Berlin Marathon 2013

Berlin Marathon is one of six marathon majors which include NY, Chicago, Boston, London & Tokyo. The course almost flat and five consecutive world records have been broken here. In fact, the new world record was set during this race by Wilson Kipsang in 2:03:23. Even if he runs the course twice, I still unable to beat him..... pfffff!!!
I had a great feeling about the race that morning

I'm ready to set a new PB here in Berlin

 Before the race start I met up with Azmil & Siawhua. Siawhua ran the marathon barefooted and other runners were looking at her in disbelief. I feel so proud of this Malaysian beauty who is stronger and faster than those running with their shoes on.... errr including me. 
It was very fast first half

I noticed there were so many runners from Denmark, probably one quarter of the participants were Danes. If you don't know, Denmark has been ranked as the happiest nation in the world. That shows running can make you happy and Danish chicks also have great body shape. I can only dream that for Malaysian chicks :P 
The atmosphere was more or less like Tokyo Marathon I did last year

The weather was sunny through out the race although the temperature was as low as 6 degrees Celsius in the morning but later slowly increased in the afternoon.
It was sunny day and I managed to capture this awesome sight
  In first half, I ran with Azmil and we clocked flat 2:00hr for 21km. Siawhua already left us right after we crossed the starting line. After we ran half the course, Azmil continued his quest to clock sub 4 hours and he left me behind because I had to slow down due to bad cramped up at both quadriceps.
I also bumped into my German friends Hucky & Gitta cheering by the roadside

The supporters in Berlin may not be as many as I remember in Tokyo Marathon last year but there are still plenty of people cheering by the roadside unlike in KL Marathon where the motorists honking in anger because of road closure. We Malaysians still have a long to way to go to be more supportive toward events like marathon.
All kind of people cheering the runners
A kindhearted guy was offering to take my photo when he saw I was busy taking photo of other people but no one takes my photo. He did capture a nice shot of me running below.
It was an enjoyable race
Finally, I crossed the finish line in 4:41:54 and I clocked my PB.... Yatta!!!

A special one for my collection
Well, next marathon major will be Chicago Marathon! Or maybe New York?? Dunno yet, one marathon major at every continent is my target ;)

Location: Berlin, Germany

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