Day 11 - 16 Berlin and the Relay

What an amazing experience in Berlin. We were tired after the journey so simply went out to recce our start point for the run. It was a long way out of the centre and a 20min walk from the nearest bus stop. That done, we travelled back on bus tram bus and then got our feet up!

The next day we moved the bikes out of our room into their storage place, then headed over to Race HQ to meet the rest of the York Knavesmire Harriers runners and attend the English briefing for the Berlin Wall 100 Mile run (a relay segment thereof for most of us!). For those running long legs or the whole of the 100 miles, the weather forecast was the main concern with yet another super hot and humid day forecast.

Everyone then went to fuel up on pasta and pizza, then it was an early night for the early starters.

On run day, we drank as much as we dared (not enough!) before the 90 minute trip on bus/tram out to our start. I had a 10k leg and Caroline a 20k leg in each of two relay teams. Arriving where we had recce’d there was… no one! It was a nervous walk back around the course to where our actual start was, but we were there… in position. Again we kept the fluids up and waited for Jen and Bryan to come into sight. They came on schedule, we had a quick photo, switched the transponders and we’re off.

Instantly we felt the heat and humidity, and also the weight of all the other people ahead of us. But we knew what had to be done and also knew we could only do what we could do. The first few k were hard but then we loosened up and were able to push a little to overcome the heat (not too bad in the morning but bad enough!) in the middle k’s. Soon it was 4, 3, 2k to go and even though it was painful we could squeeze a little coming in just over an hour for my 10k.

After handing over to Alice, I was left pouring with sweat as Caroline ran on. It took a good few minutes before I could start the 20min walk to the train to get back. I was still pouring sweat 45min later and I’m glad the train had opening windows. We were pleased we held to reasonable times, though undoubtedly fortunate to have a morning slot in the relay as the heat really took its toll on subsequent team members.

The following morning, we got up early to be at the finish for Alan who had run the 100 miles solo … not his first but an astonishing achievement in the heat. We all met up for dinner in a beer garden to celebrate in a great atmosphere.

The next few days were general Berlin sightseeing depending on interests, mine focused on the Cold War, the DDR and the Stasi all warnings from history about authoritarian governments.

What a city, what an experience in the run and what a fantastic bunch of people in York Knavesmire Harriers.Read more