I am a #Berlinlegend

Pint at the handy, medal dangling on my neck, on top of my finisher t-shirt. 

Just back at the hotel lobby after having dinner with the familee. The dinner was heavy meaty and delicious. We didn't reserve a table for tonihht as I didn't see a life past the Berlin marathon, so didn't plan for it.

We got turned down in places as no spaces, but in one, an American couple offered to share their table with us - Alex and Lisa, thank you!!

Still digesting the day and so much to say. 

I loved absolutely every second of it. For zero seconds did I think or feel "this is sh/t, uncomfortable,  too much etc". My mind is flooded with "best moment" of the day, and it's hard and unfair to pick one. 

But if I had to absolutely pick one or else no beer for the rest of my life, it would be reaching the Branderburg gate, turning around, stopping for a second and not being able to contain my absolute delight that I was there, under these circumstances, and rested, full of beans, with all my mental faculties intact and able to take in this fantasy that became reality. This is how Tara sold the marathon idea - running under the Branderburg gate is something that needs to be done as it's out of the world. I just can't believe I am so fortunate that I got to do this. So emotional now.

Regrets? Absolutely none. I'm well chuffed I enjoyed absolutely every single step of the race , stopped for a massage, ate, drank, used the portaloos (a lot), and took in Berlin, the supporters, the architecture, the atmosphere, and stepped where Kipchoge stepped when he set a world record today. 

A dissemination of the race and day to follow. I really want to remember every single bit of it, from the moment I woke up, to the breakfast where I mindlessly sat in another person's place and resumed eating what I thought was my breakfast, to forgetting my drop in bag at the hotel, to queuing for the loo before the start for too long and having to sprint to my starting block that had started 5mins before and got in the coral just before they closed it for the people behind me, to the chats with the fellow runners around , to the absolute delight in effort and feeling "really, already km 10/15/20/30 and I'm not dead" , to meeting at the expo  Romain from South Africa who was at his 40marathon (third this year) , and meeting him again at the finish line, to walking non stop since finishing and not sitting for the next 1.5 hours, to my boys absolutely giving zero f<>cks about what I've done when I met them after the race and taking me as fresh amd new with a lot of mummy requests, to absolutely everything. 

It has been one of those days I'm proud to have lived through and never want to forget