The Berlin Marathon — perhaps the fastest of the Abbott Marathon Majors — gets underway Sunday with the first of roughly 50,000 runners starting the clock at 1:15 a.m. here in Saskatchewan. It is the 50th anniversary of the race, which has seen the marathon world record broken 13 times.
Non-European runners can get into the Berlin Marathon by hitting tough time standards, entering a lottery, running with a charity bib or booking with a tour operator.
This year, the Brainsport Times is speaking to Saskatchewanians who’ve completed the World Marathon Majors about their experiences getting into and running these coveted races. Today, Melfort runner Robyn Luthi shares her story of running the 2022 Berlin Marathon.
Q: Tell me a bit about yourself and your relationship with running.
I’m almost 44 years old and I’m a single full-time working mom. I own and run a real estate brokerage in northeast Saskatchewan.
I used to run religiously in high school and then took a hiatus for a few years and only got back into it after my second daughter was born. I had some issues with prenatal depression and needed to do something that was good for me and get myself regenerated. I signed up for a 5K and, from there, ended up in the marathon. Since 2012, I’ve been running races at various distances nonstop.
Marathon running got on my radar in 2017 when I woke up one day and decided I wanted to run Boston. So I trained for the Queen City Marathon that fall, qualified for Boston off my first marathon, and ran the Boston Marathon in 2018. That was my first World Major and I was hooked. I’m running the New York City Marathon in November — my last World Major — and that will be my 10th full marathon.
Q: Why did you want to run all the World Marathon Majors?
Prior to Boston, I didn’t even realize running all six World Majors to get the Six Star medal was a thing. I ran Boston in 2018 and 2019 and someone at my first Boston Marathon told me about it.
Once you run a World Major Marathon, the experience totally changes you and your outlook on racing. They are such a different experience. I can’t even explain what it’s like to run in one of them unless you’ve actually been there yourself. I love running local races like QCM and the Sask. Marathon, but when you hit those World Major Marathon crowds where there’s people lined up the whole way cheering, it’s unexplainable.
I ran Chicago in 2021 and realized it was that same World Major experience as Boston and so I set a goal to run all six. Now, by the end of 2024, I’ll have them all done. Berlin in 2022 was number three for me.
Q: How did you get in?
I time qualified through the “Fast Runners” program (the qualifying time for women up to 45 years old was sub-3:10).
Q: How logistically easy or challenging was it to register and travel?
I found Berlin one of the easier marathons to navigate. To register, I just put my name and time qualifier in and got a spot.
The nice thing about Berlin, which is similar to Chicago, is that the start and finish are in the same area so when you’re planning hotel rooms and that type of stuff, it’s very easy. And it’s easy to meet your family and spectators after that race as well.
Q: Tell me about the race.
Going in, I was trying to go under 3:05 and I did — I ran 3:04. Berlin is a very flat, easy course to run. There’s virtually no hills at all. And the weather was great. The world record was set by Eliud Kipchoge the day I was running it.
It’s very well organized at the start and finish lines. At the start, it’s very congested, but once you get going, it was really easy to navigate. The water stations were set up very well, the volunteers were amazing, the spectators were outstanding. There was no point on that course where there wasn’t someone cheering. And I got to see my spectators; I could hear them cheering and they got a video of me. You get to run under Brandenburg Gate at the end, which is pretty spectacular.
Berlin is a very historical city and — if you’re someone that looks around when you’re running — there’s a lot of historical places you run past.
One thing that was different was you had to attach the timing chip to your shoe. And when you’ve just run 42.2 kilometers, the last thing you want to do is sit down, bend over and untie your shoelaces to get the timing chip off.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who gets into Berlin?
First and foremost, arrive early because you’re going to have jet lag. So get there a few days early, take in the sights, relax, get some walking in and make sure you’re sitting.
Get a hotel that’s close to that start and finish line because it makes a world of difference when you just have a 10-minute walk at the end versus a 40-minute train ride. One of the nice things I found about Berlin was the affordability of hotels. That was actually my least expensive race to book a hotel for.
Q: What else do you want people to know?
I didn’t start racing the World Majors until I was 35. Sometimes as parents we get busy working and we forget we can have goals and aspirations. It doesn’t matter how old you are — you should go after them.
You don’t have to finish the World Majors in any specific timeframe so if that’s a goal people are thinking about, they should 100 per cent do it.
It has been the most amazing way to see the world and I’ve gone to places I would have never gone to before if it wasn’t for one of the races.
I plan to keep doing the World Majors after I’m done all six. I’d like to go back and do all of them in under three hours.
