Street Food | The Berlin Village Market

I don’t know about other runners, but after a particularly hard or long run, my body responds best when I keep on moving instead of dropping immediately on the couch for the rest of the day. Even though I usually want to do nothing more than eat and sleep, staying active after the run helps keep my muscles from getting too stiff or sore.

So I was very happy after the Berlin half marathon a couple weeks ago to take a short walk over to the RAW-Gelände with a friend and check out the Berlin Village Market at Neue Heimat, a weekly street food market in Friedrichshain. It’s been around since August of last year, so it’s nothing new to Berliners. But the last time I was at RAW, the two main buildings used for Neue Heimat were either abandoned or occupied by a mega-video game center (glad that’s gone). A former industrial complex, RAW is one of my favorite repurposed public spaces in all of Berlin. When I lived in Friedrichshain, Cassiopeia was my favorite outdoor beer garden/rock climbing facility/outdoor cinema for enjoying the summer weather.

Anyway, after paying 2 Euros entrance (which had just recently doubled from the previous 1 Euro entrance fee), we were allowed in to the Village Market.* I immediately zeroed in on the best BLT sandwich in all of Germany and I never let go. I mean, how could you not love bourbon and maple syrup caramelized bacon, cheddar, avocado, lettuce, tomato, and homemade sriracha mayonnaise? SO GOOD you guys. Thanks to the folks at The Future Breakfast for selling this treat. It was the perfect post-race recovery food. (The Süßkartoffel-Kürbis Stampf from another stand was pretty tasty too!)

The weather that day wasn’t great, so we found ourselves some seats amongst the crowded tables and benches indoors. I was quite tempted to grab a wine or a cocktail to enjoy along with the live jazz band playing, but I smartly stuck to my bottle of water to keep myself hydrated.

All in all, a great post-race afternoon before I had to catch the train back to Bremen.

Have you been to the Berlin Village Market or Neue Heimat before? Any favorite food vendors there? Or are you loyal to one of the other street food events in Berlin?

* Although not expensive, I didn’t love the entrance fee. Among other things, it seems like a clear effort to exclude certain members of the community. Which it seemed to do very effectively, by the way, eliminating any real F’hain authenticity (in my opinion.)

April 17, 2015

Five Senses Friday no. 59

Friends, I have really gotten out of the habit of blogging and I miss it! There are a few posts on the horizon, but I thought I would start out nice and easy with a Five Senses Friday, which I haven’t done in a very long time…

Seeing. I finally just started watching the third season of House of Cards. Such beautiful weather and lots of project deadlines haven’t been conducive to binge watching, so I’m just taking it one episode at a time, like the old days.

Hearing. For the past month I’ve been using an app (Headspace) for daily meditation. The meditations are guided by Andy Puddicombe, who has this fantastic English accent. I’m not so great at getting my mind to focus, but I do show up to practice every day, so I guess that counts for something.

Tasting. At Coffee Corner in Bremen I finally discovered the softest, chewiest milk chocolate chip cookies I have every had in Germany. No disrespect, but I usually avoid German cookies because they’re too crunchy and plain boring. But I have to admit to devouring at least three of these cookies this week alone — which is a habit I cannot sustain, but they sure are yummy!

Smelling. A neighbor has planted the most amazing flower garden and I just love running by and getting a whiff of all the blossoms.

Feeling. The sun on my skin! No explanation needed, right?

Feel free to join in if you would like, and leave a link in the comments — even if you prefer Mondays, like my friend Traci! How has your week been?

March 30, 2015

Race Report | Berlin Half Marathon 2015

Yesterday I did something I’ve never done before — I ran a half marathon without having any idea of my pace. I’ve been training like that for weeks now with the goal of rediscovering my love of running…

I had reached a point where I was burnt out on training for speed, as well as a bit overwhelmed with other stuff in my life that required a lot of time and attention. So rather than bail on one of my favorite races, I devoted myself to putting in the training miles, but without the added pressure of trying to achieve a specific pace. I’m a very Type-A person and I love having ALL THE INFORMATION, so the only way for me to do this was to relinquish my GPS-watch completely and instead just run by effort.

Whaddya know, it worked! Suddenly I wasn’t dreading my training runs anymore and I was actually accomplishing all of my planned workouts. Well, until I came down with a(nother) cold during my week of peak training. How frustrating! I missed my longest training run, and it wasn’t until a week ago that I was sure I’d be healthy enough to run the race. Quite honestly, the Berlin half marathon seemed doomed! But I wanted to carry this little experiment all the way through to the end, so I made my plans to travel to Berlin and intentionally left my watch behind in Bremen.

And guess what? I had SO much fun! Along the entire course I made sure to take everything in and just enjoy myself. I mean, how could I not while running through the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie and all through one of my favorite cities in the world? I had a much better sense of orientation than I did when I ran it for the first time in 2012,and always knew exactly where we were in the city. Part of that is knowing Berlin better these days, but a lot of it has to do with being constantly present and aware while I was running.

Not to say that the race was a piece of cake, by any means. I felt really strong and that gave me the confidence I needed to push myself and make myself uncomfortable. It was amazing! It was even more amazing because I didn’t do it to achieve a time, but rather because I was having a blast. There was absolutely nothing else in the world that I would have rather been doing than pounding out 13.1 miles on a chilly and damp morning with tens of thousands of other crazy runners.

Mission accomplished, wouldn’t you say? Today I’m back in Bremen with some sore muscles, but otherwise feeling good. I’m still reflecting on the experience and thinking about how I can carry this feeling forward into my future running and training. I can’t wait!

P.S. For photos along the actual race route, check out my race report from my last Berlin half marathon, which was on a much sunnier day!

P.P.S. Here are a few other race reports you might enjoy:

March 10, 2015

Hamburg | The End of Winter

Life is all about perspective, isn’t it? When I first moved to Hamburg from New York City in 2008, the city with its 1.7 million residents seemed impossibly small. But I grew to love my first home in Germany with all my heart. Now after spending nearly a year-and-a-half living full-time in Bremen (with about one-third the population), Hamburg almost seems impossibly large to me.

I especially noticed this on my last visit a couple of weekends ago, when I had nothing more on my agenda than to wander the city. The buildings are taller! The avenues are wider! And the streets are teeming with people! (Apparently it’s time to start spending more time in big cities again.)

Although that Saturday wasn’t quite what you would consider warm, true to form, the northern Germans did not let the sunny weather go unnoticed. The entire city — still bundled up in thick down jackets and scarves — streamed outside for coffee and ice cream at the sidewalk cafes. Proving once again that perspective really is what counts. After a very gray and wet winter, I can’t say I blamed them for wanting to make the most of the sunshine.

On the Alster | No Apathy Allowed — On the Alster

Hamburger Kunsthalle | No Apathy Allowed — Weiter entdecken. Weiter staunen.

And now just a week or so later, northern Germany is enjoying blue skies and temperatures reaching 60F/15C! Absolutely luxurious for the beginning of March, let me tell you. I can hardly believe that a whole year has already passed since last spring, but I’m definitely ready to get this season started.

Is spring approaching in your part of the world? Or are you still buried under piles of snow? (Sorry NYC and Boston!)

You might also like these posts about Hamburg: