30th October 2007
Wow, officially I arrived in Berlin to face my 7th Marathon in 22 months. The weather condition was normal and the temperature was about 15c degrees but by the afternoon we had very heavy rain. I stayed at the Hotel in Zoologischer Garten - I would recommend you to pick any hotel in this location because it’s perfect as its a ten minutes walk from Marathon start/finish or two train stops also its includes the Berlin Zoo and shopping centre!
I went to the Marathon expo for pick up my registered number. I was suddenly surprised and impressed when I saw the very hugh expo warehouse, twice larger than all of my previous marathon expo. There were many exhibits displaying running equipment to sell and giveaway, even worst – free beer too!!! Berlin Expo is an excellent service for runners. I saw the bean bag exhibits and decided to try on it. I felt so comfortable and decided to close eyes… Opps, I’ve slept on it for an hour!!!!
There were two events for the marathon at the weekend – Saturday afternoon, I was at the in the last 500 metres making the event worth experiencing watching the professionals and those taking part in a skating race together race . With pouring rain my umbrella was a write off and I was soaked by half way through the event.
Sunday morning, I didn’t get a good night’s sleep because I was thinking too much about my aim of per KM per mins and also the route plan. Also during the night I seemed to spend a lot of my time looking at my watch! Sighs… At the start, the atmosphere was good, but runners were so pushing a round and everybody was inpatient. I was a bit nervous, and excited before a race started! I ran well for 20 minutes then at 28km then I felt a pain in my chest! 
So, I slowed down for 2km which meant that I lost 5minutes then I was able to go back to running 23 minutes each 5km.
The time is not too bad but I am slightly disappointed I didn’t get under 3hrs. I finished about 3.03! It was only 3minutes left under 3hrs… grrr! At least, I’m pleased I’ve beat my personal best by 5minutes… :-) Maybe next time!
5 km: 00:20:18
10 km: 00:40:31 / 00:20:14
15 km: 01:00:57 / 00:20:26
20 km: 01:21:55 / 00:20:59
25 km: 01:43:41 / 00:21:46
30 km: 02:06:59 / 00:23:19
35 km: 02:30:44 / 00:23:45
40 km: 02:53:51 / 00:23:08
42km – Finished – 3.03.38
Overall: 1386th
Overall: 164th (Age group)
By the way, I saw Haile Gebrselassie went into toilet before start.. He looks so fit and electric person. This was his seventh attempt at the marathon, and Haile Gebrselassie finally succeeded in one of the objectives he set himself when he launched himself into the 42.2k race five years ago. He broke the world record in the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON today, running 2.04.26, taking 29 seconds off the record of friend and rival, Paul Tergat of Kenya, who ran 2.04.55 in this same event in 2003.
I haven’t decided for what will be next marathon so I will be announcing it soon!
Oliver Westbury