Notes
Grunewald Marathon
Ran this race with PF. In hindsight, this was a pretty great race. I didn't take into account that it was 1000+ft of elevation and lots of soft ground. Cold, but ran with a long-sleeved shirt and shorts indeed of a jacket, which may have been too warm. I came to this race off a summer of base-building (keeping up a running streak helps) and starting training in Aug. Did the Berlin Marathon end Sept in 3:35 (this while taking things easy!), ran a PR half in Oct., and kept up the Hanson's plan pretty well. I even had food poisoning 4 weeks out from this race (if I remember correctly), so I was quite fit. I also had the support of the Berlin Meetup group! Friendly faces go a long way.
This was my Strava record.
And thus endeth my year of the marathon.
I went into the race with three goals: win it (it’s a pretty small race), go sub 3:30, and/or PR. Well I made the rookiest of mistakes and did the first half too fast, so I started struggling around mile 14 (and struggled to the end). And I got second, because a fast American beat me (well done!! high-five!). But while Strava does not want to recognize it, I did PR! YES. 3:30:39
Photo cred to Sam and Benny, who waited for me with Manse after their races to cheer me in. Thanks guys!