Back on the running train

I've had a great weekend! I did do my 9 miler on Saturday and felt pretty good. It was hot and my goal was to just chug it out. It's my longest run since Berlin so I was happy with it. Michelle and her friend came over Saturday night for a bbq and Irene and I double teamed (that mean's Irene did the bbq and provided some yummy bread and I assembled various other foods). That makes two dinner parties I have had (well three if you count the first time Irene came down for dinner). It was all very nice and easy.
Today I went with Irene and Lotte to Fort Funston - this is always a lovely start to the day. Then I needed to go buy a hairdryer so I put my running shoes on and ran the 2.5 miles there and did stop/start running back. This is part of the new regime of getting used to running on tired legs. It's making me so happy to be out running again on a regular basis. It really helps to ease the stresses of day to day living (read work) and has me reengage with the city as I hit the pavements.
Hmmmm well and I've finally had to concede that I've lost my i-pod.....arrrrrrrgh, seriously I don't know where. I guess "things" leave you when they should so I dropped some cash on getting a new i-pod nano, headphones (same as the last pair, they are the best for running) and an armband to carry it in. Kind of excited to have it arrive now.
The weather here is insanely good, after having been so mediocre for the past weeks. Making the most of it and not really enjoying how early it gets dark. I am back to leaving home in the dark and arriving home in the dark....bleech. Although I did get to enjoy a very gorgeous sunset as I ran the ponds close to work last week. It's so much easier for me to run in Sunnyvale rather than drive home and put my running gear on. It's all flat so I work the hills more in the weekend.
This week we have a team dinner on Wednesday, in San Fran so that's nice. I really do enjoy the team dinners but it's hard going when we have the dinner and I still have to drive at least 45mins to get home. I take the commute distances for granted now but not because it's easy so much as I'd rather live in the city and commute than live in the valley!

occupy protest protest How to really annoy the banks and finance compani...

Liked this idea.....

Craziness....

The week that was! I feel like it's been the longest, busiest week - okay punctuated with some very pleasant, and unexpected social events.
Work has just got beyond busy as we approach our go-live. One of the team resigned from ACN and I'm very sad to see him go, although think he's made a great decision for himself. I've had terribly early mornings.....todays onsite 7am meeting meant an early 545am start. There's been a few late nights but I did get two runs in.
I'm feeling very slack on the running and have now put in place a stricter routine. My goal this week was two runs then a long run this weekend. Just gotta do the long run. Sadly I'm not sure if I will be able to do the Big Sur Half. When I registered I hadn't realized it was go-live weekend so I think I will be working. Bummer.
Michelle in town this weekend, although not staying with me. Catching up Saturday for a bbq. I'm seriously looking forward to some downtime and easy company.

Crazy times - end of marathon tourism

Mum has left and is now back in NZ.  Her final week here was a little crazy for me work wise.....including several very late working sessions.  One of those times when everyone just has to step up and make things happen.  Friday saw Monica and Jung-Ah larking about in the office late in the afternoon.  It was a welcome relief after the intensity of the week!  I went for my first run in over a week on Friday as well.  Leaving the office earlyish to be reminded that running is still my fav thing and great for stress.
Thought too I'd better finish the "Marathon Tour"!  Other sights we saw and adventures we had.....



Starting with a pleasant easy day in the botanic gardens.

Worlds largest greenhouse....apparently 

     

Some mighty big plants to be seen

Pretty!

We also visited a concentration camp, which sounds a little grim but proved to be a remarkable journey through history and I was very impressed with the way they had found some kind of balance between memorializing individual stories, capturing the political history and educating along the way.  There were quite a few school groups so clearly this is part of the learning curriculum.  To give you a sense of it some shots below.

Map showing where this camp fits into the "network" that was created

Entrance to the Camp

A typical sell, this camp held both jewish and other political prisoners and has a long history both during and post WWII

Doctors used these samples to characterize prisoners features, which were all carefully recorded, which made for a comprehensive list of internees, many of the records have been preserved

To preserve the buildings glass walkways have been created in several places.  This is the hospital....each of the rooms have these amazing collections of stories about individuals, some of whom survived

This was the "Potato" room, these cartoons where scattered throughout and thought to have been done by political prisoners at some point in the camps history

The Memorial 

I didn't really feel overwhelmed by it all so much as felt it's important to preserve these places both as memorials and as a way to never forget.
After the trip to the camp (about 45mins out of town) we headed back to the city for some lighter activities and to get ready to fly home the following day......or me fly to San Fran and mum to head to St Thomas to meet Karen and Brice.

Rock'n River 50

At the Ultra volunteering for the day.















Next year!

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Location:Footbridge,Sacramento,United States

What I'm looking at right now

View from my home office/gym......


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Marathon Tourism Part 3

Brandenburg Gate took us most of the morning.  Tuesday was the only grey/rainy day we had, the weather was unseasonably warm and sunny!  On our way to our next adventure (off to check out East Berlin) we stopped at a restaurant and sat outside to enjoy the wine and beer. On to the metro we headed off to see some more iconic Berlin sights.

Berlin Alexander Platz Clock

Berlin TV Tower

The Berlin TV Tower was kind of fab as we travelled up in a fast lift to enjoy the 360 degree views of Berlin.  The great thing about this was, not only is the tower in the old East part so you get a sense of how that must have been before the wall came down, but you can also visually see the change in architectural styles.  Overall this part of Berlin felt dirtier and less well maintained (there are multiple development projects underway but that all costs money in difficult economic times).

No idea how one actually reads that clock but we did find Wellington!

Just checking out the architecture.....

Ugly but attracted a lot of sightseers, including us

Local City Hall

Post East Berlin we headed to the more ritzy shopping part of town where we checked out some shops and had a yum meal, again at an outdoor table.  Stumbled into this rather cool church, that didn't look much on the outside but proved to be quite stunning from the inside!!!!

Marathon Tourism Part 2

Generally mum and I found ourselves back in the hotel earlish in the evening - it seemed to be what we both preferred and still gave us plenty of opportunity to look around.
Tuesday saw us become "real tourists".....as if the zoo didn't really qualify!

Headed back to Potsdammer Platz (which proved to be a "hub" for transitioning to various other metro lines!).  It is also the location of the Sony Center.  A rather impressive building with some fine eateries and at least one good wine bar.  It's also a bit of a tourist trap.  That said it does launch you into some interesting sightseeing and gave me the opportunity to share with mum the end point of the marathon.  Oh also where I enjoyed a VERY large beer.

Highlights of the day.

Part of the "wall", we really were standing at the boundary of East and West

I found this weirdly entertaining.....lumps of chewing gum stuck to the wall....go figure!

Next, and why this is a "touristy" part of town - The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  Not meaning to diminish it at all, but (much like the Mall in Washington DC, a lot of historical memorials captured in a relatively short stroll).  This was kind of remarkable.  A series of variously sized concret blocks set in a "rolling" landscape.  We walked into it and it was eerie.

From there the Brandenburg gate, where it appeared they were setting up for Ocktober Fest.....We also visited the German parliament (it became apparent later in the day as we watched one of the two english channels on the TV, that parliament was busy that day/week, voting on whether or not to bail out Greece!).

This not parliament but a quirky building we saw

Carriage rides - unexpected, pigs arse, not so shocking.....

More to follow

Marathon tourism part 1

Having run the marathon, and seen some sights, marathon's end started a whole new cycle of checking out Berlin.

Monday we headed off to the Zoo/Aquarium.  I was a little stiff and we were still figuring out the metro but it was a lovely peaceful day.  The Zoo is set in beautiful grounds and has a really strong conservation focus.  Many endangered species that they are trying to preserve (long ago I wrote a community newspaper article about Wellington Zoo, the most interesting and insightful moment for me was the very clear and articulate explanation I heard about modern zoos being much more focused on preservation than "display".... changed my view of zoos in general - noting too that there are zoos that are more about display......so for the anti-zoo folk I think there's a different perspective, so feel less angst ridden about the concept when executed appropriately - although still clearly a little defensive).  I think the highlight for me (apart from the gardens in general) was the hippos.  We arrived in time for feeding and it was kind of amazing to watch - I like the hippos!  The aquarium was beyond dull and not well done at all - mum and I were both indifferent.  Post that, given where the zoo is located, we wandered in and out of some stores and then landed in quite a lovely Italian restaurant where we sat outside and ate good food and drunk good wine.

Mum and I are both coffee drinkers and not particularly chatty first thing in the morning so finding good coffee was important....the first place we discovered had great muffins, a few blocks from the hotel and a little past our ideal metro stop.  Next we found one virtually across from our hotel. Looked like an ice cream parlor but mum pretty quickly figured it out, noting the number of people that cycled through so we decided to give it a go!  Perfect - two good black coffees and two croissants for 5 Euro......woohoo baaaargain.  And of course in all locations mum could smoke!  Mum's smoked for about as long as I can remember (briefly gave up at some point) - I'm not a smoker and never have been.  I'd rather she didn't smoke but can't deny she's fitter than many her age and is aware of when and how she does it......changed seats a couple of times so I wasn't in the down stream!

A jog through Berlin.....

Arrived three days out from the Marathon.  Friday headed to the Expo to pick up my race number and "goodie" bag.  The expo was in the, now disused, Tempelhof Airport - which happens to be the largest building in Berlin and is a testament to Communist building styles!

Saturday I went to check out the start line and all things "marathon".

The start line..... 

....running towards the Siegessaule Victory Column....

.....to finish at the Brandenberg Gate

Marathon day I got up early to enjoy a very German breakfast buffet, with the 30+ other runners I discovered were all staying in our hotel.  Set off to the start line, chatting to a very pleasant guy from Stockholm.

Then joined the 40,000+ people all waiting for the race to begin.

Chuckled when I saw this shirt!

Some casual observations:

* 40,000+ folk is a lot of people to run with on, what proved to be, very narrow roads.....course never really thinned out until mile 23 and more than one person came crashing down along the way as they tripped trying to avoid people or got caught on a rough piece of road

* Spectators were rowdy and fun

* Was on track for a 4:30 until mile 16 when I blew my hydration and nutrition...spent 3 miles correcting it then slogged out the last 6....making for a long marathon although not as painful as New Orleans was....tried not to be disappointed, but confess I was a little!

* I've never seen so many people walking at the end....seemed like every 3rd person was walking, not sure why as some didn't look that tired (but you never know I guess)

* Best to open the bag of Chomps before you start running as it's exhausting to open them on the run....especially when the bag is determined to stay firmly shut

* Gotta love that I saw a lot of runners drinking beer at the expo before the race and even more drinking beer at the end.....German's drink a lot of beer

I'm really happy to have run Berlin.  Running a marathon is a great (albeit a little nerve wracking) way to start a holiday.

Next update.....Adventuring in Berlin with The Mother.