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.

Moments in time

Well it's done. The goal, 3 marathons in the Calendar year. As it turns out it's 4 marathons in 12 months. I am happy to have done what I committed to do; set a goal and achieve it - not at all costs but done with the very best of intentions.
Along the way I've discovered some things.  I'm not a saint and never will be....I need colour and character in my life. To be an exceptional athlete would require more exception than I have. I'll get out there tho and live with my own flaws....many and vividly presented when the hurt comes and the mind is nagging. 
Berlin was not all I had hoped time-wise...not the worst run I've had but the most timely reminder that nutrition isn't to be ignored, that the mind is what carries you across the line long after the body has yelled stopped.  
The ultra, another opportunity to Learn more. I started thinking I could never run 10k...terrified by a half marathon and now thinking I should step it up....be braver and never forget the privilege of two feet, one foot in front of the other, on my terms. 

24hrs

Day before the marathon and I've visited the start/finish line. Mum and I got up lateish and went to our "local" coffee shop where we sat outside in the sun and watched the sights. I then headed off to check out the fastest route to the startline. The place was buzzing. Great sights with the Brandenburg gate where the marathon finishes, then looking down towards the Siegessaule where the marathon starts. Weather is incredible warm - going to need to drink a lot!

In Berlin

Arrived in Berlin two days ago - all good so far. Been to the expo which was in the old airport and full of crazes runners. Awesome ton see so many runners downing huge glasses of beer, not sure I've seen that at an expo before. Had some adventures finding places to eat and spent sometime in the Sony Center. Cell doesn't work here so can't load photos until I get home. Going to take the cell on the run and take some photos along the way. One day to go - must stop drinking beer!

SFO to Berlin

Tomorrow The Mother and I fly to Berlin.  Yippee, I am very excited and nervous and looking forward to the adventure.  Having mum here has/is grand; of course having all my washing and ironing done and now mucho chicken vege soup in the freezer is a bonus.
Friday I picked her up from the airport and Crazy Ironman Girl.  It took mum forever to get through customs so took CIG straight to her start line.  Grand to see her as I have missed her on the project and now it turns out she is coming back to the Bay Area for work so, with some clever planning we can be running buddies again!
Saturday the weather was gorgeous and I took mum off to what I had hoped would be a fab restaurant on the beach.  As it turned out it was kind of awful......well seriously awful, the food was terrible and the coffee worse.  The BBQ the night before at home with Irene had been far more enjoyable.
Sunday I did Monica's 10 k and then Monday, Tuesday I worked while mum putzed at home.  I'm so ready for my break, wired about the marathon and just happy to be me out adventuring with mum.

Monica's 10k

Today we ran Monica's 10k on a blazing sunny San Francisco day....it was awesome. She thought she'd like to give up at one point; yeah not happening.









PS Those medals, custom made.....there are only three of them.......

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Heading into Friday

Well excited as The Mother arrives tomorrow! I think maybe it's been 18mths since I have seen her and very happy we are off on Berlin adventures! This pic brought to you courtesy of my neighbor (that would be Irene) who has kindly figured out that, despite her prompting, I was never going to get to organizing this lovely little homely touch in advance of The Mothers arrival.


Turns out Crazy Ironman Girl flys in at the same time in advance of a relay race she is starting at noon so picking both up at the airport at the same time....busy times.
Work is crazy busy on a bunch of levels. There never is a good time to go on holiday but I'm good to go....just gotta do all that stuff before I go.



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9/11 The Falling Man

Full length documentary. Takes an in depth look at one particular photograph taken that day and peoples response to it.....pause for thought.

Officially crazy

So it's been the oddest week!  Much has gone on at work; good, bad, indifferent but no less intense.  I'm very aware that I'm totally ready for my holiday.  Melissa and I had dinner, totally fun, really fab to show someone the new house and the hood.  Went to, my now most fav, local restaurant.
I'm ready for Berlin/holiday.
Officially crazy: worked from home today, needed to run, of course.  So decided I wanted to eat crab..best place, Whole Foods in the old hood, maybe 4 miles (okay included the mega hill), thought that entirely reasonable, put my lil backpack on, ran to Whole Foods, got my crab and ran back.....good times!

Long weekend, done

And I have done nothing remarkable.  Mostly I have felt vaguely exhausted and managed two mediocre i.e. lacking real enthusiasm, runs.  I lounged in bed/on the couch a lot and have been really enjoying a book I picked up that isn't about running, more a period drama I guess.  It follows several families through several "periods" and in different geographies.  It's a nice easy read and includes some interesting historical moments.
The week brings dinner with Melissa from my first ACN project, she is leaving the firm and I'm sad about it.  Not sad for her, she's been traveling for five years and does, I think, feel long term she doesn't want to be here.  She's managed to find a job locally (Denver) so it's a grand decision for her.  She's been totally awesome to me so really just sad on a personal level.
Time moves fast and Berlin is closer still......which brings the marathon crazy.....

Really?

Who is writing this stuff: http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/5561650/Huge-New-Zealand-swell-hitting-California.
None of the media I follow are even registering it.....aye aye aye.....I hate being a comms geek on days like this!

Volunteer event & more new furniture

A week or so ago the client organized a volunteer event at a local school.  Basically we were invited to give up four hours of our work day i.e. not bill and go and do some cleanup activities at a school.  Turned out to be awesome!
Monica and I met at work and did a ride share to the school, arriving around 730am, breakfast was provided then we got down to it.  Hands On Bay Area is a local not-for-profit that co-ordinates these types of events.  With 50+ folk milling around we all signed on for one of several tasks including; gardening (this, in my view, the toughest because it actually started with breaking up some very hard packed dirt...), building some benches (and I mean building, these were sturdy little suckers that involved power tools and some heavy lifting), painting a mural on a wall (school logo, the folks doing that one knocked it out of the park!!!!), repainting the basket ball etc lines on the hard standing (this one I did, it was fun, started with taping all the lines then running a roller over them, we managed to bring back to life three full sized basketball courts as well as some other half courts in the space of four hours) and the final group who mounted a donated big screen TV in the office (this too not easy as it involved several trips to both the electric and hardware stores to get it sorted....techy folk are perfect for this type of  task).  It really was heaps of fun and a different way to get to know the client, other vendors and our own team.

My dining room table and chairs arrived and I have been progressively unpacking them....omg can't say they weren't well packed for the journey.  Anyway, love how it looks, there is an internal leaf so that it easily sits six (you know for all those dinner parties of have!).  I can now start to build the room out a little more to make it cozy, including getting some carpet tiles and curtains for the door.
What I am coming to love the most about my little house is that I do, actually, use every room.  Really the whole place is about 700sqft but I've never been that good at filling up a space!  I think it's a combo of having spent at least sometime living in a hotel room as a child and time in the military where you only had one room. Anyway all that aside, I do use all the spaces.  Even now I'm sitting in the kitchen at the breakfast bench typing!
Berlin is not far away and I'm ready on all fronts....to see mum, have a holiday from work and run the marathon!

Invisible Dogs

5 years old....

It's my 5th Anniversary of arriving in the US!  Pausing, again, to reflect back at how the grand adventure has continued to evolve.  I am as surprised as anyone to still have the blog; it's proving to be a great chronicle of my life in the US.  Every now and then I dip into some "historical" posts and I am transported back to that moment in time.  Occasionally I stumble into something I have all but forgotten - that can be a mix of good and bad.  On balance though, life is very very good.  I am still shocked and delighted to think that I now own a house in San Francisco!  I am shocked to think that I am actually working in Silicon Valley (seriously, like I ever had a high tech bone in my body) and for a firm that offers many opportunities (and that I might never have thought I would ever possibly be considered a candidate for).  I am shocked that I run marathons and even more shocked to think that I really believe that, if I work hard enough, I could run an ultra-marathon.  Along the way I've met some fantastic characters (the Ranch having been the perfect landing pad!  
I think, this year, more than any other I feel changed.  Funnily enough I am noticing that the way I talk and phrase things has changed hugely.....I think I might be up for more than a little ribbing when I land in NZ for Xmas.  The way I look and dress seems to have evolved to a point where I sit easier in my skin.  I like being fit and I like being surrounded by a mixture of very young folk (this by virtue of work) and very sound, honest peers personally.
So there it is, as it turns out it was true, there is nothing to be lost when you cross your line........

gaseous moments.....

Such a long way I have come!  Irene and I swapped a couple of texts today about the possibility that she could smell gas coming from the gas connection at the house.  Smelling gas is a BAD thing (as we all know).  Given San Bruno isn't that far from us (single digit miles!)  I was quietly concerned and suggested she call the gas company (almost 100% certain they would come out asap).  As it turned out Irene was entirely conservative about it and wanted me to check she wasn't overreacting and was prepared to wait until I came home (this likely to be 6hrs after the text exchange).  I arrived home 7ish and tracked her down (well if she is at the house she is either downstairs in the office or upstairs at home so took me about 30 seconds!).  Long story short she took me to where the gas smell was - it didn't smell gaseous to me BUT (here's the coming along way part), I still didn't rule it out that she was on to something as it did smell and we might have a gas leak.  There was a smell and I simply said "well in NZ that's not what gas smells like".  For those not in the know, gas has no smell, the providers add "something" to give it a smell so we can detect gas leaks.....that much I knew (don't ask, I have no idea why I knew that, but I did).  So cultural difference and all I didn't assume that the "smell" added would be the same.  Immediately Irene suggest "Well let's go turn on the gas on the stove and see if it smells the same".  This was a VERY smart idea I might add......we did, smelt different from the "other smell", at least to me, agreed we need not panic and most likely it was all good....living in America is full of little moments.....this is one of them!

Random fun thing

So I mentioned I had read Lisa Tamati's book, well I also ordered a piece of her jewelry so ended up in a brief email convo with her.  Okay the book was not that well written but she's still an awesome character! She was very cool about my wanting to run an ultra.

This is the piece I ordered.  I really like it and, as was pointed out to me by someone who knows me very well, it is very me!
It's a running figure with a heart beat, it's part of her sports line and is a mix of stainless steel and rubber.  It is, apparently, in the mail.  I hope I like it as much in real life as I do the picture.

New furniture

The chair rocks!


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Reading & Running

I have just finished reading this book about a NZ ultra marathon runner.  Given that, not that long ago, she ran across NZ some folk reading may already know about her.  The book itself isn't wildly well written but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  It is heavy with NZ speak and I can almost hear her accent as I read.  She run through the Sahara Desert several times and the Libyan Desert as well.  It's quite amazing to read about some of the personal and physical challenges she has dealt with.  She also designs jewelry and has both an online store and a physical store in New Plymouth!  I find reading this stuff inspirational, even if I failed miserably to get out of bed early enough this morning to run my planned 23miles.....it will now be tomorrow.  Despite waking at 7:30am  I had missed my window to get through Fisherman's Wharf and across Golden Gate and back before the maddening crowds.  Tomorrow up at 5:30 and on the road no later than 6:15.....that's the plan, gotta stick to it!