Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team member Dipavajan Renner was in Berlin to see the world record, here is his account:

It was a unique experience to stay with these fast runners in the same
hotel, and see how they warm up and how they relax during the days
before the race. To witness their intensity, determination and
concentration which they put into “their” sport is an unforgettable
experience. This year’s field faded into insignificance by the
overwhelming presence of today’s world best Marathon runner, Haile
Gebrselassie from Ethiopia, who has dominated the running world like
nobody else for the last decade.

His declared goal was to break in Berlin the Marathon World Record, which was still held by his close friend Paul Tergat from Kenya.

Before the race, the first thing we noticed was that compared to 2006, when he set a time of 2:05, he was much more calm and relaxed. At the start area all the athletes warmed up and got ready for the race; a few Puerto Ricans strolling by took the opportunity to take a photo with Haile, who happily posed with the “Marathon tourists”.

The start was quite impressive! Over 40.000 runners took off for 42.195k. The top athletes start from the very front, sprinting away with the massive crowd following them! To run a Marathon at World Record pace you have to run the first 100m in 17,7 seconds! This is a real killer pace! After the start we followed the race on the big screen at the finish line. When the last runners passed the starting line, the top runners had already reached the 10k – mark!

When you want to run a very fast race, you need so called “rabbits” to pull you! Haile had five of them: three to pull at the half marathon and two other take over until 30k! Then they usually drop out, as the pace they have to run is extremely fast even for this shorter distance. For example in Berlin the rabbits passed Half Marathon at 62:30 minutes! If a runner is in good shape he will run the second half faster than the first half, but usually the race will be decided only after 35k.

Later on, Haile spoke about how the last 7k was his weak point. A Marathoner needs experience of the long distance; it takes usually a few races to get the right feeling. He especially prepared for Berlin by working on his endurance and not on his speed! He also said that at the Half Marathon point he knew the World Record was possible and at 35k he knew it would be a new record, it was just a question of how much faster than the old one…

At 30k Haile left the rabbits behind and speeded up - the 5k stretch from 35k-40k he ran in under 14:30 minutes, the last 2k even faster!

A enthusiastic crowd cheered him on the last few hundred metres from the Brandenburger gate until the finish line! - a new World Record in 2:04:26!

At the press conference after the race he said he was coming to Berlin to run a 2:03:XX time, which he has trained for. So he apologized for running “only” 2:04:26! Right after the race Paul Tergat called the race director, Mark Milde, to congratulate for the new record. Mark passed the phone on to Haile and the two friends spoke about the record. Haile apologized to Paul for taking the record away, but after all, records are meant to be broken, and he told Paul he can get the record back next year (at the Olympics…).

He also said that when the great Ethiopian runner Abebe Bikila ran his World Record in Rome at the Olympics barefoot, he preferred to run without shoes because there where no proper running shoes available that time, but nowadays the situation is different. Proper running gear can help you tremendously. Haile has often spoken of the ispiration he has received from the unforgettable Abebe Bikila, who was the first runner from Africa who demonstrated the incredible potential of African runners.

"In Africa before Bikila, there were no successful runners, and most of us didn't believe there ever would be.", recalled Haile in an interview he gave for TIME Magazine last year. "Now there are thousands of us, winning races all over the world, setting new standards and breaking records...After Bikila won the Olympic marathon in Rome in 1960, we Africans all started thinking: "Look — he is one of us. If he can do it, we can do the same." ...If it weren't for him, I would still be a farmer in the hills of Arsi. But because of Abebe Bikila I'm trying to win an Olympic marathon, just like him."

Haile said first there was only the Marathon distance when he came to Addis Ababa to start running, so as a young boy he achieved a 2:48:00 Marathon time. It was only later on that he started a track career. But ultimately two of his goals were the World Record and the Olympic gold medal in Marathon. He has certainly achieved the first goal - as for the second, I think we can expect a great race at the Olympics in Beijing 2008!