:

But don't worry. I ate lots of dessert too!

And you better believe I raided the grocery store our last night to smuggle these treats home. I won't tell you how long it took me to go through them

Lastly, this is Germany, so of course there was beer:

They were all awesome and all as cheap as a bottle of sparkling water 

And wine. We can't forget about cheap, delicious, European wine

We now return you to your regularly scheduled running programming. 

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!

Reflections on Running

Today is a great day. For one, I successfully ran 10 miles yesterday, my first double digit run since November and I spent 4 of those glorious miles outside on the bike path. I won't lie. Running outside after five weeks on the treadmill felt more challenging than I expected. I was surprised how sensitive my body was to the minute changes in elevation and terrain. The best thing about running 10 miles yesterday, however, is how great I feel today. No aches. No pains. No soreness or weird tweaks.

But today is a great day for another reason. Today is my wonderful sister's 22nd birthday! I might be a little biased, but I have the best sister in the entire world and I could easily write 50 posts on how great she is. Last year Caitlin spent several months living in Senegal for school. She stayed with a host family, spoke almost exclusively French, and had the oppotunity to completely immerse herself in the culture (including getting up and close with all the mosquitos). One of the best things about running is all of the places it can take you. You could live in a city for 10 years and never really experience it until you hit the pavement. For me, running and travel go hand in hand. So, I'd like to share a poem that my sister wrote about running in Senegal (complete with some awesome pics). Happy birthday Caitlin!

Reflections on Running

Hello. This is where it begins

The home turf,

Where I learned to love to run.

Monuments streak past,

Photo-bombing a thousand tourists.

 

Ohayo Gozaimas. Black and deep,

The water undulating as a rolling cavern

Dips past me unaware.

Strange buildings loom over the river

As I run silently and alone through thick air.

A tranquil place,

Retaining the spirit of the old country

Amidst the electric modernism that surrounds.

 

 

 

Top o’ the morning! A field of curious cows

Turn their heads to follow us.

Sheep blocking the path,

We find unexpected undergrowth

Emanating from the country road.

We step swiftly over creeks, up mossy banks.

The air is pure, the smell of time slowed down.

 

 

 

Buenos dias. My muscles swiftly climb stone steps,

Rising above the historic city,

Exhaling memories of ancient festivals past.

Tienes frío? And me in my summer shorts—

Pack light.

 

 

 

Kalimera. Feet pound against cobblestone,

A veritable maze intended to ward off pirates,

Now feeding my momentum.

A different winding alley every other step,

Until I exit the puzzled old town,

Welcomed by the open sea.

 

 

 

Asalaam Maleikum. Pollution leeching into my lungs,

Grabbing hold for a future with better air quality.

Excusez-moi, I need to breathe with those.

Yet in another village, breath comes quickly

In the desert heat.

Mangrove forests to my left,

Orange African sun rising to my right.

Giant paw prints guiding my way across the sand.

 

 

 

— No greeting here, anti-social society.

A different home,

Where I learned to love distance,

Hard concrete pressing back against my feet.

My personal peace in the city

That never sleeps.

Rehoboth Beach Marathon: Spectator Report

Confession: I was actually signed up to run this race. I know, I know. Its only three weeks after JFK. Stupid, right?

I was actually hoping to decide about signing up for this race the week of, since it is a small event and doesn't usually sell out. After the whole NYC Marathon debacle, however, runners were scrambling for races and I had to make a decision fast or risk losing a spot. So about two weeks before JFK I paid the $130 knowing that there was a good chance that I either wouldn't be ready or wouldn't feel up to running the race. After Baltimore I really had marathon fever though, and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to run 26.2 one more time in 2012.

Well, we all know what has happened since JFK. A big bunch of nothing! But while I'm cooling my heals and taking a running breather, my husband was still ready to roll with Rehoboth and had been keeping up on training pretty decently. So, at 3:30 am Saturday morning we headed out the door and made the drive down to the beach.

Even though I wouldn't be running the race, I wasn't too bummed to be missing out. Thankfully I was super sore from hot yoga on Thursday and the idea of moving my legs that much sounded terrible. Secondly, Mike has supported me on countless numbers of races, and I really owed it to him to be there and support him from the bench. I was excited to cheer him on and finally have a day that was all about him.

Up for 4 hours and it still dark out

As I said, this race is pretty small. Only about 1800 runners split evenly between the full and half marathon. I think they ended up over selling a little bit after welcoming some of the displaced NYC runners, but it was still way smaller compared to the other two marathons I've done in Philly and Baltimore.

We arrived around 6 am, picked up our packets, and headed back to the car so Mike could change and fuel up. The weather ended up being perfect. It was fairly warm out in the low 50s, but the overcast sky and ever-so-slight mist coming down made for perfect racing conditions.

Super nice Brooks long sleeve tech shirts. And you bet your ass I'm wearing mine even if I didn't run. 

I have actually never spectated a race from beginning to end, so I was really excited to see the elites up front. All guys of course. 

The race ended up starting about 7 minutes late, which was kind of lame. They also didn't seem to have nearly enough port potties for the field size. I don't know what the required ratio is, but I think I saw 10 or less port potties at the start for 1800 people and the lines were about 50 people long.

Finally the race got going, I waved Mike goodbye, and started walking down to meet him again at the 5 mile marker.

It wasn't long after I got there that the first half marathoner came through. He was totally alone with the next guy at least few minutes behind. I ended up seeing him finish the race. He ran a 1:12 half and the second place male was a full 5 minutes behind! Ridiculous.

Mr. So-speedy-it-makes-me-nauseous-to-think-about

Mike rolled past me at mile 5 just under 40 minutes, right on target. He ran his first marathon just two months ago in Baltimore and ran a 3:39:58. His main goal going into Rehoboth was just to set a PR and also pace himself through the first half better.

After mile 5 the runners took of north along the beach and then through a park. It sounded really pretty and serene especially with the fog and mist coming down. I didn't see Mike again until he finished. I stuck around the finish line to see the winners come in and spent some time huddled in the Starbucks across the street. I'm usually great about paying attention to race day weather, but as a spectator I totally dropped the ball and was freezing my tuckus off outside!

When the clock hit 3:20:xx I commandeered a spot right before the finish line with a great view of the runners coming in. Mike may have been skeptical about his running time, but I had a feeling he would come in sooner than expected.

Rounding the corner to the finish!

Mike's final stats: 3:36:40, 8:12 pace and a 3+ minute PR!

In case anyone is curious about how he pulled off two marathons in eight weeks, he took the first week after Baltimore easy, then did five more weeks of 15-20 mile weekend long runs, and a two week taper.

He had really doubted that he would beat his Baltimore time especially after no sleep the night before. I was sad not to run, but thrilled that I got to support him and be there to watch him set a new PR. Of course, after this race his marathon PR is almost a full 10 minutes ahead of mine. The gauntlet has been thrown!

What this Bermuda Vacation Was Made Of

I've been coming to Bermuda since I was just a baby. It's nice coming back to a place every year where you know what to expect. And while I've seen most of the island by this point (its only 21 square miles), I still get to experience new things every time I come and my old favorites as well.

This year I:

Enjoyed a much needed nap upon arrival

Followed by a short run to the beach

In which my sister and I both drowned in sweat

Took a stroll down to the square in St. George's

And played around on the replicas

Tried to accessorize with my cast

Enjoyed a meal at one of our favorite restaurants

Spent half the day at my favorite beach in the world, Achilles Bay

Ate muesli with greek yogurt and fruit every morning

Re-read some of my favorite dystopian fiction

Explored, for the first time, the Bermuda Railway Trail

Experienced, for the first time, having to bag my cast because of the rain

Curled up on the couch in a coffee house to enjoy some tea and more reading

Had dinner in the capital

Had a blast with my sister

Missed my husband

Returned home to a picture perfect summer day in Philadelphia

Planned to return again next year to do it all over again (expect without the cast)