SportPlus.sg's Cheryl Tay shares her maiden experience at the BMW Berlin Marathon with our readers, from joy to anguish - the race brought out a rollercoaster of emotions in the triathlete
PHOTO: SPORTOGRAF
Renewed respect. That’s what I have for the full marathon distance and all marathon runners after completing the 2022 BMW Berlin Marathon. This distance is not to be underestimated and it requires an abundance of patience.
When I first received the opportunity from BMW Group Asia to run the Berlin Marathon, I was excited and beyond ecstatic. I was on a mission to do better for myself and the environment, and this is the finale to the sustainability partnership with BMW Group Asia (focusing on both environmental and social sustainability), where we engaged in a series of conservation activities and raised funds for a good cause together.
The 2022 BMW Berlin Marathon is a world-class marathon event – one of the six World Marathon Majors (WMM) – that you have to ballot for. It’s exclusive, special and limited.
This marks my first WMM and only my second marathon. Although I am no stranger to endurance races (having done Ironman 70.3 races for nearly five years), this distance is new to me and running is not my strongest suit. But I had every intention to run a decent time.
PHOTO: SPORTOGRAF
Based on paper (extrapolated from my half-marathon personal best time of 1:49:30 clocked in May), going under 4 hours for a marathon is possible for me, but we all know that it doesn’t work like that. You still have to put in the hours and it also depends on the conditions on race day, including your body condition. I held on to my sub-4 target anyway, keeping it in sight.
After the Ironman 70.3 Desaru Coast race at the end of July, the plan was to have 8 weeks of dedicated marathon training. However, I caught some vile flu bug and I was out for three whole weeks. Three precious weeks I could have used for training. I had lost my voice, came down with fever, had a nasty chest-wrecking cough with thick green phlegm, endured a burning throat and just felt awful.
PHOTO: SPORTOGRAF
This left me with only five weeks of marathon training. I tried to do some easy running two weeks after I fell ill, but I felt worse and had to wait for another week before I slowly felt well enough to resume training properly. I was panicking at some point, but I told myself to just recover and do what I could.
Then another spanner was thrown in the works. With less than 3 weeks to the race, an old injury called plantar fasciitis decided to pay me a visit. In both heels. I had to pause training and pull out all stops to seek treatment. Thankfully, after bouts of dry needling, deep tissue massage and sports taping, I managed to reduce the pain and made it to the start line.
PHOTO: SPORTOGRAF
Deep down I knew that my sub-4 target was going to be challenging, but I still wanted to give it a try. BAM! I went out the start line feeling confident and the race atmosphere was so electrifying that I allowed myself to get swept up in it. The cool weather (of 11-16 degrees Celsius) also made for comfortable running conditions.
Holding an average of 5:30-5:35 minutes per kilometre, I kept telling myself that all I had to do was keep this pace to the end. It was that simple… NOT. In my excitement, I had failed to notice my heart rate was spiking. By the time I hit the 26km mark, I blew up. Just like that. I had to stop abruptly and that was when I realised my heart rate was in Zone 5. My mind was willing me to keep going, but my chest and my legs weren’t cooperating. Yup, I’ve hit the Berlin Wall (you are allowed to laugh at this pun).
PHOTO: SPORTOGRAF
The truth was, I had definitely started too fast, gassed out and the resulting mental anguish was excruciating. I’ve heard from many that once you hit the wall, it’s gonna be a real struggle. Certainly was.
It was still a long way to go – with 16.195km more – and no matter how bad I felt, I knew I had to keep the fight going. I did a mind reset, gave myself a pep talk and started jogging slowly. I walked through a few aid stations, kept myself hydrated, continued with my nutrition plan, stopped being concerned about my time and pace on my beautiful new Apple Watch Ultra (which I will give a detailed review on later) and just focused on one step at a time.
PHOTO: SPORTOGRAF
Thank goodness for the support on the course that was phenomenal. People were lined up all the way, all 42.195 kilometres, cheering and screaming. There were musicians and bands, people blasting music on speakers, people holding out cute signs like “Tap for more power” and “This is a lot of work for a free banana” – and all of these sights and sounds helped to keep me going. Strangers were calling out “Go Cheryl!”, “Come on Cheryl!”, reading my name off my bib. It was amazing!
When the iconic Brandenburg Gate came into sight, it meant the finish line was very close and that was when the floodgates opened. I thought of the significance of Berlin, how it is so steeped in war history, how much the city has gone through and how lucky I am to be here. A mix of emotions overwhelmed me, the tears started flowing and I was wiping my face all the way to the finish.
PHOTO: SPORTOGRAF
I crossed the line in 4:15:49, which is not anywhere near my target, but at least I tried! It just means I have more work to do, both physical and mental. Perhaps I was also too harsh on myself! This is a 12-minute improvement from my first and last marathon in Singapore in 2019.
It was a humbling experience too, because the marathon really, only starts after the halfway mark. 42.195km is very long and anything can happen during the race.
Despite it all, nothing and nobody can take away the incredible experience I had, at my first ever WMM. It is everything that everyone has said about it – the cold weather, the flat route, the heartwarming supporters. And a world record venue – the legendary Eliud Kipchoge just broke his own record at the very same race.
Now for some well-deserved rest, more Currywurst and some speedy action down the Autobahn in the BMW i4 M50 electric vehicle.
Cheryl is enjoying her post-race vacation in Germany as she wrote this.
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