Posts Tagged ‘getting a bib’

Everything you need to know for the Berlin Marathon

If you are running or thinking of running the Berlin Marathon, here are a few practical tips based on my experience at the 2022 Berlin Marathon.

In this post you will find tips on

Decisions you have to make when you enter the lottery

Solo vs Team lottery

lottery

One of the things I love about the Berlin marathon, is if you have a friend you want to run with, you can enter the lottery as a team of 2-3. When you enter the lottery as a team you either all get bibs, or none of you get bibs. Just make sure everyone selects the team option. I entered the lottery three times, each time as part of a team, so when I finally got in, I had someone to share the experience with me.

Can you qualify for Berlin?

There are qualifying times you can use to get a guaranteed bib for Berlin, but they are tougher than Boston. To register as a “fast runner” in the 2023 Berlin marathon the required times were

  • Male runners up to 44 years (born 2005 to 1979): under 2:45 hours – Runners up to 59 years (born 1978 to 1964): under 2:55 hours – Runners 60 years and older (born 1963 and older): under 3:25 hours
  • Female runners up to 44 years (born 2005 to 1979): under 3:00 hours – Female runners up to 59 years (born 1978 to 1964): under 3:20 hours – Female runners over 60 years (born 1963 and older): under 4:10 hours

Are there other ways to get a guaranteed bib?

inline skaters race berlin

Just like the other marathon majors there are tours and charity partners, so if you are willing to pay for a tour, or raise several thousand dollars for a charity you can get a guaranteed bib. There’s one other rather unique way to guarantee a bib, if you do the inline skate the day before the marathon, then you get a guaranteed bib for the marathon the following year.

Gear Check vs Poncho

Gear Check or Poncho. If you do gear check, you get a mylar blanket at the finish line and you get to check a bag in the start/finish area.  The Berlin marathon is a loop so this makes gear check simpler, you don’t have to worry about a cut-off time for dropping off your bag on race day. Runners who selected Gear Check will be provided a clear plastic bag when they pick up their bib. Random bit of trivia, the bib numbers are different ranges for runners who chose poncho vs gear check. At the New York marathon a lot of people choose the ponchos because it’s such a long walk to gear check. In Berlin the walk to gear check is similar to the walk to pick up your poncho. Also, anyone who selected poncho is NOT allowed to take a mylar blanket.  I chose gear check, my sister chose poncho. I am glad I chose gear check. My sister said if she were ever to run it again she would choose gear check as she was quite cold after the race and found it a long walk to get the poncho.

Do you want a finisher shirt?

Berlin marathon t shirt

You do not get a Berlin marathon shirt included with your race registration. You have the option to pre-purchase a shirt when you register. If you do, then when you pick up your bib you will have a little code on your bib indicating you pre-purchased clothing and you are sent to another line up to pick up your items. I pre-purchased a finisher shirt, but there were lots of nice shorts, jackets, hats, etc… in the Berlin Marathon race store at the expo. So, don’t stress too much over this decision. If you don’t buy a shirt when you register, you will have the opportunity to pick something out at the expo. The store is a bit crowded with all the other runners around and finding a specific size can be a bit of a challenge. On the flip side it was nice to be able to try things on to make sure they fit.

Got your bib? Time to plan the trip

Where to stay

The runner’s entrance is on the Northeast corner of the park, Grosser Tiergarten, about 400 metres from the Brandenburg Gate making it a useful landmark. If you book a hotel on the South end of the park, don’t assume you can cut through the park or enter from the South side. You may have to take a significant detour to get around the start/finish area to the runner’s entrance. There are a fair number of hotels and apartments you can rent near the park. I stayed near Potsdamer Platz and found it a fairly easy walk to the start area. I saw a few clever runners who took advantage of the rental electric scooters to get themselves to the start.

runners entrance berlin marathon start area

There are many hotels listed on the marathon website, but there are lots of other hotel options that are not listed. Berlin also has apartment rental services such as AirBnB.  I know in cities like Chicago and Boston on marathon weekends, there have been incidents with hosts cancelling bookings and reposting for higher prices, I personally did not hear any stories of this happening in Berlin.

It’s not essential to stay close to the start. The Metro system in Berlin is very efficient and because the race doesn’t start until 9 AM, you can absolutely take the Metro to the start line (it’s also free for runners on Sunday).

Getting from the airport into town

International flights will likely land at Brandenburg airport. There are Ubers and taxis available, and it’s a 30-60 minute drive depending on traffic.

Brandenburg airport has its own Metro stop, so public transit is a reasonable option. See the section on using the Metro for details on how to navigate the Metro system. What you need to know specifically for the airport, is that the airport is located in zone C, so you require an ABC ticket when travelling to or from the airport. In addition to the regular metro (U & S trains), there are express trains (labelled FEX) that may pop up as options as well. The fares and tickets for FEX trains are the same for these as the regular metro, so don’t hesitate to take FEX if it pops up as an option. If you are landing at Terminal 1 or 2, there is a train station on the lower level (level U2). You purchase your tickets from the ticket machine on the train platform don’t forget to put the ticket in the validation machine to be punched after you buy the ticket. Terminal 5 was not operating flights in 2022, but there is a Metro station there as well.

Taking the train to/from Berlin

Unlike in North America, the train is a very practical way to travel in Europe. The high speed Inter City express (ICE) train stops at Berlin Central Station. This is the main station in Berlin and is located about 2 km from the Brandenburg Gate. Even if you are flying to Berlin, the train is a convenient way to visit other European cities during your trip.

You’ve arrived in Berlin!

Shopping for marathon essentials

Since they lost our luggage and it did not get back to us until 7 days after we landed (9 PM Sunday AFTER the marathon), I learned a lot about where to buy what in Berlin.  I am not into high fashion, jewellery, or shoes, so I can’t help you there, but here’s what I can help you with.

bananas

Groceries – REWE is the main grocery chain where you will find your pre or post race food including bananas, bread, single serving oatmeal packets, chips, cookies, chocolate, wine, beer, champagne

Drug store – DM is the main drug store chain where you will find sunscreen, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste and such, but you will NOT find Ibuprofen, Antacids, etc… – You won’t find these at the hotel gift shop or grocery store either. In Germany, pharmacists have to dispense all drugs, even over the counter drugs. You don’t need a prescription, but you will need to go into an Apotheke and wait for a turn to speak to the pharmacist. 

Running gear – The race expo will probably have everything you need, but you can also check out Decathlon sports at AlexanderPlatz, they have a basic running section, and I found the German equivalent of Body Glide near the checkout counter.

Local SIM Cards, general clothing needs – The Mall of Berlin is centrally located and has three floors of shops and a food court. Vodafone is in the basement and can set you up with a SIM card, though I suspect we got oversold based on what my sister paid for hers. You will run past the Mall of Berlin on race day, but I recommend shopping before rather than during the race.

Funky local shops that are fun to visit – the Playmobil and the Lego shops in Mall of Berlin are cool. Advent calendars are popular here and will be on sale in September. Some of them are really impressive! You should also check out one of the Ampelman shops. Ampelman is what they call the little light up guy on the cross walk signs. There’s an Ampelman shop not far from Brandenburg Gate.  If you are into record shopping, do a little research and you will probably find the record shop of your dreams, as there are lots of different ones many of which specialize in a particular type of music (Coretex has an impressive selection of heavy metal). Sadly for metal fans, the Rammstein shop is only open one day a month but a must visit if you are a fan and the timing works out. Keep an eye out for funky art galleries as well!

Getting around in Berlin

metro directions berlin

The public transit system is impressive and efficient. In 2022, all runners got an email that allowed them to download a ‘card’ that provides them with free transit from Thursday through Sunday. For those not running, or for travel outside Thursday – Sunday, you can buy single one way tickets (ABC to get to or from airport, AB for travelling around in the city). But, the simplest solution is to purchase a Welcome Card. You can buy 24 hr up to 5 day Welcome Cards.  You have to choose between zones AB and ABC.  The only reason you would want ABC is if you are going to the airport, chances are everything else you are doing is in zone AB. All ticket types can be purchased from ticket machines on the train platform. After you purchase the ticket or the Welcome card you need to validate it. There should be a little machine with a slot, you insert your purchased ticket in the slot and that punches it with a time stamp making it valid for travel.  There are no machines or people checking for train tickets at the entrance or exit, instead random checks are done on trains to ensure passengers have a valid ticket.

I used Google Maps to navigate the Metro system. Google maps will tell you to take a U or an S train.  Look around for an entrance with the U or S. Some stations have S and U trains. Your Google map instructions may say U2 or it might say S1/S2/S25 if there are multiple numbers listed that means any of those trains will get you to your destination. All you have to figure out now is which direction train you want.  The last stop on the train line will be listed on the signage e.g. Bernau vs  Blankenfelde on the S2. If the train itself is not going to the end of the line it will be listed with the name of the station where it stops running, but as long as you have the right platform it is taking you in the correct direction. There is a metro map on just about every train platform you can use to double check if you aren’t sure. Most trains have maps and a electronic sign that tells you which stop is next. Google maps will also suggest which of the multiple exits of the Metro to use. Unfortunately, I found the signage didn’t always match the Google Maps exit suggestions, so often found myself walking out a random exit, going outside and had to walk a little further or cross an extra street or two because I never mastered finding the most efficient exit. 

Uber/Grab/Lyft

Uber is readily available in Berlin, I don’t know about Lyft or Grab. You can also get taxis.  I have friends who took Ubers everywhere. I took the Metro unless I had a lot of luggage to carry around. It cost me about 50 Euro to get from my hotel at Potsdamer Platz to the airport. One word of warning, on Saturday they have an inline skating race on the marathon course, so that means lots of road closures. So even if you generally take Uber, you might want to take the Metro between 2-7 PM Saturday.

Race Expo

Bib Pick up

The Race Expo is at Tempelhof airport. Quite a cool location actually. If taking the metro you will want to exit at Platz der Luftbrucke. When you exit the station you will see volunteers pointing you and all the other runners in the direction of the expo entrance about 400-600 meters away. The location makes for interesting scenery as you walk past abandoned check in counters on the way in, walk out through the gates onto the tarmac and into an actual airplane hangar for the expo itself.

tarmac tempelhof airport

Signage in the expo is limited and I found it very confusing, but the volunteers were helpful if you stopped to ask, so if you are lost or can’t figure something out, ask a volunteer, most of them speak fluent English.

In 2022, Once you enter the expo stay to the right and go all the way to the end to pick up your bib. If you pre-ordered any clothing there is a separate line right after you pick up your bib for pre-ordered clothing pick up. If you selected Bag Check you will receive your clear bag for bag check with your bib, if you selected Poncho you’ll just get your bib. As you exit the bib pick up, you will find yourself in the official Berlin marathon store area where you can find Berlin marathon, jackets, t-shirts, shorts, etc… Be prepared to hunt for sizes. If you are in the Men’s area and everything appears to be size Medium, you might be looking at the “M” for Men label instead of the size (learned that the hard way). In 2022, all the race gear was Adidas so the jacket is similar fabric and style (different colors) to what you get at Boston or London.  Nice that they had some colorful clothing for the men!  Not all guys want to spend their entire lives wearing blue, black and grey.

clothing store race expo berlin marathon

If you have friends and family coming with you to the expo to cheer you on, they will not be able to enter the bib pick up with you. Instead, when you enter the bib pick up line on the right, there is a little aisle on the left which they can take straight into the official Berlin marathon clothing store to meet you after you have your bib. Once you exit the marathon store the rest of the exhibitors are spread out across the airplane hangar which is a nice big space. We were able to find t-shirts, recovery sandals to replace the ones in my lost luggage (I love Oofos), gloves, body glide, compression socks, etc with little difficulty. There were about 3 different running shoe vendors on site as well, and because it’s Germany, you can wander around the expo with beer in hand (Non-alcoholic Erdinger is a race sponsor, Germany in general has a great selection of NA beers and drinks in general, be great when North America catches up on that front). When you exit the expo hall and go back on the tarmac there are a few food vendors around as well.

Expo Hall Photo Ops

There’s a wall you can sign and there are a few big posters inside and outside that make for good pics if you don’t want to line up for the official one. Outside on the tarmac you will also find the Candy bomber which is a neat little part of Berlin history.

As is often the case at the big races, the sooner you can get to the race expo the better. Thursday evening is busy, Friday morning is worse, Friday evening is even worse. Also, the later you go, the harder it is to find clothing in your size. 

There are some additional photo ops near Brandenburg gate and the Finish line. In 2022, they had a wall of fame with the names of all the runners.

Exploring Berlin before the race

Eating out in Berlin

pasta dish

There are no shortage of Italian restaurants for your pre-race meal Saturday night. I do recommend reservations for your evening meals. More than once we selected a restaurant, arrived, saw empty tables and were told they were all reserved. After three nights of wandering around trying to find alternatives, we learned our lesson and made reservations for the all subsequent dinners and found that much less stressful, and we got better food since we weren’t limited to whatever nearby restaurant had an empty table.  If you can’t reserve online, you can always ask your hotel concierge or front desk to help you call to make a reservation.

Tipping is always confusing in a new country. So lets be clear on this, you do leave tips in Berlin. When you pay by credit card you do not have the option of adding a tip, so you need to bring cash, or you need to ask them to add the tip before they enter the total. A Berlin friend told me 5 % is an average tip, 10% is a good tip, 15 % is a very good tip. On one or two occasions we had no small bills and left a 20% tip which is not that unusual in North America. These did result in big smiles from the wait staff who clearly appreciated it, and seems to re-affirm the guidance we were given.

Playing tourist in Berlin

It’s very easy to spend a lot of time on your feet walking and standing in Berlin, so plan your tourist time carefully. If you have a limited amount of time to play tourist the most famous quick stop landmarks are probably: Brandenburg Gate (you will run under it at the 42 km mark), the Berlin Wall (the section called East Side Gallery is the best place for photo ops as it’s covered with murals by artists from around the world), and Checkpoint Charlie.

berlin wall art
hippopotamus

There are also an incredible number of museums in Berlin. I have never seen such a variety. Yes you have the typical science museum, and nature museum. Since you are in Berlin which was famously divided by the Berlin wall there is a Checkpoint Charlie Museum, a Berlin Wall museum, the DDR museum (which gives you a really interesting peek at daily life in Eastern Germany), the Spy museum complete with actual gadgets worthy of James Bond plus an exhibit about James Bond. Still too mainstream? How about the David Hasselhof museum (well more of a display really, but an entertaining distraction if you are in the neighborhood), Samurai museum, Museum of mass produced things, museum of curry wurst, museum of disgusting food (I am not making any of these up).

Speaking as a well traveled zoo fanatic, the Berlin zoo is one of the finest zoos I have ever visited, with decent sized enclosures that provide wonderful views of the animals, and species I had never seen before. If you book it well in advance (months and months in advance, like the day you get your bib for Berlin confirmed) you can also book a behind the scenes visit with one of the animals. We met the hippos as that was the only tour with an opening left, but it was still a really cool add on (80 Euros for the behind the scenes tour, up to 5 people can participate)

Berlin is very bicycle friendly, a lot of roads have dedicated bike lanes, so another great way to explore is to rent a scooter or bicycle. A boat tour or hop on hop off bus tour is another great way to explore while staying off your feet.

Race Day

The start area

One thing I found REALLY frustrating was that the race kit provided a map of the course, but it did NOT provide a map of the start area. So finding details like what time your corral actually starts, or figuring out where the ONLY entrance for runners is located, or what paths are blocked so you can figure out how to reach the runners entrance from the other side of the park, or which of the three different bag check tents you needed was not obvious. The phone app and website kept pointing me to the online interactive map, which was better than nothing, but was still missing a lot of detail. You had tiny symbols on the interactive map, and when you zoomed in on the map the tiny symbols didn’t get any bigger so they were really hard to read. The day before the race I highly recommend walking over to the finish area and walking over to find the runners entrance and family meeting area. When you get there look for the big maps of the start area printed on the fencing. Take a picture of that map on the fence, that was the best map I found of the start area.

Start area map berlin marathon

Bag Check

Because the start and finish are at the same place, you don’t have a deadline for bag check. Just drop them off before you go to the corral using the bag you were given when you picked up your bib. In 2022, there were two sets of tents fairly far apart for different bib numbers. Hopefully, by 2023 they will fix the interactive map and you can tap on the gear check and it will tell you which gear check is which bib numbers. In 2023, that didn’t work but one of the maps on the fence beside the runners entrance had a legend in the bottom corner explaining which bag check tent is for which bib number. Since the two bag check tents are about 400 metres apart this was very helpful.

Port-a-potties

port a potties

There were a decent number of port-a-potties on the race course itself, but there were not enough in the start area. The line ups for the port-a-potties around the gear check tents and on the walk to the corrals was longer than I’ve seen at any other marathon. If you really want the luxury of a port-a-potty then I suggest you head straight for your corral, there are a few port-a-potties right next to the corral entrance and those were the shortest lines I saw.  At those port-a-potties they also had urinals for the gentlemen. Now keep in mind this is Europe, so they don’t put big fencing around the urinals to avert delicate eyes from men taking a pee. Nope these urinals are right beside the path in clear view, do what you gotta do guys, especially if that means one less person in line for the port-a-potty. Now I did say if you want the “luxury” of a port-a-potty, beside the corral entrance is your best bet. In Boston, there are dire warnings telling you that if you go pee in the bushes in the start village you will have your bib taken away. After running Berlin, I now understand why they give all those dire warnings, because that is clearly not the case everywhere. In Berlin, with the shortage of port-a-potties, that gap in the fencing with runners sneaking through, yup they are off to find a tree. That line of garbage trucks beside the fence provides some modicum of privacy for runners male and female who decided not to wait in line, so step carefully around that puddle coming out from behind the truck cuz it’s not water. If you couldn’t find a gap in the fence or a spot behind the trucks, there is a more forested bit near the start corral that had a fair number of male and female runners taking one final opportunity to empty their bladders before going into the corral.

Water and food

The start and finish area are the same open space. When you finish the race they have water and food, but I didn’t walk past those areas when I was starting. I went from the runners entrance, to the gear check, to the corral. I did not pass anyone giving out water or food along the way, so I would recommend bringing something to drink or eat with you if you want it. If anyone reading this post knows if there is a place to get food or water before you start please let me know so I can add that information to the post.

The Race Course

Water & nutrition stops

If you are used to the big North American races you will probably find the water stops at Berlin a bit lacking. The first water stop is at 5 km, and the first stop with electrolytes isn’t until 9 km. After that you basically have alternating water and electrolyte stopes approximately every 3 km. In 2022, the electrolyte stops had water, then Maurten drink, then tea. Yes tea, warm tea in fact. Kinda nice actually, but I admit I don’t know how that helps my body on marathon day. I may need to do some research on that. They also had bananas which I know many runners appreciated.

course map berlin marathon

The water stops had plastic cups so which meant the pinch the cup to make a spout trick does not work, so expect to spill water on yourself if you don’t stop to walk at the water stops. In the second half of the course some of the water stops were only on one side of the road, and since they weren’t at predictable intervals you had to stay alert to avoid missing one. I was happy with the number of volunteers working at the water stops, I really appreciated that! so before I forget a HUGE THANK YOU to the 7,500 volunteers who help out with the Berlin Marathon!

The Mall of Berlin water stop had Coke, which I appreciated, it was only at one table on the left side of the road.

There was one gel stop on the course handing out Maurten non-caffeinated gels. So if you are planning on using gels, even if you are using Maurten you will want to carry your own. Some runners carried their own water or electrolytes as well. I have never considered that for a North American major marathon, but I might consider it if I ran Berlin again as I have been spoiled by races like Boston where I have the option of electrolyte or water at every stop, and I did have trouble with cramping int eh last 10 km which could have been caused by not enough electrolytes, but of course it could just be that I was undertrained for the pace I set out to run.

The route (can I run a personal best?)

elevation profile berlin marathon

Berlin is famous as a fast course. Eliud Kipchoge set a new World Record at berlin in 2022 running 2:01:09! Part of the reason it’s so fast is because the Berlin marathon is flat. It’s not ‘track’ flat, but it’s flatter than any other marathon I have run, including Chicago which a friend of mine aptly described as ‘waffle flat’ because it has a number of small elevations where you have overpasses. My hill profile from Berlin on Strava says the race had a total of 61 m elevation gain. It does have a fair number of turns, and you go around a couple of roundabouts, so if you are really focused on a fast time, stick to the blue line on the road that marks the most efficient route.

This is a big race with a lot of runners, so especially near the start, expect to get trapped behind other runners. Even later in the course there are a few spots where the road narrows and you get caught behind other runners. I found it more crowded than Chicago or Boston, but not as crowded as New York. But despite the crowded spots and turns, you can definitely run a personal best on this course.

Mileage markers

They had markers every km but they do not have markers for the miles which I know threw off a few American runners. There are timing mats every 5 km so friends can track you online,

The fans and atmosphere

band at berlin marathon

There were fans along the entire course which I appreciated. According to the media guide there are an estimated 1 million spectators cheering you on. According to the media guide there were 157 nations represented among the runners. The majority were of course from Germany, then U.S. Canada had 772 runners which might account for the fact I only saw one Canadian flag among the fans, on the other hand Denmark had 958 and the Danish fans seemed to be everywhere and were always making lots of noise for their runners. Canadian fans have some work to do! Berlin prints your name on your bib so you will get strangers and volunteers cheering you by name which I think is awesome. By the way in case you were wondering the most common First name of a runner in the 2022 Berlin marathon was Michael and the most common last name was Muller. For the women the most common first name was Sarah but the most common last name was also Muller (fascinating the stats they share in the media guides!) One of the highlights of my race, was a random person cheering who called out “this is your day Susan” as I ran past. Thank you! There aren’t as many silly signs as you see at North American races, and of course many of the signs are not in English. My friend Christopher spotted a sign that said “I can’t believe you are doing all this for a free banana” but the sign was in German…I’m impressed he was able to do that translation mid-race. My husband had a sign that said “Go random stranger go!” and he had lots of fun interactions with runners calling “hey that’s for me, I’m a random stranger!” That’s a sign I’ve seen at a lot of other races, but it was a much bigger hit in Berlin, so if you are cheering, make a sign it will be appreciated! If you are running, you won’t have walls of fans 6 people deep until the very end, but you will absolutely have fans cheering you the entire way. It’s a very spectator friendly course. Because it’s a loop and the metro system is quite efficient, you can easily find a friend at least twice on the course. I highly recommend looking at a metro map and planning the day before where you plan to be and on which side of the road. It is much easier for the runner to spot their friend or family in the crowd than for the friend or family to pick you out of the endless parade of runners going by. Another neat trick to make it easier to find family or friends is to have them purchase a big mylar balloon to bring with them. That’s easier to spot from a distance.

There were also no less than 100 spots along the route where music was played according to the media guide. I wasn’t counting, but I did notice a lot in the last 10 km or so.

The weather

Many a great training plan has been thwarted on race day by bad weather. Your odds of good weather in Berlin are pretty good. At the start of the race in 2022 was 51F, 2021 was 58F, 2019 was 55F. Over the past 20 years, the cooler races are in the mid 40s, and the hot races are high 50s with winds ranging from 0 to 12 mph. However, the race has a fairly late start and fairly long breaks between corral starts, so if it warms up during the day and you are in a later corral you may have to contend with hotter temperatures. 2022 started out 51F and cloudy, but was 63F and sunny by the time I hit the half way mark.

You Finished!

Timing Chips

I was surprised to discover the Berlin marathon uses the old school timing chips that you put on your shoe. They don’t give you zip ties for them either. That means you have to tie them into your shoelaces. That’s all fine and dandy before the race, just make sure you put them on before you leave the hotel. The problem is that means AFTER the race, when bending over to untie a shoe can seem like an unsurmountable task, you have to take them off and return them before leaving the runners area. I had recovery sandals in my bag check, so I just removed the timing chip after I had taken off my shoes. Some runners had their own timing chips which you can register and use, that saves you having to return them post-race. They are allowed on your ankles, so I saw a suggestion that it you are a triathlete and have one of the old ankle straps for timing chips, you could bring that with you and wear it. Finding the place to return the timing chips was also a bit confusing. In the end I asked a volunteer where to return it, and she was kind enough to just take it for me. I heard there were volunteers with buckets near the runners exits as well, but I didn’t see them. When in doubt ask a volunteer.

Post race food and drink

There was one water table right after we got our medals, but honestly, I was ready for anything but more water. When you get across the finish you don’t have one nice long finish chute to follow that takes you to all the post-race goodness, so it’s a little confusing, especially when you are exhausted from the race. I had found my gear check bag, got changed, and then had to go back out to find the food bags. Turns out they were at tables near the beer tent. They had banana, apple, pretzels, and a couple of chocolate goodies.

Summary

Susan holding berlin marathon medal

Berlin is one of the Abbot world majors, and it’s one of the few where you have a decent chance of getting in through the lottery. It’s a good race to try for a personal best and I highly recommend it for your marathon bucket list.

If you found this helpful, check out my page of running posts including a guide to Boston, other marathon reviews, gear reviews, tips to survive on the treadmill and more. This post was written by Susan Ibach aka HockeyGeekGirl, Berlin is Susan’s 4th Abbott World Major, and she is a proud Boston squeaker, looking forward to running Boston in 2023 thanks to running 43 seconds under the BQ time at California International Marathon in 2021