You’ll have to excuse me for feeling a bit tired these days, but we just had the Berlin Half-Marathon two weeks ago and it’s taken me awhile to recover.
There’s something incredibly exhilarating about the atmosphere of 25,000 runners from 86 countries joining together to run through these cobblestoned streets with 150,000 spectators cheering like crazy. Last September we were on hand to watch the world record set in the Berlin Marathon, and it inspired us to be part of this more accessible goal this spring.
Our youngest cheerleader: her sign says "Run"
It started out early on a cool April Sunday with the roller-bladers, followed by the handbikers and wheelchairs. Then came the amazingly divine Kenyans and Ethiopians, and then the remaining 24,000 mortals consigned to run behind the gods. Those mortals like us.
Well, more like us—except that we were standing in our pajamas with cups of cocoa in our hands, cheering them all on from our fifth-floor balcony.
Our view of the marathon
Oh, wait—you didn’t actually think we were down there on the street, sweating and cramping and heaving? Ha! Surely you know us better than that! No, no, no—our apartment was on the running route, so we participated by cheering raucously from above the trees as they all ran past our windows. We had kept our noise makers and signs from the marathon last fall, so we felt quite official.
And once again we were inspired by the determination and sacrifice and pleasure involved in something so completely foreign to us and our cocoa/coffee-drinking bodies!
1 comment:
I walked the Portland Marathon a few months ago in under five hours. So if "I" can do it--I know you can! Go for the Berlin Marathon next year cousin! You know you wanna!
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