Mon, Mar 12, 2012 - 34K - 04:30:00
34K Steglitz-to-Friedrichshain Loop
Took off at about 3:30 PM on a cloudy, cool afternoon, still wearing my full winter getup but for the first time ditched the scarf. This was one of those grand, tour-de-Berlin runs where the city changed dramatically as I ran through it, cutting through no less than 8 distinct Bezirke each with its own personality: subdued Steglitz, alt-west Zoo area, through the Tiergarten, down the ultra-long Strasse des 17. Juni, into touristy Mitte, through trendy Friedrichshain across the Oberbaumbrücke into international Kreuzberg, down into Neukölln/Tempelhof and back across to Steglitz. It was also another light-to-dark run with the accompanying beautiful scenes lit up with urban lights and the activity of the city. Listened to a good podcast on startups by Eric Ries as well as a podcast about a Standford study on how the use of technology by 8-12 year-old girls affects their social skills. My legs felt absolutely fantastic throughout. In 6 of my last 8 runs, I've "met the 30K monster" and feel like we've become friends, in Paris next month I look forward to meeting up at the Eiffel Tower and running together through the Bois de Boulogne for the last 12K of the marathon, hopefully picking up speed. 
 
planned the loop: 
 
packed the apples: 
 
loaded the carbs: 
 
and took off on a cool, cloudy afternoon: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bebelplatz, site of the 1933 Nazi book burnings, today commemorated by an underground, empty, white bookcase: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
a Berlin classic: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
S-Bahnhof Südende, back in my Kiez: