Deutschland Part Two: Berlin and Leipzig

Oh Berlin.... My favourite city in the world. It's one of those places that surprises you and no matter where you are, there's something to see or do. I love it. This is the second time I go and this time, I was with my parents, my aunt and my cousins, so we did a lot of sight-seeing and things I have already done and seen, but I didn't mind. It was just good to be back!
We were living right next to the old Jewish area of town, and in it was this sort of back alley with lots of graffiti and an Anne Frank museum, we found the "Before I Die..." wall and I showed the Alexanderplatz clock to my parents.

As any proper tourist in Berlin, we visited Checkpoint Charlie, I went to a Trabi museum and checked out an Easter market. We also visited the Holocaust memorial and the Brandenburg Gate and found lots of street art.

 

 

 

 

Then of course, we ran the half-marathon.

After the half, my parents headed home and I made my way to Leipzig. When I was in Thailand, I met a German guy, Basti and we became good friends, so I thought I would go visit him! I did some couchsurfing there as well and my host was great! We spent a lot of time together, walking around beautiful Leipzig or enjoying the nightlife. After the craziness of Berlin, I loved how relax my time was. It felt like being home and spending time with friends.

 

 

When can I go back?? :)

Deutschland Part 1: Munich

Two weeks in Germany went by in a flash. I had such an amazing time there and I miss it already! I decided to divide my posts into two: Munich and Berlin/Leipzig, simply because I did too many things to have it all in one post, but I didn't do many touristy things in Leipzig, so I can fit it in with Berlin, where the biggest thing was the half-marathon. My trip started in Munich, but also ended in Munich, so I have a lot to say about this city, which I also fell in love with. (If you know me, you know that no matter where I am in Germany, I will love it).

I landed in Munich around supper time, and by the time I met my couchsurfer and settled in, it was already too late to really do any sight-seeing, which was perfectly fine with me, since I was completely exhausted. But the next few days were packed with things to do! My first day, I spent at Dachau concentration camp memorial. That was especially intense. I walked through by myself with my audio guide and listened to personal accounts of prisoners and soldiers who liberated it. I walked through a prison that the prisoners themselves built, I stood in a gas chamber and saw the crematorium ovens. Even three weeks later, it still makes my heart sink.

 

 

Later on, I went out with my couchsurfer and explored Munich. It's such a lovely city with beautiful old buildings and so much colour!

 

The next day, I headed to Neuschwanstein Castle. It was a two-hour train ride to a little town called Fuessen, then a 20-minute bus ride to another town called Hohenschwangau, where the castles are located. From there, I visited Hohenschwangau Castle, and after a 20-minute uphill trek, the Neuschwanstein Castle.

 

 

 

I headed to Berlin the next day, and a week later, I was back in Munich. It was a lot more relax when I came back; I visited Nymphenburg Palace, watched the surfers at the English Garden, and visited Bavaria Film Stadt, which is the biggest film studios in Europe, which was a film student, was extremely cool!

 

 

 

Berliner Halbmarathon

I did it! On March 29th, 2015, I ran the Berliner Halbmarathon and I have to say, this is one of the coolest things I have ever done! I can't explain what it was like to run among 30,000 people through my favourite city in the world.

For big marathons, they host "expos," which are basically like a big convention where you go pick up your bib number and race kit, where you can buy your shirt and also where tons of sports equipment stores and brands, like Adidas (the event sponsor), come and sell their gear. (I definitely spent way too much money that day...). This expo was held in the old airport in Berlin called Templehof. Instead of tearing it down, they kept it and transformed it into a public space/convention centre. All the signs are still there, so it's a really interesting place to hang out in.

The morning of the half-marathon, my mom and I got ready and headed out. It was easy to find our way to the event area, since there were people in tights and bright running gear everywhere! The entire street was closed for the event: there were TONS of moving trucks where we could store our clothes, there was even a beer vendor and pretzel stands near the start line.

At the starting area, my mom and I were in Startblock F, the last one. Usually the runners in A are the ones trying to break records, and the slower in the back. Since we weren't trying to break the speed of light, we registered for the back. The craziest part is that after the first gunshot, it took is 45 minutes to reach the actual start line. It takes time to get that many people through the start line, but I definitely did not think it would take that long!

Finally, we started. I lost my mom right away and continued on ahead with a smile on my face the entire time. There's even a picture of me somewhere on the internet (which I can't afford to buy) of me looking up at a building mid-stride. That was the entire race; running, weaving in and out of this traffic of people and sight-seeing. A lot of runners, like myself, would take pictures as we ran!

 

In the end, I had to walk most of the last 5 or 6 kilometres, because my legs were just so exhausted. Granted, I had been walking more than ever because I was being a tourist for the week before, so I had every excuse to be exhausted. I finished the race with the craziest sprint I've ever done: I felt like I was flying, and crossed the finish line! I got my medal, a banana and a beer (non-alcoholic, but still a beer) at the finish line, which I thought was hilarious.

My time was 2 hours 19 minutes and 25 seconds, which is 11 minutes better than my goal, so I am really proud of myself! It makes me want to run a million more half-marathons. I am so thankful for this amazing experience!

I wanna do it again!

Halfie Update #3: Weeks 9-16

Whoa! I haven't posed anything in waaaaay too long! I've been insanely busy with school, work and training and blogging has taken a hit. But I am back and I have a ton of things to post!

Let's start with half-marathon training! I trained for 16 weeks for the Berlin Half-marathon and even though I ran a lot less than I felt like I should be, I had a really great race! I was so busy with school that I didn't train as hard as I could have, and the weather was changing drastically, so that also didn't help. But enough with excuses!
Trail running this winter is basically all I've done and I really enjoy it. The crunch of the snow, the fresh air, the lack of people and dogs, and the "you ran in THIS weather?!"s are always nice! I can't say I will really miss it though... I'm ready for summer!

A couple of weeks before I was leaving for Germany, I started feeling like I was getting those same calf injuries as last year, and got nervous, but it went away really quickly and I before I knew it, I was  picking up my bib number in Berlin!

In total, I ran 113.58 miles (182.78 km) to train for this half-marathon, and every single one of these miles were ran during the winter. Now summer's here and I've already started training for my next half-marathon!