Berlin: the goal of three marathons in 11 months
The Berlin 2017 marathon can be cataloged as the culmination of a series of three 42-kilometer races in 11 months.
The journey started on October 23, 2016, in Venice and was meant to continue 11 months later in Berlin, where most runners seek and achieve their best results because of the kindness of the course.
However, the journey made a stop in Los Angeles on March 19thanks to Rolando's challenge to run the marathon in that city. The invitation influenced the training and goals that had been set for September 24, 2017, in the German capital.
It wasn't the first time I would try to run that many marathons in less than a year. The first time I tried it was for circumstantial and surprising reasons, because when I planned to run Big Sur and Chicago in 2014, the New York marathon lottery favored me and I found myself registered for three marathons at the same time.
That year my body said no and Chicago ended up on the list of marathons I'll complete someday. Or maybe not.
September 19, 2017
It's noon, in almost three hours we must board a bus to go to Mexico City airport. Some details need to be resolved before leaving for Europe on a trip that would last 18 days.
I'm in my living room and I feel the first tremors of the earthquake on Tuesday, September 19. The shaking is noticeable, I grab my dog Simona by the collar, head for the exit and yell for Vero. I see her coming down the stairs.
When we position ourselves right in the middle of the street, facing the house, we see cars swaying as if they had a life of their own and wanted to stay out of reach of the garage roof.
A few seconds pass and it seems like the movement is subsiding. It was just a perception and now the earthquake is more violent, it feels as if instead of asphalt, we were standing on a huge carpet over the sea.
Panic screams can be heard from some neighbors, others come out of their homes.
The movement ends and I immediately try to discover any possible damage to my house and to the neighbors'. There's no apparent damage. I run for my cell phone to send WhatsApp messages and try to find out if the family is okay. Vero receives a message from a parent reporting that everything is fine at the school. Aside from the scare.
I drive to Mexico City only to discover that our flight is canceled but there are options to leave that same day.
On the way to Mexico City, I question Vero about when weshould consider canceling the trip abroad. Not yet, we must continue, Ianswer myself.
That Tuesday, September 19, we decided to travel and after changes to the itinerary, we arrived in Berlin, three hours later than planned.
Training for Berlin
Preparing for the Berlin marathon, the ninth for me and eighth for Vero, was more complicated than for other races: the kilometers accumulated in our legs and mental fatigue were two decisive obstacles.
2017 started for me with discomfort in the fascia of my right foot to the point of having to inject it to reduce the pain. The injection and therapy for more than a month allowed me to resume training for the Los Angeles marathon.
After the March race in California, the pain in the fascia returned and I started working on functional strength. After five weeks, my body responded, I managed to reduce body fat percentage and increase lean mass. Something we celebrated at the time—Julia, the nutritionist, César, the coach, and I. Vero too.
A month before Berlin and after a weekend of about 35 kilometers, I had to run on the track 14 repetitions of 400 meters. Everything was going as estimated with acceptable paces and no pain, until lap eleven.
Just when there were three laps left to finish the day's training, I felt pain between the ankle and tendon. I didn't give it much importance because I didn't feel like something had torn nor were there any signs of a strain. I continued with the workout, finished, and when I was about to jog to start cooling down, I couldn't continue.
From that day until the week before the marathon, training focused on swimming, pool jogging, and functional strength work. I started jogging again seven days before what would be my second of the so-called Majors marathons.
World capital
Berlin impressed me. A world capital that carries a series of events of pain, suffering, and repression. Its streets and monuments remind even the most lost tourists of the dark episodes of its recent history.
Arriving at a city like this didn't mean searching, as in other occasions, for stories of local runners to get involved in local routines, arriving in Berlin meant returning to history books. This detail made the trip one of the richest, culturally speaking.
We were in Berlin four days before the race and had the enigmatic Tiergarten park a couple of blocks from the hotel for half-hour jogs each morning.
The marathon
The meeting for warm-up was right at the entrance of the United States Embassy, in front of the Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe.
Miriam, Mario, Vero, and I warmed up in that place and headed to the corrals around 9:10 in the morning.
The rain was coming, it was inevitable.
My goal for this marathon changed several times. What started with attempting the best marathon of all I've run ended one day before with the desire to be able to complete the route and collect my medal.
We passed the 5-kilometer mark and it started to rain, a drizzle that seemed refreshing to me.
After kilometer 20, I left Vero behind, however, I didn't run faster.
I felt fatigue and the fourth 10-kilometer split showed one exact hour.
There were less than two kilometers left and I was in front of the French Cathedral and the Konzerthaus in Berlin.
Just at that moment I saw out of the corner of my eye that Vero was beside me.
We were surprised by the casual encounter and encouraged each other to continue strong until crossing the finish line.
It would be the first marathon where we would cross the finish line together.
We passed under the Brandenburg Gate attentive to find Roberto and Marilupe.
By that time we were already at kilometer 42.
Vero and I crossed the finish line in 4 hours, 12 minutes, and 20 seconds.
The three marathons in 11 months were achieved and at an acceptable level: at our level, at a safe pace.
Today we are back in Mexico, in Puebla. The country and city we left in the middle of chaos and confusion and that today we must make a better place than it was before September 19.