{"id":3455,"date":"2015-10-05T17:27:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T22:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?p=3455"},"modified":"2015-10-05T17:27:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-05T22:27:00","slug":"berlin-marathon-the-interview-and-the-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?p=3455","title":{"rendered":"Berlin Marathon: The Interview and The Finish"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"12115431_857395054380632_6759981837074580543_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I decided to go for it alright!<\/p>\n

Berlin was the most amazing thing ever!!! \u00a0I told you about this the day after the race but today the two photos I ordered arrived so, lucky you, you get to hear the story….Again!<\/p>\n

I trained pretty aggressively for Berlin. \u00a0To be honest, I think I went into this race over-trained and I paid. \u00a0It’s not the fault of my coach. \u00a0I should have told him I was toast. \u00a0I was determined to do every single mile. \u00a0Every single Tempo Run. \u00a0Every single step. \u00a0I refused to succumb to my age. \u00a0I knew better then and I know better now. \u00a0Will I do it again? \u00a0Probably. \u00a0HA!<\/p>\n

The race in Berlin was amazing! \u00a0Even though it was a very difficult marathon, I had the time of my life! \u00a0Would I run Berlin again? \u00a0You bet I would….as soon as my charge cards recover. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I ran hard in Germany. \u00a0It was an off day. \u00a0No excuses. It was what it was. \u00a0MFH (My Favorite Husband) and I saw everything there was to see in Berlin and then some. \u00a0I ran the race. We had fun! \u00a0We celebrated 30 years of marriage. \u00a0Can’t top that!<\/p>\n

Race day dawned chilly. \u00a0I was freezing waiting for the race to start. \u00a0As soon as we got moving, the sun came out and it warmed up fast. \u00a0I learned something around the 13.1 mark. \u00a0My new fueling strategy was a bust. \u00a0Back to Gels. \u00a0They have never failed me. \u00a0Live and learn….<\/p>\n

At the mark for the last 5K of the race I saw MFH. \u00a0He cheered me on. \u00a0He lifted my spirits and I was set to fly through the last 5K. \u00a0I’m here to tell you, that was THE LONGEST 5K of my life! \u00a0So many turns. \u00a0Each turn you are looking for the beautiful sight of the Brandenburg Gate. \u00a0At each turn, you are disappointed.<\/p>\n

Did they literally move that Gate while you were racing!?!<\/p>\n

Finally, I see the Gate! \u00a0YAY!!! \u00a0My pace picks up and I figure I have 3 maybe 4 minutes of running left. \u00a0Woo-Hoo!!!<\/p>\n

I run, with lots of other people from all over the world, through the columns of the Brandenburg Gate. \u00a0I see ahead, the last .20 of the race, the glorious finish line. \u00a0Boo-yah! \u00a0Let’s finish this thing! \u00a0All of a sudden:<\/p>\n

This camera crew steps in front of me and starts an interview! \u00a0The clock is still ticking! \u00a0My finish time….this is not good. \u00a0But, I was polite and stopped running and chatted with the nice German man. \u00a0As the interview progresses, the light dawns and I realize that this camera crew has been waiting (for a very long time) for me to come through the gate so they could conduct this interview.<\/p>\n

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I think they detained me for 3 maybe 4 minutes. \u00a0The ending of the interview was the nice man congratulating MFH and I on 30 yrs of marriage and saying, “As you successfully complete the Berlin Marathon, this song’s for you and your husband.”<\/p>\n

The sound system begins to blast the Wedding March. The crowd goes wild and they are all cheering…for ME!<\/p>\n

AMAZING!!!<\/p>\n

I ran for the finish line for all I was worth. \u00a0As I passed the crowds and other runners, people were offering their congratulations! \u00a0Wave upon wave of cheers. \u00a0I was stunned! \u00a0The genuine happiness of these people for my husband and myself…I was speechless!!!<\/p>\n

The music continued until I crossed the finish line.<\/p>\n

\"12074690_857362337717237_2803716288011229815_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At the finish line, a nice person draped my finishers medal over my head and around my neck.<\/p>\n

I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life. \u00a0It was completely overwhelming. \u00a0It was incredible!<\/p>\n

It is impossible to put into words all the things I felt at that moment. \u00a0I DO know that this is and will be one of the most memorable and treasured things in my life!<\/p>\n

Thanks for listening to my story…again.<\/p>\n

Marine Corps Marathon is in 19 days! \u00a0Time to run again! \u00a0BOOM!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I decided to go for it alright! Berlin was the most amazing thing ever!!! \u00a0I told you about this the day after the race but today the two photos I ordered arrived so, lucky you, you get to hear the story….Again! I trained pretty aggressively for Berlin. \u00a0To be honest, I think I went into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,8,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3455"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3459,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3455\/revisions\/3459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}