The first part of the marathon was to actually get to Berlin. On the 22nd of September we woke early and began the process of packing and loading the van. This was hampered by the weather, thunderstorm, and torrential rain. Trying to keep everything dry was a challenge all of its own. Eventually we set off and started the journey the weather was appalling and although it was morning it felt like night with the rain and storm.
We arrived at Folkstone and waited to board the train. Chloe who up to this time had been really happy, had a mini melt down, mostly I think because we were a bit late with her medication. She soon picked up and we continued the journey through the tunnel and into Calais. We still had over 200 miles to drive to our friends (Lucien, Sylvia, Rowan, and Jessica) home, where we were stopping for the night. Again, lots of hold ups and delays, but we arrived to a lovely warm welcome, some delicious food and extremely comfortable beds. In fact, Chloe must have been either extra tired or extra comfortable because absolutely unheard of she slept through till well past 07.00am when normally her day starts at 06.00am if not earlier and even then, she asked for 5 more minutes, when I when to wake her.
We left our friends and travelled on to Berlin, still over 400 miles away, we arrived at the hotel around 18.30pm. Ronny the hotel manager and his staff at the Sheraton Hotel could not have been more helpful and we were given an extra-large room on the top floor. This enabled Chloe to sleep separately in a different part of the room to ours and also had a sofa for her to sit on, a priority in Chloe’s life. She was so comfortable she genuinely thought it was her ‘new home’ and was very happy to be there.
We had a ‘rest’ day following our arrival, though I spent some time checking Chloe’s race chair and then took her out for a run around Berlin in the afternoon. The following day we had been invited to the firm that created the Berlin Buddy Bears and they had created one especially for the 50th Berlin Marathon, we were presented with the first Marathon Bear, because the others were not going to be released until people went to the Expo to register for their race numbers. The next day we had a wander around Berlin and took in some rather posh shops.
On Friday we travelled to the Expo to collect our race numbers. It was extremely busy with thousands of people all excitedly getting their race numbers to. The following day we returned so me and Chloe could have wander around to see some of the stands, Diane took her embroidery and was doing some much to the amazement of some of the younger people who were very interested in this lady sewing a picture on some fabric.
Race day dawned it was a lovely dry and sunny day. We had to walk over 3 miles just to get to our starting point and I knew we would have the return 3 miles back to the hotel when we had finished. The atmosphere was alive, the other runners and crowds were fantastic and so enthusiastic, asking loads of questions. The spectators shouted out our names as we ran past and cheered us on our way. Had to stop about halfway round so I could give Chloe her medication, food, and water. This added about 10/15 minutes to our finish time, but I need to take care of Chloe’s needs first and foremost. Chloe was wonderful and said her usual saying well done, Dad, Guys and well done Everyone which always picks everyone up.
The following day was a semi rest day and then we had to pack up for the return journey home. This time we drove straight towards the tunnel, we had to stop around 20.30pm, found a hotel just for the night, and continued our journey home the following day. We got to Kent and had hoped to get back home around 18.00pm, but unfortunately issues on the motorways and the Sat Nav throwing a wobble we ended up driving through London in rush hour, which meant with stops for the girls we got home around 21.00pm. we quickly got in washed, changed Chloe, gave her meds, some supper and we all went to bed, leaving the unpacking of the van until the following day.
This is a very short recollection of our Berlin Marathon, to go into more detail would almost turn it into a book rather than a blog. One thing we can say is that we met some very lovely people, made some lovely friends, and had a wonderful time which we will never forget.
Below are the Charities we helped by doing the Berlin Marathon our JustGiving page is still open till the end of October, please take a look and see what they do, thank you for all your support it means a lot.
https://www.makewayfoundation.org