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Former tower at the Berlin wall ©MauerwegTour
RUNNING GERMANY – The Berlin Wall 100 Miler – Race Report – By Cath Todd, Dubai UAE. Finished: 21 hours, 52 minutes, 3rd female, 19th place overall. 6th x 100 mile finish from June 2010.
The Berlin Wall was constructed between the Soviet-run East Berlin and the US/UK/French-run West Berlin in 1961. It was built suddenly and thus divided many families, friends and neighbourhoods. Its purpose was to stop the ‘brain-drain': East Berliners leaving for the West in search of better-paying jobs.
The Wall was built from August 1961 encapsulating West Berlin. The West Berliners were allowed to visit those in East Berlin (although the visit policy was strict and policed – you needed a visa). They could also travel abroad and to West Germany. The Eastern Berliners were more restricted and could not cross into West Berlin or Western Germany. West Berlin had a much stronger economy and so the standard of living was considerably higher. In total, 91 people died trying to cross from East Berlin into West Berlin. The Berlin Wall came down in November 1989 to the celebration of the people.
The Berlin Wall 100 mile run was to commemorate the 50 year anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall and those that lost their lives trying to cross it.
I found this race by chance. Two weeks before the race I had come back early from India, feeling very unwell, but with the aim to recover quickly and find a suitable race. I had been recommended by Ray Sanchez (an ultra running legend in the USA) to run the 135 (mile) Europe, so I emailed the race director (after a 17 hour sleep and some good food for recovery).
He quickly emailed back and said unfortunately the race was cancelled this year, but to contact Alex who was organizing the Berlin Wall 100 Miler. I'd not yet been to Berlin and the timing of the race worked out well. I emailed Alex and within the day was entered in the race. The following week I flew to Germany, to run the very first Berlin Wall 100 miler.
The Friday night before the race, a race meet was held with pasta, race registration and pre-race photos. The information was given in German, with a brief summary in English. The markers for the race were explained, as were the aid stations and other race information. I met two German guys who were running it together, aiming for around 16 hours. They had run Spartathalon 5 times (wow!). I also met Hajo, an older gentleman whose birthday it was on the race day and aiming for a sub-24 hour finish.
The turn-out to the pre-race meet was good and the organizers (the race director, Alex, in particular) seemed well prepared (I later found out he was sick with a cold throughout the whole race – although was there to greet every finisher. He probably had not slept thoroughly for days).
The race started on Saturday 20th August, 2011, at 6am with 5 laps of the track at the school (start/finish). It was a brisk, sunny morning but not cold and the pre-race breakfast was good – nice coffee! After these 2kms, the runners were allowed out on the street. I was lucky enough to run with a German Canadian for roughly the first 25-30km's. This turned out well as not only was he running a similar pace, he spoke English fluently and he grew up in Berlin so told me some of the history of the Berlin Wall. He was born in West Berlin 6 years after the Wall was built. He lived there until the Wall came down and now lives in Ottawa, Canada, working for the Canadian government.
The only in-tact section of the Wall is the memorial (a short section); on which has artwork and information posts. The rest of the Wall has been torn down and during the race we ran along the section of the Wall which the military used: the zone between the Wall on the East and the Wall section on the West. It was essentially a military zone between the two and used for patrol (although the river was also used as a natural barrier).
The race was fairly flat, with only slight undulation in some wooded sections. Most of it was paved or what you would call fire trail, but some of the sections were cobbled (which made it tough on the feet, especially in the last quarter of the race wherein my feet could feel every stone).
After 30+ kms, the German Canadian went on his merry way and I slowed the pace a little, not wanting to blow out later and to enjoy the scenery. I'd been sick on and off with an ear infection/flu/sinus problems since before Western States 100 mile Endurance Run June 25th, California, USA (finished: 27 hours, 21 minutes), and had a repeat cold just 7 days before the race, so just wanted to enjoy this run and finish. The scenery was gorgeous and the air was fresh: we frequented woodlands and green fields, some corn fields and forest area/parkland. There were many people in these areas walking their dogs and cycling, as well as other runners out for a social run, so you had to be careful to share the path.
Unfortunately there were a lack of port-a-loos at most of the aid stations and so nature was used as a ‘lady's bathroom'. This was ok at first (you get used to it doing the wadi runs and other 100 mile trail runs – when you have to go…), but then when it started getting into the later afternoon, when I was progressively getting sorer and tired after running for 10+ hours, and running near water (we ran along the river and lakes in Potsdam for a good part of the race), the mosquitoes come out. Boy did they come out. They were vicious and they were everywhere; congregating on you if you stopped.
This was even so at the aid stations. This was probably the worst experience on the race. You could not ‘visit the lady's bathroom' without getting eaten alive and it's not fun when you're sore so that even squatting becomes a challenge but getting bitten as you're using the ‘bathroom' was very unpleasant. After the race my body was covered in large mosquito bites; three days later they were still itching like crazy. They even bit through my compression socks. They were big and they were nasty. At the 117 km aid station I made sure to spray everywhere with mossie repellent, which mildly deterred them for the last quarter of the race. I even sprayed my face (to the horror of an onlooker), but I prefer swallowing spray at this stage over getting bitten alive whilst trying to run a long way. I also had to fix a chafing problem – in a 100 miler you will chafe and you will chafe in places you never thought possible. Carry tissues always and carry or drop-bag the vasoline.
The aid stations were well organized, although there was a lack of hot food at night (soup was only at a few of the aid stations). Although every volunteer manning the aid stations were kind and offered plenty of fluid and food, my favourite aid station was at 98.2kms. It was a haven at this stage in the race – situated in the outskirts of Berlin, in someone's garden (and it was a beautiful garden). The husband and wife were more than hospitable, having comfy outdoor seats to relax on (unfortunately, only momentarily), good food including potatoes and salt, and they offered to go in and make me a coffee, as well as to use their own household toilet (if only I had to go at that stage). I wished I could have stayed here longer but had to get myself going again.
A few kilometres after leaving the garden haven, I heard a clap-clap-clapping sound behind me which sounded like a runner, but when I looked behind this guy was running in rudimentary leather sandals – he was a barefoot runner! It turns out this German guy runs for charity and gets donations in his races from supporters on the sidelines. Further, he runs all marathons barefoot (without sandals) and in costume! He was one of the chirpiest runners I've ever met. We ran together for two more aid stations and then he went on ahead as he was running faster than I, although we kept meeting at each aid station thereafter.
It was around the time the barefoot runner went on ahead that I had a lull, so I decided to try something a friend, Raphael, had mentioned at an earlier 100 miler in the States – since in most 100's you do some walking (up hills or to ingest some food), this one I had not walked much at all and so thought it best to start. Eat before you get hungry, drink before you get thirsty and walk before you can't run…I thought of running for 7 minutes and walking for 1, and repeat. This worked very well and it kept me going strong up until around the 130/135 km mark.
At the 130/135 km mark I got scared. Yes, scared. At that stage it was around 1am, it was getting cold, there were no other runners in sight and I was running on the outskirts of Berlin, which felt eerie, as there was the occasional person walking their dog/s or sounds in close proximity. Also, Berlin is a party town and I was down near the river at this stage, so who knew who could wander down there. My left hook would not be working so well at this stage of the race. The other 100's I've done have been out on trails, not close to the city, but this was different, and I was tired and starting to hear things…Who was clapping? There was no audience…or was someone clapping in the woods – eek!…So I picked up the pace and did the next 4-5 kms quite quickly, which actually felt exhilarating.
At the next aid station I again met my barefoot friend and mentioned I was a bit afraid. He and his pacer were so nice that they refused any other option but to stay with me for almost the remainder of the race, and they did, until we were again well in the city center (where there were more people). On this race you were allowed a pacer on a bicycle from the start or anywhere along the race (I'd not come across this in other races before), and my barefoot friend's pacer (cyclist) started at the 117km aid station (a major one, of three drop-bag locations).
The cyclist sung and played the harmonica and my barefoot friend sang and chatted in German. They were awesome. I remember getting to the aid station, with 16km's to go and thinking thank goodness they're with me and thank goodness we're almost there…thinking of the hot shower, nice comfy bed and everything that had nothing to do with running!!;0) I very much wanted to get to the end, my body was sore but for this race my feet suffered the most (it differs with each race). Every step hurt like crazy, they were very sore and swollen; they just felt beaten up.
Soon after the aid station with around 10km to go I moved on ahead whilst my barefoot friend stopped at an aid station to have a white wine!!! I caught the next guy who was walking at a fast pace, with his cyclist. By now we were well in the city. I slowed from a slow run to a fast walk and stayed with them until the aid station with 8.5 km to go. The runner did not speak English but his cyclist did (and his cyclist had cycled from the very start. I cannot imagine how sore his bottom must have been), so I decided to stay with them for a while. The major issue here was that I didn't want to slow down my barefoot friend but I also didn't want to get lost within the last 8.5km's of the race running alone, so I walked at a fast pace with my new German friend and his pacer (cyclist).
We fast-walked the rest and came upon the last aid station with 2.6km's to go. They had soup – yay! After quickly passing through this station I looked back to see two head lights. We picked up the walking pace. We were within 1.5km of the end when we turned a corner to see the most amazing building that was lit at night – the Reichstag (government house). It was so impressive, illuminated in all its glory, that this provided the best of distractions (for around 5-10 minutes).
At the 0.5km/1km mark I looked behind to see almost next to me a female: one of the head torches spotted before. I asked the cyclist if he'd mind if I ran (I didn't want to run off on my German friend – I was planning to finish with him, after going the last 9km's together), but he said go for it. So I took off, literally, sprinted..and what happened? We got lost! For a while we ran/walked around trying to find where we were. I tried talking to her but either she wasn't interested or didn't speak English. Anyway by this stage everyone just wants to finish and I guess most people want to get the 3rd place.
At this stage upon getting lost, I was thinking oh no, I should have stayed with my German friend when I turned to see the Moritzplatz train station. 5 minutes beforehand I had spotted my hotel, so from the two locations I knew where I was and took off again, at what seemed like lightning speed (it probably, almost definitely was not, but when you have 160.4km's in your legs it seems faster than the speed of light). I sprinted to the small side-gate beside the school, hoping it was this entrance (there were two) and I thankfully I was right. I saw my German friend across the road and yelled to him that this was the entrance. I sprinted to the finish, aside the track we'd started on. It felt good to finish.
My German friend came in shortly after. Alex was there to greet us at the finish, with a finisher's tea shirt and a very much welcomed handshake. Unfortunately I think the other girl remained lost for a while (maybe 10-15 minutes).
My barefoot friend was there with his cyclist to greet me and we all got our photo taken together. It was a nice way to finish the race. After the race (and the night before) apparently you could stay in the gymnasium at the school, but I opted for my hotel room – which was quiet and the shower and bed called. I hobbled back to the hotel, feeling very glad I had finished, and had a couple of applauses from late night owls partying away and sitting in the gutter, on the way back (still wearing my race outfit with number, head torch and bright yellow jacket). It was around 4am in the morning. The awards ceremony was at lunchtime, 12:30pm, so a well deserved rest was at hand and 6 hours seemed like a long sleep (despite the constant itching from mosquito bites all over).
All runners who finished within 30 hours received a medal and finisher's certificate. The last runner finished with 7 minutes to spare. Around 8 people did not finish (a relatively low attrition rate). There were 78 finishers in total: from first to last we had all won in some respect.
The two guys who had run 5 spartathalons placed equal first (16 hours, 22 minutes). Hajo said he ‘had the run of his life' and finished in 20 hours 58 minutes – happy birthday! A lady whom I had also met, who was around 50+ years old, won for the women's. Yes, that was very cool. It's a gentle reminder to all younger runners never to stop running. Everyone at the awards ceremony seemed very happy. One runner even gave me a postcard and commemorative stamp of the Wall. It was a nice awards ceremony and a great way to wrap up the race. It was in German but I could definitely get the gist!
It was a great race: well organized, very friendly participants and a beautiful course. The weather was perfect: sunny, warm and no rain. I recommend it for anyone doing their first 100 miler as the aid stations are sufficient for you to get through without a camel back, and it's relatively flat, with great scenery and is well-marked.
Berlin is an incredible city and is worth the visit – so much to see and do. The only thing I would recommend is to take plenty of mosquito spray and use your camera.
The 100 miler is scheduled again for 2013. Next year (2012) they are planning a different event – a three stage race around the Wall, over three days. This may be nice for those of you who like multi-stage races over the longer single stages, or those wanting to do a shorter ultra as a team. The details will be on their website once finalized.
And to the race director – thank you, Alex. You organized a brilliant race and as an international competitor it was the perfect way to see your city and the landscape around it; to learn about and commemorate the Berlin Wall, and to meet the Berlin and other Germanic 100 mile runners. You and your team really did a fantastic job. I'll be back in 2013.
Cath Todd, Dubai UAE
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