Berlin Marathon
I registered for Berlin Marathon-2011 in Nov 2010, around 10 months in advance, but, still missed the early bird discount. That explains the popularity of the event. Berlin is one of the BIG-5 Marathons, the other 4 being, London, Boston, Chicago and New York, in no particular order. Boston stands out as the Marathon with the toughest entry criteria (one needs to have finished a recognized Marathon under 3 hr 30 min to be considered for Boston). If I ever become eligible for Boston, and if I ever have grand children, they and even their grand children can brag about that :)
Having run Athens and San Francisco last year, I was eager to see what makes a run so popular and keeps it apart from others. Though, I read news articles about last year run in Berlin claiming that there were 1 million spectators and innumerable bands to cheer the runners, it was hard to imagine. But, once the run started, it was quickly evident, why it is so popular. There were 40000 runners. Still, no scaling issues. The arrangements were just perfect. There was not even a 100 meter stretch that I can recall now, which doesn't have crowd to cheer or which doesn't have live-music. Slow runners like me also received the same warm reception as the winners would have received, which is, of course, typical to most distance runs.
Niagara Falls Marathon
Just 2 weeks after finishing Berlin, I got to know that I would be in Waterloo, Canada for a week (which later got extended to a month) on a business trip. As usual, I just searched for Marathons near-by. Luckily, it was the season for Marathons and there were two, on consecutive weekends, which are just 100 KM away from the place that I was going to visit. One in Toronto and another in Niagara. A quick search revealed the uniqueness of Niagara, as the only Marathon in the world that starts in one country(US) and ends in another(Canada). And, I happened to have Visas for both the countries, and the registration for the run was still open. I got the tickets booked to accommodate the Niagara one, and registered for it.
The run was not popular outside the US and Canada. As these are friendly nations with each other, apparently, their citizens in border areas routinely drive across the border. I am one of the very few registered runners who needs a Visa and an I-94 (Arrival/Departure record maintained by the US) to enter into the US. So, before even giving me my running number, organizers needed an I-94. Again luckily, I had a car, and I just drove into the US and got the document and drove back into Canada, in time to collect the running number. All this took less than 45 minutes. Impressive.
On the big day, we were asked to report 3 hours before the start of the run (to keep some time for document verification while crossing the border), and were transported to the start line in buses, which is in Buffalo, New York. The run started at 10 AM. Albright-Knox Art Gallery allowed us to wait inside and keep ourselves warm till the start of the run. Temperature was in single digits through out, but, it was at least sunny. So, I could venture out in my regular shorts and tees. First 7-8 KM of the course was in the US. We entered Canada through Peace Bridge. In the middle of the bridge, a small line with flags of the US and Canada on either side depicts international border. After entering Canada, till we reached Niagara Falls, the course was right next to a river (the same water that reaches the falls). Unlike Berlin, there were absolutely no crowds or music to cheer. But, the organizers made sure that there was a support station with water and electrolytes at every KM with out fail, till the last runner(I swear!, it's not me :) ) was out of the course.
The finish line was right next to the falls. As the number of runners was very less (less than 2000, I guess), they were reading out the details of each runner touching the finish line. While I approached the finish, I could hear "Mr.Guntupalli from Bangalore, India. Wow! India !". I could see only one more Indian among the runners (who appeared to be a seasoned runner and an NRI). So, India must have been announced only for me. Not sure, whether I did any good (Indians also participated in Niagara Falls Marathon) or bad (Indians run so slow !, as there was a big clock showing my finish time :) ).
