One Last Euro Adventure

my bag is packed and i'm ready for my last European adventure - this bag felt like 1000 pounds after my marathon

an ariel view of the marathon expo (took place in an old airport in Berlin)... the rest of the expo was in the building to the right - THE biggest expo i have ever attended!

a picture of one of the pillars in the Brandenburg Gate

the Brandenburg Gate at sunset...the next day I overheard a tour guide saying that several gates were built around the city of Berlin ... one side of the gate had a building that housed police officers and the other side of the gate housed people who collected taxes on items being brought into the city. The only gate that remains in the city today is the Brandenburg Gate. it became the center of Berlin where many marches, weddings, and ceremonies took place throughout history. It is amazing to think how many historical events and figures have marched through this gate! The finish of the marathon was just on the other side of the gate

a view from the finish line looking back to the gate

it got too dark but this is a picture of the finish line from the viewpoint of the gate.... during the marathon -i thought i would NEVER get to the end!!

cool arrangement of passports at the CheckPoint Charley Museum in Berlin

The Holocaust Museum in Berlin

A view from the outside of the Holocost Museum - an AMAZING museum! Words cannot really describe this museum.... if you are in Berlin - i think it is a must see. I'm so glad i took the time to visit this museum

we visited a lot of museums over the past 20 months - but i have never seen an ipod audioguide - pretty cool!

a beer bike!

the official results - I QUALIFIED FOR THE BOSTON MARATHON! yes - i am so happy about this achievement. i had tears in my eyes at the train station in Berlin as i was leaving. i could not believe i qualified!! I have made several attempts to qualify for Boston in the past and come very close in some of those attempts - but this time i DID IT!

it was the perfect weather conditions for running. i attribute my time goal to the pace feature on my Garmin. i do not know why i did not get one of these sooner! although i still found myself doing the math in my head throughout the race "if i run xx/mile then this would be my final time" i guess the engineer in me never rests. i was so nervous before the race but the night before my race i was sitting in a restaurant reading a few magazines that i had grabbed from home. one magazine happened to be a natural birth magazine (not sure how that one got in my stack) but this magazine reminded me that when i was pregnant with jillian - i wanted to give birth naturally and i did it. it was at that moment that i realized in my race the next day i was determined to qualify for Boston and that i could do it!

i was completely restless the entire train ride home... i was so tired but couldn't sleep...i even encountered 5 men who were on their way home from Bavaria where the celebrated Octoberfest for the weekend. one man had lederhosen on :) he said he bought them in Bavaria.... his friends were making fun on him for wearing the lederhosen. they didn't speak much english and i made my best attempt at my German i leaned in high school :) we were able to communicate though. they continued their Octoberfest celebration by consuming several beers on the train - they were very nice though but they did want to take my marathon medal and i said NEIN! :)