On 12 May 2013, my 19th birthday, I was able to run under three hours for the first time at the Mainz Gutenberg Marathon in 2:57:25. Four and a half months later, I stood at the starting line of the 40th Berlin Marathon for the fifth time. In 2:59:25 hours, I was able to run under three hours again and even came second in the MJ U20 age group, but despite a faster course, I didn't achieve the personal best I was aiming for.

For eleven years, it felt like I still had a score to settle with the Berlin Marathon. I wanted to settle this eleven years later at the 50th Berlin Marathon. As expected, my second Berlin Marathon start was a big highlight. With my four starts at the London Marathon and one at the New York City Marathon, I now have seven World Marathon Majors starts. Nevertheless, Berlin 2024 was also inspiring.

The atmosphere along the course was much better than at the Berlin Half Marathon and the course felt even faster. The only thing that bothered me was that the predicted cloudy sky turned into a cloudless sky. Luckily, I had my Rudy Astral sunglasses with me, so I didn't notice the sun's rays quite as much.

After the impressive start, I ran all the 5-kilometre sections of the first half as planned. I reached the half marathon marker after 1:13:56 hours. I started the second half of the race almost one and a half minutes behind my half-marathon time at this year's London Marathon, where I had deliberately opted for a very aggressive tactic. Even though I had to switch to attack mode at the start of the last third of the race, as with every marathon PB attempt, I managed to keep up the pace. After the 40-kilometre mark and at the latest when the Brandenburg Gate could be seen a few hundred metres away after the last left turn, I tried to mobilise my last reserves of strength again. 3:26 minutes per kilometre for the last 2.195 kilometres underlined that my tactics had worked out. I was rewarded with a PB improvement of 28 seconds to 2:28:07 hours.

For Natalie, her first Berlin Marathon came too early after several months of mixed feelings. Nevertheless, she didn't miss the chance to participate in the big Berlin Marathon jubilee. Her time of 3:13 hours was, therefore, of secondary importance.

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