I was going to re-post the Berlin RR on RA, but was not sure where to do it. It seems like here is the most appropriate place to drop it:

Pre-race
Arrived in Berlin on Friday morning. We settled down in the airbnb, went for lunch with my sister, who lived in Berlin, and then went to the expo to pick up the bib. The expo is incredibly well organised. I was just very impressed by how fast it was to pick up all my stuff when there were 60,000+ participants in the event. Then, we walked around Berlin quite bit with DW and DD, saw the famous bombed church, etc. 
On Saturday, I went for a short 20 min jog in the am. We then left around 11 with my sister. It was her day off so she took us all around Berlin: East side gallery, downtown, Brandenburg Gate (the inline skaters marathon was taking place at the time). I was not feeling great after so much walking on Friday and Saturday, but I thought it was just me being paranoid about the race. I had a terrible Saturday night (headache and sweating a lot) where I slept maybe 3-4 hours and then just rolled around in bed.

Race Day
Got off bed at 6 am feeling a bit better, had breakfast, got ready and headed over to the starting line. A RB was also attempting his first sub-3 in Berlin, so we decided to run together. We met up at 8 and went to the start line. The atmosphere was quite electric, since there was a feeling the WR would go down. When Kipchoge was introduced, he got a huge cheer.
We were very well placed at the front of the 3-3.15 hr group, close to the 3 hr pacers. At 9.15, the gun went off and so did we.

First 25k
My legs were not feeling very fresh at the starting line to be honest. My glutes and hamstrings were tight too, and I definitely did not feel as good as I did when I ran the HM 5 weeks earlier. The weather was quite humid, but not raining yet. The roads were wet though since it had rained overnight.
Anyway, the pacers took off at the start, but we kept them in sight, at a constant distance. Our pacing was very good I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. We crossed the 5k and 10k marks pretty much on the dot for 3hr pace. We also crossed the 15k mark right on pace. At this point, my RB said he was not feeling very strong but he was not ready to throw the towel yet, so we kept going. I was fine. 
We crossed the HM mark in 1:29:57, pretty much perfectly according to plan. I remember it was raining quite hard at this point. I was still felling fine and thought to myself sub-3 may be possible. My RB was struggling a bit more than me at this point, but still keeping pace. I had gels every 5 miles or so.
My family were supposed to meet me at the HM mark, but I didn't see them. Apparently, the missed my by just a tiny bit as I was running past when they were coming up the metro station. They yelled at me, but I didn't hear them. We had planned for them to meet me at the half, at the 35k and then the finish.

KM 25-36
At around km 25, after drinking some water, I started having some bad side stitches. Fortunately, they went away within 5 mins, but after that I started feeling a bit weak and struggling to keep pace. My pace dropped a bit to 6:55-ish for the next 3-4 km. We started losing sight of the 3-hr pacers. Also, it was still raining and some parts of the course had big puddles. I remember my socks being quite wet at this point. I could also hear other runners' shoes doing that squishy sound. 
Then, after a new drink at a water station, the side stitch came back. Again, it went away after maybe 1 km, but I could see I was struggling now and sub-3 was not going to happen. From km 28 to 35, I was just fighting to keep my pace close to 7 mpm. My RB had a new wind of energy and I was just trying to stay close to him. I decided to skip a few water stations to avoid the side-stitches.
At km 35, my RB was in much better shape than me. He looked at me from 10m ahead and I gave him the nod to go for it. We were not too far behind pace at this point. After he left, I was able to keep a decent pace of maybe 7-7.10 mpm for 1-2 kms more. I did not see my family at km 35 again, and that also got me a bit worried (and bummed).

KM 37-Finish
At km 37, my pace was already decreasing fast. Now, it was not just me feeling weak, but also my legs were heavy, especially those glutes/hammys. Just then, I saw my DW yelling my name and that gave me a tiny bit of a bump. I was able to keep a decent 7:20-ish pace for about 2 kms more. At this point, I was walking all the water stations though (that seemed to help avoid the side-stitches). Then, the last 3 kms were very painful as my legs got heavier and heavier and I was just trying not to get a cramp on my left hammy. 
Ironically, I got that cramp just as I was crossing the Brandenburg gate. I started limping until it kind of went away. I thought that would make a very funny photo, but they didn't get that exact moment unfortunately. I only had 300 mts or so to go and was able to make it. Final time 3:04:57.

Finish line
I got my medal and my RB was waiting for me right after I crossed the finish line. He ran a fantastic 3:01:43. We congratulated each other and headed over to pick up our clothes. I started shaking very badly and was extremely cold. Probably a consequence of the sweating due to the humidity and the cold rain. 
I then went to meet the family. Still having a very hard time walking. Got home and had a hot shower, and that seemed to fix the problem. Temporarily.

In the evening, I had stomach pains and didn't have much to eat. Since, I have had fever, "intestinal problems" (you know what this means), and nausea. I have not been able to eat a full meal since Sunday lunch and today I was supposed to be at work, but I stayed home since I cannot function. This makes me think that I was probably getting sick before the race and the marathon just pushed me over. Of course, I have not run a mile since Sunday.

After race thoughts
+ I was very impressed by my pacing, and how I was able to cross pretty much every mark before the struggle started right on the dot 
+ I was also impressed that I could tough it up and keep a decent pace from km 25 to 36-ish.
+ Looking back, I joined the group because I was aiming for a sub3:20, so getting a sub-3:05 (and a BQ) is quite a result in retrospective
- I did not like the fact that I faded so badly at the end. I thought that hard training would pay-off in terms of endurance. 
- I think there were 3 factors for not doing as well as expected during the weeks leading up to the race (and that could explain maybe the big fade):
(a) I may have peaked earlier during the cycle - that tightness in my glutes and hammys was probably a consequence of either a bad taper or overtraining. I was also feeling my HR was a bit higher during easy runs over taper.
(b) I probably was getting sick, as I mentioned before - at the time, I thought I was just being too worrisome about the race, but after feeling like  these last few days, I was probably getting sick (which could be related to a). I did not do the "rest" part of training well at the end.
(c) weather - the humidity and rain probably aggravated my state, but I highly doubt I would have been able to run a sub-3 even in perfect conditions.

Take-aways for next cycle:
. Next marathon will be either London or Paris (if I don't get into London). This time, I will travel either Friday night or Saturday morning, and just relax before the race. I'll take time off work maybe until Wednesday and explore the city afterwards.
. Maybe I should do a shorter cycle. I didn't notice it at the time, but probably 18 weeks of JD were too consuming. I seem to have peaked around week 13-14 of the cycle. I'll start building mileage in Oct-Nov for the next cycle.

On a side note, my RB went to the race after party and said it was good fun. He was able to talk to Kipchoge. Apparently, he (jokingly) laughed at him for not being able to break 3 hours, and said that the weather had a big part in him not breaking the WR.

@rlk: No. Empire State. It's a few miles from my house and good and flat. I was thinking I'd shoot for a "safe" bq of 3:12 but after the latest news I'm not so sure.

Pesto: Marathons suck. Still a very solid time. I've had the inability to eat thing after some races and they're usually the ones where I gave my all.

Pic of Sam won't load so I'll have to keep imagining him as walking on the ground.

I took yesterday off just for the heck of it and I'll only do an easy 5 this afternoon. Plan is just to hang and take it easy until next weekend. I've been invited to two (2!) pig roasts the day before my race. Life is not fair.

Yup. That worked. Looking good. What's this nonsense I hear about a retirement. This had better be Favre-style (but without the sexting.) It won't feel good trying to catch up to you if you're not trying anymore.

 

 

I took yesterday off just for the heck of it and I'll only do an easy 5 this afternoon. Plan is just to hang and take it easy until next weekend. I've been invited to two (2!) pig roasts the day before my race. Life is not fair.

Isn't your race the same day as mine?  October 8?

My planned taper has some fast stuff included.  5K tempo on tap for tomorrow morning, 12 "moderate" (around7:45 ish) on Sunday, 4x800 controlled on Tuesday, and then a mile at "first part of marathon pace" on Thursday.

Weather stalking has begun.  Doesn't look awesome right now - overnight low around 60 degrees and humid, but there's plenty of time for that to change.

Pesto - thanks for reposting the race report.  In the spirit of 3:20, I'll give some unsolicited feedback - I think it would have better to skip the walking tour of Berlin during the 2 days before.  That had to have taken something out of your legs.

So who's still missing?    dad, nick, kk, brew, pepperjack...

Any others?

Hopefully they'll find us...

Yup. That worked. Looking good. What's this nonsense I hear about a retirement. This had better be Favre-style (but without the sexting.) It won't feel good trying to catch up to you if you're not trying anymore.

You have already caught up, buddy. Just have to execute a good marathon, which will happen any day now.

I implied from Dad's last post that he was not willing to join RA, instead he offered his twitter handle for those that want to keep in touch. I might be wrong.

I sent Brew and PJ messages via Strava about joining here, but haven't heard anything back. I don't think I have the ability to contact anyone else who isn't already here.

DWave - Killer workout this morning.