BERLIN MARATHON....in great detail.

Whoops, well here is the write up.

I left for the race on Wednesday, Sept. 25, from Tokyo at about 1pm. For whatever reason, probably the carbo-depletion phase, I was not in a good mood, so I broke the carbo-depletion with 2 chocolate bars and an ice-cream cone.

Could not sleep at all on the 12 hour flight from Tokyo to Frankfurt, probably because it was daylight the whole way.

Got to Frankfurt at 6pm, then had to transfer to Lufthansa. It was my first and LAST flight on Lufthansa. They order you around as if you were soldiers. I am told that this is typical Frankfurter-attitude.

So the flight was late, getting to Berlin about 10pm, and I was met by two young gals who ordered me: "Mr. Mayeroff, please come this way." I said "I will comply!"

So the hotel is in the perfect location for a major marathon like this, near a park and a track and the beds are very soft and plenty of pillows and towels. I roomed with Nestor Garcia, from Uruguay, who ran 2;13 at Berlin.

I fell asleep about 11pm then I woke up at 4am, nothing to do, so let's go for a run! Jogged about 20min. slowly.

First couple of days were pretty routine, but fun: I visited with Ronaldo DaCosta, VERY funny guy, and the other South Americans, and talked a long time with Fred Kiprop, who paced the leaders to 25km. Also Moses Tanui is very approachable. Dr. Rosa is NOT approachable. I met my friends on the Sekisui team (the coaches), and also Naoko. Tons of papparazzi in the lobby watching Naoko's every move.

Went to the race expo and spent way too much money on all sorts of running gear for my next 6 months in China, and tons of Carbo-gels, Powerbars, etc. Went to Niketown and bought a pair of the new Ventulus Flats.

Had a nice coffee meeting with Wolfram Goetz, Race Dir. at Hamburg. Really nice guy and I will go back for another try in April 2003, even if it is only a training run. Hamburg is truly a great race, due to the enthusiastic people of Hamburg. Beautiful city....

So now it is Saturday night. I felt pretty nervous, so I went for a short swim in the indoor pool downstairs. I made myself yet another enormous bowl of pasta. I have a way of using any hotwater heater to make pasta. I use a quick-cooking type of pasta that I bring from Thailand.

So I woke up on race morning about 4am due to jet-lag (not fatigued, just "time-zone mis-alignment." Dropped some FearFactory into the CD walkman and went for a 10minute jog in the pre-dawn darkness. Came back, took a hot bath, did a little oil-massage. I had been drinking a lot of diluted Glycerol Fuel (Twinlab product) and my whole body felt very fluid, light, and supple. My weight was 70kg, lightest weight at which I have ever started a marathon.

Bus to the start was at 7:15am, and the elite warmup area was wall-to-wall Japanese photogs and TV cams, watching Naoko's every move. I jogged down the designated street that we warmed up on, and I saw Koide and Naoko jogging together away from the cameras, so I gave them my "FIST OF METAL" sign, and they responded likewise, and with a smile. Nice people.

So the gun goes off at 9am sharp, and I am feeling somewhat tense. After so many bad marathons in the last 2 years since my return to competition in 1999, you kind of get conditioned, mentally, to think that this is just another one. I had not yet even run sub2;30 since 1990, except in training. I hit the first 5km in 16;04, and I am in no-mans land. There is a group with pace-maker doing 3;10's and there is a group just behind me doing about 3;15's.

I make an attempt to catch the 3;10's group. I struggle slightly, hitting 10km in 32;20.

At that point, I decided to just go for my minimum goal of 2;19;59, so I slowed to a jog, and wait for the slowly group, about 10 guys at that point, one Spaniard, one Austrian and the rest Germans.

From that point until about 35-36km, the pace felt easy, but in Berlin, this is where the fun begins...WALL TO WALL SCREAMING PEOPLE!

There is a section of about 200meters where you have tree-lined streets, tons of people and loud-speakers pounding out an African drum rhythm, at Pantera-concert volumes....you cannot help but to crank the pace.

At 40km, I saw the clock 2;11;15, and I thought to myself...NEXT YEAR THAT IS MY 42.2KM TIME.

I kept the pace nicely, and was all smiles for the last 1.2km. Coach Koide (Naoko's coach, gave me a hug after I finished, and then I just sat down near the finishline, savoring the moment.

THEN I GET UP AND YELL "BERLIN F****** RULES!!"

Weather was PERFECT, little wind, lots of good runners to share the pain, fast course (I negative split the 2nd half by 15 seconds), lots of cheering spectators.

I was not as sore as in previous marathons due to excellent training and smart racing.

I was so pumped up that, the day after the race, I once again woke up at 3am, had nothing to do, so I went jogging 2 hours in the darkness.

jason

I would like to experience similiar marathon like yours jason, especially in my debut, the first and last event Im going to run in the games.

But, I'm worried more about the post-race... man, do you really have to jog 2 hours at 3 am????? I heard Naoko did the same when she previously set the old WR?

( I dont think I will even have the energy to wake up at 3am in the morning?!?!?!?!!!)

karangasem.

I pretty much coach myself and I do what I want, when I want, where I want.

jason

Good recap, Jason.

Thanks.

good stuff

Good job guy.....

Hook up with wejo in the near future in flagstaff,maybe?

Great recap and awesome race, u are my idol. Love your posts. Are u familiar with the Japanese women that RW profiled on their website and how do u think they will do in Chicago?

Yoko Shibui

Masako Chiba

Toshinari Takaoka

Keep the updates coming, they keep me motivated.

All my best,

marc

you mentioned that you weighed yourself on race morning. were you monitoring your weight during your carbo and water (your reason for the glycerin i'm assuming) loading? i'd be interested to hear if your weight was up a few pounds from the time you ended your depletion and began your loading.

Jason,

First time caller, big time fan.

CONGRATULATIONS! I was in the vicinity of

Shawn H. at the TC Marathon when you called her.

(I heard her say...this call is from Europe,

who could it be?)

I'm sorry if I haven't followed everything,

but what is it that you do that keeps you

in SE Asia? (...some day I hope to make

use of my Mandarin.) Good luck!

Hey Jason. Curiousity has gotten the better of me. I tried shatteredsoul69@yahoo.com but it got bounced. What's your current e-mail if you're in Boulder? Maybe we can go for a run somewhere. Great race at Berlin BTW. No one who has run 2:18 or faster for the Mary would dis your performance.

wow jason im jealous!

=)

Email is

shatteredsoul68@yahoo.com

(68, not 69) 68 is year of my birth, as well as Phil Anselmo's. Phil has a tattoo that says "SHATTERED SOUL"

I am sorry that I did not cover the stretch from 10km to about 35km. Amazingly I did not remember much of anything. I was just RUNNING, focusing on the group and my pace and ignoring everything else. I had no idea what direction we were running, I forgot that we were in Berlin. I was just RUNNING.

I am leaving Boulder tommorrow morning (early AM 10/10), heading back to Japan then Thailand then China....

Might be back in the USA in May next year, but then again, MIGHT NOT. I am deep-down American, but everything here seems foreign to me now.

Thanks for the positve remarks....best to you.

jason

Jason, one thing I read into your account was "keep the weight low". You have to be light to run your best at the 26.2 distance!

To answer more questions,

I am in Asia because I love it there. I am happiest in Asia. Money is not a factor. I would make more money if I stayed in the USA, but I would be far, far less happy. If I am not happy, I do not run well.

Weight is a factor, but more important is hydration and "feeling" light and fluid when you are super-hydrated and carbo-loaded. After my depletion phase, my weight was very low, about 145, which is very low for me.

I started Rotterdam in 2000 at roughly the same weight, but I bombed, because my muscles were not ready, and I was under-fed.

jason