The Berlin Marathon’s Generali Breakfast Run took place this morning.

A 6km fun run, this is a prequel to Sunday’s Berlin Marathon and runners congregate at the Schloss Charlottenburg at 9.30am in the morning and then ran to the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany.

I admit that I did not know what to expect when I reached the Schloss Charlottenburg but the moment that I exited the train station and neared the place, the first thing that I had heard was lots of loud music and festivities. It was a prequel of what was to come.

And when I got there, I also found out that the Schloss Charlottenburg had been full of runners with white helium balloons and waving national flags of their countries. Apparently there were 44,389 runners from 133 different nations taking part in the Berlin Marathon and the Breakfast Run, of which several thousand runners had turned up, was a mere prequel of what was to come.

I admit that I would have liked to get a balloon for myself but due to the large numbers of runners lining up to get balloons, I was not able to do so in time.

As well, there were also several runners dressed in costume. At the Breakfast Run, I could see a couple of girls dressed in kimonos and a few runners in the costumes of heroes such as Superman.

It had really resembled a gigantic party rather than a run.

As well, I had also wondered if we were actually running or whether it was going to end up as a 6km walk, looking at the large number of runners present.

But my fears were unfounded though. At 9.30am, we were flagged off, and though it was a crawl to get past the starting arch, once runners had passed the arch, many broke into a slow jog, and I did, too.

Because I would be running a marathon the following day, I did not want to push too hard today, so I deliberately kept the pace very slow and easy, not pushing any harder than my easy zone.

Along the way, there were also a sprinkling of supporters on the sidewalks cheering and waving the runners on, as well as people from the houses along the route, shouting encouragement to the runners as they watched them pass by.

As well, many runners were singing and laughing as they ran, creating an atmosphere that was electrifying – and it wasn’t even race day yet. It had been a teaser of what I could expect tomorrow, I suppose.

I stopped to take photos along the way, soaking up the sights and sounds and simply being happy to have the chance to be there to experience this for myself.

Weather wise, the sun had come out by this time, but at least it still felt relatively cool and not too hot. So it was pretty decent running weather. I admit that I would have liked it to be slightly cooler, though!

However as we neared the stadium, in the final kilometre, it got significantly more crowded and I found my pace slowing to a walk – as many runners had been stopping to take pictures at the stadium area. So I decided to stop too and capture all the special moments on camera. The views were very pretty, after all.

As soon as we had reached the Olympiastadion, everyone was taking photos and selfies – even though there was another 400m left to run around the track. But what was the point of running; this was not a race, and we were not going for timing. So as I circled the stadium track, I used the opportunity to take lots of photos, capturing as many of the special moments as I could possibly.

In the meantime, the emcee was calling out the various countries of the runners as we passed based on the flags that the runners were carrying, and it felt good to be representing our various countries, even though many of us would probably never be national or Olympic athletes.

As well, the emcee was interviewing random runners asking questions such as where they were from and why they were running the Berlin Marathon, and it felt good when a few members from the Singapore contingent got a few words in – even though we were far from home, we would always identify ourselves as Singaporeans.

Post-run, there was lots of photo-taking and then a scrumptious breakfast feast, consisting of jam doughnuts, croissants, chocolate milk, coffee, fruits (apples & bananas) and other goodies.

Unfortunately there had been massive crowds when it came to collecting our food items, and many runners were pushing their way through the crowds in order to snag the items that they wanted. It sure seems that runners are a very hungry bunch.

Nevertheless I managed to get myself a few items to eat, including the doughnuts and croissants and they were delicious.

The festivities continued after the run too, with loud music playing and runners clearly getting the post-runners’ high, a few singing and dancing loudly.

If this event is a little prelude of what’s to come at the Berlin Marathon, then I simply cannot wait for tomorrow morning to arrive.