Is the Berlin Marathon worth running?

I would love to run it but don't think I could afford the travel expense.

Forget it, you'll never beat those 2:03-2:02 guys.

Berlin

The Marathon is worth the trip and the potential cost.

You may want to try Marathon Tours as a company to get you a race number and hotel space.

For race info try; berlin-marathon.de

It is quite flat. There are a few small bumps here and there, but nothing serious. It turns out it actually goes slightly up during a long stretch. It is so progressive I didn't even realise while running it.

If you are from the US, I'm afraid I can't compare with anything from over the pond.

Stay home you slow Americano, you will only be embarassed by my prowess over 26 miles.

Bump. Also interested cause I am registered and should get in. No idea what to expect. Anyone ran it before?

Keep in mind that it is not just a marathon in Germany but the one in the most iconic setting. Many locals only travel rarely to Berlin, and most participants will come not from within the city limits (it is a major pain in the to train in Berlin).

So expect some festive mood of the whole crowd.

If you can't compare it to anything in the US then how would you compare it to Amsterdam?

I'm thinking about registering for Berlin as well.

Nice city but I went a few days before and couldn't do much tourism because, y'know, I had to run a marathon. I spent a lot of time in The Starbucks next to Checkpoint Charlie.

The bus tours are good but they don't tell you a lot about where they rounded up Jews and sent them to labor camps. I found the the Holocaust memorial haunting.

Everyone under the age of about 35 speaks English and seem offended if you ask for something in German. Maybe they were offended by my German.

The Government has poured tons of money in to East Berlin and the parts you run through are beautiful.

The main problems I had during the were

- finding somewhere to pee at the start

- roadworks a couple of miles in and it meant everyone got funneled in to one lane. I think I burned quite a bit of fuel getting frustrated and angry.

- I got bored after about 8 miles because it was so flat.

Definitely worth the trip but I would have loved to have been able to spend more time there after the marathon.

Tip of the day: if you are going with some friends rent an apartment. It's much cheaper than a hotel. We booked late but still got one about a mile from the start, which cost us each less than $100 per night.

Tip of the day 2: When they tell you that going left round the roundabout is the same distance as keeping right, they lie. It's at least 100m further.

Comparison Question wrote:

If you can't compare it to anything in the US then how would you compare it to Amsterdam?

If found the first 30 km of Amsterdam very flat. Probably as flat or even flatter than Berlin. I'd need to complete the Amsterdam marathon at least once to tell you about the whole course, but I am surprised Amsterdam doesn't come up more often in discussions about fast courses.

While we're at it, I was a little disappointed with Rotterdam. While still a pretty flat course, you have go under bridges, climb that silly iconic bridge twice (nice to look at on postcards, not nice to climb the second time when you've run more than 20 km, you're tired and there's a headwind), etc. I would put Berlin ahead of Rotterdam.

I ran Amsterdam and all of the real elevation changes occur after 30k so that's a great place to drop out if you are going to. Also, this year you hit the wind again after 31k.

There are no major hills after 30k but you do have a few very small hills and a down ramp that creates a wind tunnel blowing in your face combined with the ramp back up. I would have preferred to run the course in reverse because the beginning is very, very flat.

This year the flat terrain didn't matter as it was so windy people were running 4 to 6 minutes slower than in past years. Yes, I did the analysis to verify the difference in time from this year compared to the past 7 years.

I'm seriously considering Berlin because of the runners I talked to after the race. They said Berlin was worth 7 minutes compared to that day in Amsterdam.... but that is just a couple of guys opinions..... it sure has me thinking.