Bradford Goz's Staging Area

Berlin is fascinating and the course packs in as much history as one could get ending with the epic sites of Museum Island and the Brandenburg Gate. Crowd support was surprisingly strong throughout. Course is flat with just enough slopes to break up the leg work. Mostly long, straight stretches between turns. Complaints I had heard that were NOT a factor for me included congestion and distance between water stations. Rest area at end is lawn for the iconic Reichstag. Mass transit is FREE for runner in days around the Marathon. Weather for 2022 was just a few degrees warmer than perfect. Recommendations: Do NOT go the Expo at opening time. The lines are terrible at first, but clear out within an hour. Portapotty lines were LONG. Get there early or make other arrangements so you can get to your corral. And, of course, allow days to see Berlin and deal with jet lag! EARLY! Biggest shortcoming: water stations are more frequent in second half, but they’re not well organized. Short with too much water/Maurten in cups. I was lucky to grab a bottled handed out by a thoughtful spectator. Handout gel was Maurten, but caffeinated gel was gone pretty quickly. On the other hand, the stations hand out TEA, which I love. All in all, a world class, not-to-be-missed Marathon.

I’m am urban runner, but this was nature just about as beautiful as it gets in a road race. Uniquely, almost half the course is on easy trails, soft enough to ease the jar of running, hard enough to minimize any slowdown from the dirt and gravel surfaces. Much of the first half goes through a coastal marshland nature preserve. Much of last 8 miles swings through farmland and a nature trail. Course is almost pancake flat with some small rises and falls to ease the hamstrings

Volunteers were exceptional. Ample water/Gatorade stations. Good guidance re turns/turnarounds. Great spirit at Finish Line and at fun after party with LOTS of food and up to 3 beers per runner! Very convenient t-shirt and award pickup. (I got an award!) In fact, races do not get more convenient. I stayed a three min walk from the start line, arrived three mins before the race and found my pace group right away. There’s some congestion at the beginning, but nothing that affected my race after the first ¼ mile.

I liked the size of the race. Half Marathoners kept things lively the first five miles, then we settled in with our 600 Marathon peers. Looking at past years, weather has been consistently good. No guarantees, but RB runners have been fortunate. This year’s forecast looked cold and windy, but starting temps of 39’ made the day close to optimal. There were some winds from the north and west, but these were broken up in part by trees and bushes along a good part of the course.

Award plaque and medals were great and t-shirt design lovely. Drawback on shirts, Half and Full Marathoners got same model. Otherwise, the Expo was dull and there was no additional swag – gloves, scarf, gel, etc. Free photos, however, were cool.

In short, if you’re not keen on running a major, this is a race I think you are sure to enjoy. Oh, did I mention that Rehoboth Beach in December is a very cool seaside town?!