Berlin: Marathon Season Begins, ‘General Rehearsal’ to Take Place on Sunday

In a month from now, the starting shot for the Berlin Marathon will be fired. This Sunday, another half marathon gives participants the opportunity to rehearse and show what they are made of. Good luck.

Berlin, August 24th, 2022 (The Berlin Spectator) — Everybody is back from the beach in Bermuda or Bordeaux, the kids are back at school and those annoying Berlin traffic jams have returned. Great. On top of it all, the marathon season is commencing. Prepare those sneakers! The next opportunity to compete, or to train for the big one, is coming up this weekend.

Quarter and Half

On Sunday, August 28th, 2022, the ‘Generalprobe’ (‘General Rehearsal’) is your chance to test the waters, so to speak. This event offers a half marathon you can use to get accustomed to running like crazy on the streets of Berlin. This one commences at Rathaus Steglitz, which is city hall in the Steglitz district. There is an ‘U-Bahn’ train station right there.

Those who do not feel too confident yet can do a quarter marathon instead, meaning they can choose to run 10.5 kilometers (6.5 miles) instead of 21 kilometers (13 miles). Obviously, a full marathon is 42 kilometers (26 miles) long, but it will have to wait for another month. The ‘Generalprobe’ has a quarter marathon route. Participants who insist on sweating even more when they do the half marathon will have to cover it twice. When fast runners get to kilometer 15, they will probably be overtaking the slowest quarter marathon runners.

Three Right Turns

Whoever wants to win will not only have to run lightning fast, but also register quickly, on this website. The deadline expires as soon as tomorrow, on Thursday, August 25th, 2022. The ‘Generalprobe’ run will take participants from Rathaus Steglitz to Dahlem, a rather posh part of Berlin. Here, they will have to make a right turn into Pacelliallee without running into the fence. Then, just keep on following the others (unless you are the leader of the pack) to Betty Hirsch Square.

This is where you make another right turn and keep on running, like Tom Hanks in ‘Forrest Gump’, until you get to Heidelberger Platz. No, it is not over. Make yet another right and continue on to the Rheingauviertel neighborhood. This is where they included a mean 180-degree turn. The route continues back to Steglitz via Friedrich Wilhelm Square. If you are one of those well-trained contemporaries, now is the time to repeat the whole thing.

Boys and Girls

If you succeed, and if you registered for the big one on time, September 25th, 2022, is your day. The Berlin Marathon will separate the men from the boys, and the women from the girls. It will be long and, yes, it will be hard. After a few miles you will probably ask yourself why in the hell you are doing this, unless you are just watching the marathon on television while having nachos with a creamy garlic dip.

So, you are actually taking part in the Berlin Marathon and you intend to see the finish line before everyone else does? Awesome. In this case you will have to overtake Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya and Guye Adola from Ethopia first, two of the best runners in the solar system. Don’t forget to take a million selfies on the victory podium.

Still not enough? You can try Trail Run Berlin too.

More details on the ‘Generalprobe’ race can be found on the event’s website.