Saturday before the Sunday marathon we met up at Charlottenburg Palace to do a four mile fun run organized by the marathon planners and open to registered marathon runners and their friends and family. Jim was very reticent about participating but ended up loving it. It was wonderful and fun being among a sea of international participants. The costumes were hilarious and we finished by running into the Olympic Stadium and doing one lap on the track.
After the fun run we had a nice breakfast at Noah’s Restaurant and Cafe which we liked so much that we booked the pre-marathon pasta/carbo loading dinner there for later that same day at which time we planned strategies for seeing Gayle and Deb along the course the following day. Sandy, The Race Director, came up with a good spectator support plan. Gayle’s family will see her off at the start and then proceed to the halfway point to see her again. Sandy, Jim and Marjy head to the 10K mark to cheer them on from there and then will see them again at the 40K mark which is near the end while Gayle’s family will see them again at the finish line. After breakfast the marathoners went home to rest up for the big run tomorrow. We hung out at Dick and Andrew’s home. Jim watched the rollerblade marathon which went right by the house.
Marathon day turned out rainy and cold but Deb and Gayle had trained very hard and really aced this course despite the rain. We could not believe how consistent their times were from the 1st mile until the last.
After the marathon we had a final dinner together near their hotel. Monday morning Sandy met Marjy, Debbie, Melanie, Mike and Gayle at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. Jim then met Marjy and Sandy for lunch before touring the Neues Museum.
Marjy flew back to Boston with us while the rest of the crew continued on to Amsterdam, Munich for Octoberfest and Bavaria to see the castles. We did run into Karen and Jack at Tegel Airport Monday morning as we were all headed to our gates.
We should try and hook up sometime. We will be in Melbourne till December 18 and then in Seville January 10-March 10 and Madrid March 10-April 15. Let us know if we overlap in any of those places. Will probably also visit our daughter in Portland sometime next year, will let you know.
[…] in pursuit of running the six major marathons which were mentioned in our last blog on the BMW Berlin Marathon. Kelly will complete the sixth marathon next April in […]
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