10K in the Tiergarten: Race Results

 

Saturday evening I ran the 10K Frauenlauf [women's run] in the Berlin Tiergarten. Despite rather crowded conditions I got my best time, and had a lot of fun. The weather was great: cool and sunny. The Tiergarten paths are really beautiful, especially now with all the foliage out. And we ran by the Siegessäule and Brandenburg Gate a few times, too. But the paths in the park were a little too crowded for such a run. Especially at the beginning there was a lot of bottle-necking, and you really had to pay attention to the ground because there were park benches, tree roots, etc. (There were a total of 18,000 participants, not sure how many did the 10K. They also had walking, nordic walking, and a 5K run.) Michael came along to cheer and get some pictures. At the finish I got a great little grab bag from the sponsor Avon, and...like at the half marathon...non-alcoholic beer! Crazy Germans! :)

Some randomness: when in English we would yell "PUSH" or "PUSH ON THROUGH", "KEEP PUSHING" at the end... Germans yell "ZIEH!" [=pull]. :)

Michael saw in the crowd two men with wigs, and a woman dressed in a head-to-toe beer bottle costume (see collage below). 

beer at the finish

Something very cool : the woman who gave the starting shot for the 10K was Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon (in 1967) - when women were not allowed to race. She registered under the name "K. V. Switzer". She spoke before the start, saying how amazing it is that just over 40 years ago no one thought women should be running...and to see an event like this with 18,000 women was really amazing.  I don't really think the Germans got much out of it...it was pretty loud and crazy, and she was speaking English...but seriously, it brought tears to my eyes. :) So I guess she got Avon to start sponsoring women's runs in the '80s, and they are now all over the world, and Switzer has come a few times to Berlin, Germany's biggest women's run.

[also funny: her name sounds like "Schwitzer" = "sweater, i.e. someone who sweats"]

someone else's video from inside the park:



and from the start (I couldn't find myself though..kinda crazy)