Running the Berlin Marathon
Fancy taking on a fast, flat World Major Marathon where world records are made? Here’s what you can expect if you’re thinking about running the Berlin Marathon!
The Berlin Marathon is one of the six Abbott World Major Marathons and is the fastest of them all. With only 285ft (87m) of elevation gain it’s not surprising Eliud Kipchoge ran world records here in 2018 and 2021, clocking a massive 2:01:09 at the latter.
So if you’re thinking about taking on a race that’s renowned for producing PBs, here’s what you can expect from running the Berlin Marathon.
Pre-race Organisation
Berlin Marathon sends lots of comms, but many were only in German. Yes, yes, I know it’s a race in Germany, but I’d signed up in English, selected my communication preference as ‘English’ so I didn’t understand why I was getting emails in German.
The pre-race programme was terrible — one of those useless digital e-books that was impossible to flip through a single page when using a mobile phone. And as the first half was in German (again, no issues with that) and second half in English, it was almost impossible to easily find the details you were looking for. Even a pdf would’ve been a big improvement on this, but for anyone with digital accessibility needs it would’ve been virtually impossible to find any information.
It was disappointing.
Berlin Marathon Expo
The Berlin Marathon Expo took place at Tempelhof Airport to the south of the city, an easy ride there on the U-bahn (which was free to ride for marathon runners during the whole time the Expo was open and on race day).
I arrived about 08:00 so I could take part in the Generali Berlin Marathon Shakeout Run. It was free to enter and anyone could attend, so if you were with family or friends (and they were happy running about 6k!) everyone could run (althought from 2023, the shakeout run has moved back to its usual spot at the Olympic Stadium, starting at 09:30).
It was very relaxed, I’d highly recommend taking part.
The Expo itself was inside several old airport hangars. It had quite an old-skool, Cold War-era vibe to it, which just added to the atmosphere of running in Berlin.
To enter, I had to show my race card (I’d added mine to my iPhone so it was quick and easy) and photographic ID, then they heat-sealed a wrist band to my wrist. I was told I needed to keep this on until after the race, but very frankly after the Expo, no-one asked for it — my race bib was enough. That said, I wouldn’t tamper with it, just in case… even though I had to cut mine off as there was no way it’d come loose by itself!
Race bib pickup was at the very back of the Expo and once there was quick and easy. If you’d bought a finisher’s t-shirt, you had to pick that up at another counter, where you had to go outside, join a queue, then come back inside the hangar. It again was quick, but not very intuitive.
Adidas had loads of official gear for sale, so if you liked the Berlin Marathon merchandise you could load up before you left.
Bambini Run
My family had come with me to Berlin so I’d signed the kids up to do the kids’ races taking place on the Saturday. The first was the Bambini Run for my 5 year-old, which also took place at Tempelhof.
It was pretty congested getting the kids to the start line and they didn’t allow parents through for our age category (parents could accompany the 0–2 year olds and 3–4 year olds, but not the 5–6 year olds onwards). I was a concerned my Little Girl would freak out being by herself — especially as most of the announcements were only in German — but she was fine, the marshals were great at herding the kids around and she finished with a beaming smile on her face!
Her run was only about 500m, but it was enough so she felt like she had taken part.
Mini-Marathon
On the Saturday afternoon, there was a Mini-Marathon for older kids, starting at Potsdamer Platz. There was very little information about it online — and nothing in English — so I’d emailed the organisers and asked how I could sign up my son and they were very quick to get back to me with a link and a code.
Apparently the Mini-Marathon — which covers the last 4.195km of the main Berlin Marathon route — is a big schools event, with around 10,000 schoolchildren from all over Germany participating. We had a bit of a nightmare trying to pickup my son’s race bib as apparently pickup at the Expo had ended on the Thursday and when we got there on Saturday, no-one at SCC (the event organiser) knew what was happening. We eventually found the bib pickup area but it was closed down.
So we headed to the start line in Potsdamer Platz and asked SCC there, and got Little Man’s bib in about 60 seconds — very easy! Although by this point they only had large finisher’s t-shirts left, so he’s got a good few years to grow into it!
He absolutely loved the race, it was by far the largest he’d participated in and he even got to run through the Brandenburg Gate before I did!
Collecting him afterwards was hugely stressful, however. There was no clear signage on where to go — all the parents headed into the Berlin Marathon finisher’s area but the actual end of the Mini-Marathon was further down the road. There were also two exits, so we were freaking out a bit as we didn’t anticipate that so had no idea where Little Man would emerge. I took one exit and my wife took the other, and thankfully I found him pretty quickly.
So from his perspective, the Mini-Marathon was awesome… I’m so happy he enjoyed it but as a parent it was a massive stress from start to finish.
Getting to the Start Line
On Marathon Day itself, getting to the start line of the Berlin Marathon was one of the easiest experiences I’ve ever had.
No need to get up in the middle of the night to catch a ferry to Staten Island like you do when running the New York Marathon, or jumping on a bus from pretty much the finish line to the start if you run the Athens Authentic Marathon or Boston Marathon.
Berlin Marathon starts in Tiergarten near the Reichstag and travel by U-bahn and S-bahn is free, with the trains run every few minutes.
Berlin Marathon Start Village
There’s not much there at the start village of the Berlin Marathon.
I only recall massive queues for toilets (until the men discovered they had outdoor urinals). There were also many bag drop areas, which you could walk up to and drop-off without queuing.
Before entering my corral, I found a small piece of ground to run some warm-up loops, then saw a team mate from my running club so we headed into the corrals together.
There are no toilets in the corrals, but there are more toilets and urinals just before you enter. And if you’re tempted to go in the bushes you’ll be out of luck — literally everywhere was fenced off, so it was either go in the toilets/ urinals or not at all.
Berlin Marathon Course
Berlin Marathon is a loop, starting and finishing in Tiergarten in the city centre.
You start in the park just beyond the Reichstag parliament building and head west past Victory Monument before turning right and looping round Tiergarten and into Mitte.
There are a couple of small bridges over the Spree but you’ll barely feel them. The first ‘uphill’ segment is around Mile 4, with an elevation gain of +25ft (7.6m). There’s another +22ft (6.7m) segment in Mile 6, then the course is virtually flat until Mile 19 when there’s a -26ft (7.9m) segment and another downhill -24ft (7.3m) segment in Mile 21.
So bottom line is, you’re not really going to feel any of the elevation gain, but there are a couple of nice (but short!) downhill sections later in the race.
The Berlin Marathon begins to draw to a close running through Potsdamer Platz, where the crowds become thronging again. Support is great along the entire marathon course, and even though for 90% of the race it’s thin, the crowd gives off a welcoming vibe.
Lots of families were out supporting, with dozens of kids looking for high-fives, which was really motivating. Berlin Marathon also prints your name on your bib, and even though my name is difficult for non-English speakers to pronounce I had more personal shout-outs running the Berlin Marathon than any other race. You really feel a close connection with the crowd.
The final stretch of the Berlin Marathon has you running through the famous Brandenburg Gate and past the Reichstag to the finish line. But as the Brandenburg Gate is still a good 400m from the finish line, it’s prudent to hold off that sprint finish until you get a little closer!
Water and aid stations are plentiful along the course, the first set are at the 5k mark and then every 2.5k afterwards. Just watch out for the brown liquid — it’s cold, sweet tea, so not to everyone’s liking!
Berlin Marathon Race Strategy
Eliud Kipchoge may have ran a new world record that day, but I knew I wasn’t going to PB at the Berlin Marathon.
I’d had a terrible training block over the summer with two consecutive injuries that put me out for five weeks, then two weeks before the Berlin Marathon I caught COVID-19.
I also had to think about running the Chicago Marathon two weeks later, so for me the Berlin Marathon was going to be an exercise in discipline.
I decided to try to run negative splits for the first time at this distance, running the first 20 miles between 7:20 and 7:40 min/ mile, then seeing what I could give for the last 10k.
I managed to clock my first 5 miles at an average pace of 7:35 mins/ mile, then upped it to 7:20 mins/ mile up to Mile 20. I felt surprisingly good at this point, so cracked on to average 6:50 mins/ mile for the last 10k, with a sprint finish peaking at 4:59 mins/ mile at the end.
Without any hills or other notable terrain to contend with — unlike the monster hill in the middle of the Athens Authentic Marathon or the ups and downs of the New York Marathon over the many bridges — Berlin Marathon lets you focus on what pace you’d like to run to achieve your goal.
I can see why it’s so fast!
The Chicago Marathon may be flatter, but Chicago suffers from poor GPS coverage through The Loop, which makes it hard to know exactly how fast you’re going at the start and the halfway point, plus all those 90-degree bends mean you slow down at every corner.
Berlin Marathon, on the other hand, just flows, and bar one sharp turn just before Mile 3 when the two lanes of runners merge, the rest was easy going.
Post-Race Celebrations
Post-race was excellent!
There was a massive positive vibe as Kipchoge had just ran a new world record, then the sun started to peep out. It had been a comfortable 12C (54F) for the race, so the timing (for me at least) was perfect.
You get your medal pretty much right after you finish, then water and a few other bits and pieces. It’s about a 1km walk to the end of the finish area, where it’s extremely important NOT to miss the Erdinger tents giving out their Alkoholfrei beer!
I headed to the grassed area in front of the Reichstag and sat on my poncho, drinking in the sun and my ice cold beer. I could’ve stayed there much longer, but besides the Erdinger tents there wasn’t much else going on. So after half an hour to chill, I headed back to the U-bahn station and my hotel for a well-earned bath.
Reflections
I really, really enjoyed running the Berlin Marathon.
Even though the organisation wasn’t always been plain sailing up until race day, the Berlin Marathon itself was superb.
The atmosphere was relaxed, the support had a real warmth to it and the course lets you concentrate on your race.
One thing I will say about the Berlin Marathon is that it’s hard to notice anything specific about many of the areas you run through as they all kinda blend into one. Sure, the downtown area around Potsdamer Platz had a unique vibe to it, but bar the final mile through the Brandenburg Gate I had no idea where in the city I was at any given time. For sure that’s mostly on me for not being very familiar with Berlin, but I didn’t have the same issues when running the New York Marathon or running the Chicago Marathon, where it’s very clear when you move from one borough or neighbourhood to another.
This isn’t really a criticism, just an observation, and it certainly hasn’t put me off wanting to run the Berlin Marathon again.
When Will You Run the Berlin Marathon?
As one of the six Abbott World Major Marathons, Berlin Marathon always sells out every year. So if you’re thinking about entering, you’ll need to be fast!
Odds through the lottery are decent — I got in on my first attempt — and it opens right after the race finishes, so one year ahead. Time qualifiers need to meet a pretty tough standard — a sub-2:45 for men aged 44 and under and a sub-3:00 for women in the same age bracket.
But if you’re looking for a marathon PB on a fast, flat course with amazing support, give running the Berlin Marathon a go!
If you’ve liked this race report, you can check out my other reports on Running the New York Marathon, Running the Chicago Marathon and Running the Athens Authentic Marathon.
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