Part 5: Berlin Marathon – Prague and Our Recovery Run…to McDo!

The day after Berlin Marathon, we packed our bags and took a 5 hour train ride to Prague.

– We could’ve worn our Berlin Marathon medals, but no point in carrying the extra weight around our necks; our luggage was heavy enough –

– Berlin Marathon in the papers! Finishers’ names were published –

We arrived safe and sound to view the beautiful sights the city of Prague had to offer!

– Team Berlin in Prague! –

That evening, we feasted on Italian cuisine to celebrate Ton’s 20th (ehem) birthday.  Who said carbo loading has to end after a marathon?

What do marathoners normally do the evening after marathon day? Certainly not anything close to what we did. We booked ourselves to a Prague Ghost Tour!

– Old Town of Prague. The venue of our Ghost Tour –

– Turned out to be more of a horror/historical tour than a creepy ghost tour…much to my relief! Here’s Lit and Miriam listening intently to our guide –

– We survived the marathon! Thank God we survived this ghost tour too! –

All of us experienced little or no soreness at all the day after the marathon.  We were either lucky or smart with our race and diet.  (I’d like to think it was the latter tsk tsk.)  So, we walked our way through the entire city for more sightseeing and eating…

– At one of the hottest tourist spots, the Charles Bridge –

– The Charles Bridge was full of tourists, local merchants, musicians and art set against the backdrop of the beautiful landscape of Prague –

– Old Town by day is full of tourists and local entertainment –

– Lunch at Old Town. More sausages please for this hungry bunch! –

– We visited the Prague Castle. It is said to be the largest castle complex in the world –

– St. Vitus Cathedral behind me. The sheer height and size of the cathedral was overwhelming –

– I made sure to eat wisely since the immune system is weak after putting our body through a marathon.  Devoured the berries we purchased from here –

Hey, don’t think we forgot about our running!  After shopping, eating, and touring, we knew we needed a recovery run!  On our last day in Prague, we met up in the morning for our recovery run…Recovery Run to McDonalds, that is!

– “Serious” stretching before the “big” workout meal –

– Start our Garmins for the 700m walk-run session to McDo –

– Clean and traffic free roads of Prague! It’s a lovely city but since most of the roads are cobblestones it’s quite difficult to run, especially for accident-prone runners like me LOL –

– Mission accomplished: We made it to McDo! –

After our quick breakfast (again, I was good and ordered a yogurt parfait), we walked back home to our hotel and discovered this beautiful park nearby.

So walking 1.5k to and from McDonald’s doesn’t count as our recovery run, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

After our “run”, we packed our bags and headed back to Berlin for a day before we flew back home.  We had enough time to visit the more important spots such as Checkpoint Charlie and the Holocaust Museum. We also had our last meal in Berlin at Ritter Sport cafe and took home tons of chocolates.

– Make your own Ritter Sport chocolate! Yuuummmy! –

– Bumped into a kababayan at Ritter Sport Cafe.  Met Jessy, US-based Pinoy who ran Berlin Marathon too! –

– Heart-wrenching letter left by a 12-year old to her father shortly before being murdered with her mother during the holocaust. We read many more letter like this in the Holocaust Museum just walking distance from Brandenburg Gate –

– Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe –

– Walking through the memorial –

Farewell Berlin and Prague!

Previous: Part 4: Berlin Marathon – Race Day

Thank you to Unilab Active Health for my Berlin Marathon adventure!