Berlin Marathon 30/9/2012

neilc

village runner wrote: »

I ran 2.59 there 3 yrs ago and never saw a pacer and that was with a halfway in 89.49 odd. Best of luck finding him. In my opinion a runner aiming for sub 3 doesn't need a pacer.

Last year I went through half somewhere around 1:37:xx and if I recall correctly the 3hr pacers were within my view till at least mile 10 or 11.

TRR

village runner wrote: »

I ran 2.59 there 3 yrs ago and never saw a pacer and that was with a halfway in 89.49 odd. Best of luck finding him. In my opinion a runner aiming for sub 3 doesn't need a pacer.

Why? Surely same could be said for sub 4hr runner etc

Just because you are a potential sub 3 runner doesn't mean you are anything special!

Brianderunner

pyrat wrote: »

Yep, Pen D it is!

I am going for 2:59:30

Currently undecided as to whether to run with the 3:00:00 pacer or not. Had anyone here run a marathon with a pacer before? Is it any good?

I lined up 10-15m behind the 3 hr pacers last year, but by the time we got going, i was about 100m down on them due to the crowds. Be careful it doesnt happen to you and line up alongside them or slightly ahead of them.

As mentioned previously, there is a lot more running room on the left side of the dual carriageway, do your best to start on that side. Most people enter from the right side (north side) as the bag drop is that side. The pacers were on the right last year and had red balloons IIRC.

village runner wrote: »

In my opinion a runner aiming for sub 3 doesn't need a pacer.

All the top marathoners run with pacers. Look at Radcliffe's WR.

sideswipe

menoscemo wrote: »

I have ran a marathon as a pacer though not with a pacer so i can't possibly comment :pac:.

They will have a fair crowd around them so you won't lack for company. I reckon the pacer will start at the back of Block C so just make sure you are up near the front of D if you want to follow the pacers.

Rememeber the most important thing though: Beers that evening in the Oscar Wilde Pub

Whats the protocol with the beers Meno- straight to the pub using the race facilities to change or back back to hotels and out after that?

Reason I ask is my hotel is a fair distance in the opposite direction to Oscar Wilde.

menoscemo

sideswipe wrote: »

Whats the protocol with the beers Meno- straight to the pub using the race facilities to change or back back to hotels and out after that?

Reason I ask is my hotel is a fair distance in the opposite direction to Oscar Wilde.

haha, no Ireckon home first and change. There is talk of being in to watch the Hurling final replay.
Nothing is ever too far away in Berlin with the public transport system.

menoscemo

neilc wrote: »

Last year I went through half somewhere around 1:37:xx and if I recall correctly the 3hr pacers were within my view till at least mile 10 or 11.

I doubt that. I went through half way in 1:35:xx and the 3hr pacers were never in my view after the first mile or so.

Are you sure you are not confusing them with the 3:15 guys?

neilc

menoscemo wrote: »

I doubt that. I went through half way in 1:35:xx and the 3hr pacers were never in my view after the first mile or so.

Are you sure you are not confusing them with the 3:15 guys?

Yeah I could be

Marthastew

I just got a final reminder from Marathonfoto to see if I wanted to buy my photos from last year; Happy memories:) and I'm really looking forward to a weekend away in Berlin now

Mr Stew and I are travelling over on Saturday morning and back home on Monday morning, short but (hopefully) sweet trip.
Looking forward to seeing you all in The Oscar Wilde on Sunday evening

Rolex_

pyrat wrote: »

Yep, Pen D it is!

I am going for 2:59:30

Currently undecided as to whether to run with the 3:00:00 pacer or not. Had anyone here run a marathon with a pacer before? Is it any good?

Good and bad but mostly good. My buddy and I tagged along behind the 3:15 pacer in Berlin last year from 10k to 35k. It took all the guess work out of it. Felt strong enough to overtake him at 35k and went for home. Assumed I was comfortaby under 3;15 until I saw him on my shoulder on Unter Den Linden in the last km. I put the foot down to stay ahead of him and finished in 3:14:37. I might have missed 3:15 only for him.

In London in April I tried to follow the (single!) 3 hr pacer.. I say "tried" because he had a tiny little lollypop sign which was hard to see. I used a lot of energy trying to keep him in my sights because there was a mob around him and he lacked visibility. He was the only 3 hr pacer and virtually none of the runners around him at 13.1 miles made the sub-3. (I lost him in Canary Wharf at about 21 and ran 3:02)

I havent completely decided but I think I have a better chance of nailing the sub-3 if I head out at 2:57 pace and allow for a 2-3 minute positive split. If you have one or two others running with you to ensure you stay on pace (no faster, no slower) up to 20M it is as effective as a pacer IMO. After 20M all bets are off anyway.

village runner

TRR wrote: »

village runner wrote: »

I ran 2.59 there 3 yrs ago and never saw a pacer and that was with a halfway in 89.49 odd. Best of luck finding him. In my opinion a runner aiming for sub 3 doesn't need a pacer.

Why? Surely same could be said for sub 4hr runner etc

Just because you are a potential sub 3 runner doesn't mean you are anything special!

Personally I don't trust them. Nothing to do with feeling any good. Let's say The pacers ran Thr first 3 miles in 6.30 a mile do you follow them. I like to run Thr first mile a few seconds slower than marathon pace. Most sub 3 attempts are runners who have ran a few marathons ran whereas 4 hours would be a lot of newcomers. No facts to base if on but I don't know many who attempted 3 on first attampt and loads who have attempted 4. Pacers are for personal preference. Not for me. With Paulas record I reckon it was a lot for wind etc and she probaly told him to speed up or slow accordingly.

grimbergen

Rolex_ wrote: »

Good and bad but mostly good. My buddy and I tagged along behind the 3:15 pacer in Berlin last year from 10k to 35k. It took all the guess work out of it. Felt strong enough to overtake him at 35k and went for home. Assumed I was comfortaby under 3;15 until I saw him on my shoulder on Unter Den Linden in the last km. I put the foot down to stay ahead of him and finished in 3:14:37. I might have missed 3:15 only for him.

In London in April I tried to follow the (single!) 3 hr pacer.. I say "tried" because he had a tiny little lollypop sign which was hard to see. I used a lot of energy trying to keep him in my sights because there was a mob around him and he lacked visibility. He was the only 3 hr pacer and virtually none of the runners around him at 13.1 miles made the sub-3. (I lost him in Canary Wharf at about 21 and ran 3:02)

I havent completely decided but I think I have a better chance of nailing the sub-3 if I head out at 2:57 pace and allow for a 2-3 minute positive split. If you have one or two others running with you to ensure you stay on pace (no faster, no slower) up to 20M it is as effective as a pacer IMO. After 20M all bets are off anyway.

Jaysus, the pressure on that poor bastard pacing a 3hr group by himself in London! How can one of the so-called Big 5 marathons not have back-up pacers

Rolex_

grimbergen wrote: »

Jaysus, the pressure on that poor bastard pacing a 3hr group by himself in London! How can one of the so-called Big 5 marathons not have back-up pacers

Yea fair point. In fairness to the guy he took me through the 1/2 in exactly 1:30..... and BBC were there to show him live bringing James Cracknell home shoulder-to-shoulder in 2:59:xx. Sadly I was a good 500m behind at that stage, no fault of the pacer.

Berlin when I was there last year had 2 pacers for 3:15 who ran with a gap of ??? 50 metres between them. They had big balloons and you could spot them easily from either side of the road and from hundreds of meteres behind. I presume it will be the same this year..in which case I would tuck in 50-100 meteres behind the pacer where you can see everything and where it's a bit less congested with less risk of getting tripped up etc

TRR

grimbergen wrote: »

Jaysus, the pressure on that poor bastard pacing a 3hr group by himself in London! How can one of the so-called Big 5 marathons not have back-up pacers

Just to point out what a good job Kurt Godel and the DCM crowd do regards pacers, that guy was one of three 3hr pacers last year.

Rolex_

08:00–14:0013° 0.2 mmGentle breeze, 4 m/s from southwest


I'd take that!

menoscemo

Rolex_ wrote: »

08:00–14:0013° 0.2 mmGentle breeze, 4 m/s from southwest


I'd take that!

You can tell people are really starting to ge the taper madness when the weather watching begins. :pac:

I'd definitely take that too.

pyrat

Great stuff, thanks for all the replies. I think I will try and run with the pacers if it works out that I am around them.

Will go to Oscar Wilde on Sunday night as well for sure!

opus

menoscemo wrote: »

You can tell people are really starting to ge the taper madness when the weather watching begins. :pac:

I'd definitely take that too.

Think I was checking the weather forecast from around 10 days beforehand and it had moved to hourly checking by now

Btw I'd recommend the Segway tour if anyone is looking for something to do on Sat that doesn't involve too much walking, it was great crack last year especially if you've never ridden (driven?) a Segway before.

Hope everyone has a great run on the day!

sideswipe

menoscemo wrote: »

You can tell people are really starting to ge the taper madness when the weather watching begins. :pac:

Yep, never really suffered too bad from pre race jitters before, but after 2 epic fails in my last 2 marathons I'm far more nervous than before my first marathon. Mental dreams and unable to think about anything else.
Think I'll be a wreck by this time next week:pac:

EauRouge79

Sunday 30/09/2012
02:00–08:00 14°5.4 mmGentle breeze, 4 m/s from north-northwest
08:00–14:00 13°3.1 mmGentle breeze, 4 m/s from northwest
14:00–20:00 13°0.5 mmGentle breeze, 5 m/s from north-northwest


Sorry, I really am bored. More weather predicting !
not looking so good this time around.

Rolex_

A drop of rain won't kill us... main thing is no high winds or temperatures >18C forecast at all for the next week. You all set?

EauRouge79

Rolex_ wrote: »

A drop of rain won't kill us... main thing is no high winds or temperatures >18C forecast at all for the next week. You all set?

Ya, happy enough to be honest, just looking for that bit of bounce in my legs to come. Did 10 in the UCC Farm earlier so a few very shorts runs over next few days.
Toying with the idea of staying just a little ahead of the pacers and just building a small cushion as you were considering.
May be easier to stay just ahead rather than following. Just trying to hang on to a bunch is probably not the most positive attitude.
Will give you a ring on the mobile Friday/Sat for a quick chat.
How is the body?

Rolex_

EauRouge79 wrote: »

Ya, happy enough to be honest, just looking for that bit of bounce in my legs to come. Did 10 in the UCC Farm earlier so a few very shorts runs over next few days.
Toying with the idea of staying just a little ahead of the pacers and just building a small cushion as you were considering.
May be easier to stay just ahead rather than following. Just trying to hang on to a bunch is probably not the most positive attitude.
Will give you a ring on the mobile Friday/Sat for a quick chat.
How is the body?

Body is ok but I have another fecking cold. Did 12M with the lads this morning wearing hat, gloves and leggings as a precaution! I should probably do no running for the week to allow the immune system to fight this bug off, hopefully I'll be fine. Great to hear we may be of a mind tactically, you might PM me your number and remind me when you are heading over- we can always meet up for a cup of coffee Saturday and watch the inline skaters do their thing...

EauRouge79

Rolex_ wrote: »

Body is ok but I have another fecking cold.
we can always meet up for a cup of coffee Saturday and watch the inline skaters do their thing...

Sorry to hear that. Heres hoping you can kill that sucker!
Will PM you an arrange something for Saturday. Inline Skating is a great spectacle alright.
Im heading over on Wednesday so hoping to get to the expo on Friday when its a bit quieter.

claralara

And how are we all doing this evening?! Countdown is well and truly on now!

I had an alright run in the rain this evening - a couple of miles at HM pace to keep the legs interested. The legs were good, the lungs were not. I think I have the Spanish flu...

digger2d2

claralara wrote: »

. The legs were good, the lungs were not. I think I have the Spanish flu...

One's affinity to Downton Abbey knows no bounds

Rolex_

claralara wrote: »

And how are we all doing this evening?! Countdown is well and truly on now!

I had an alright run in the rain this evening - a couple of miles at HM pace to keep the legs interested. The legs were good, the lungs were not. I think I have the Spanish flu...

I have the Irish variant.... sputtering all day...box of kleenex used .... f***k!!! 6 days to clear it....:(

DigiJem

Name - Bib - Prediction - Actual
menoscemo - 6825 - 3:04:59
Rolex_ - 31577 - 2:59:15
Vagga - 21555 - 3.35.00
macinalli - 19372 - 3:18
Sideswipe - 33268 - 3:29:599
Marthastew - F2203- 4.XX.XX
Mr Stew - 8782- 3.29.59
EauRouge- 21299 - 2:59:30
Pronator- 19343-02:xx:xx
Pre- - 02:02:59
claralara - F2068 -3:14:xx
digger - tbc - 3:19:xx
digijem - F5605 -3:55:00

Just adding my name to the list, starting to get excited about it now.

RayCun

Good luck everyone, I'm looking forward to some happy race reports

EauRouge79

RayCun wrote: »

Good luck everyone, I'm looking forward to some happy race reports

Im looking forward to providing you with one....fingers crossed

Looking like a cool dry morning now. No excuses left in my locker now

pyrat

Name - Bib - Prediction - Actual
menoscemo - 6825 - 3:04:59
Rolex_ - 31577 - 2:59:15
Vagga - 21555 - 3.35.00
macinalli - 19372 - 3:18
Sideswipe - 33268 - 3:29:599
Marthastew - F2203- 4.XX.XX
Mr Stew - 8782- 3.29.59
EauRouge- 21299 - 2:59:30
Pronator- 19343-02:xx:xx
Pre- - 02:02:59
claralara - F2068 -3:14:xx
digger - tbc - 3:19:xx
digijem - F5605 -3:55:00
pyrat - 6443 - 2:59:30

Just adding mine!