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MY JOURNEY - "We run and speak Marathon-ish"

34 days. 34 fates. 34 stories to the 41st BMW BERLIN-MARATHON.

2014-08-26

While Antonia Noll used to be most at home on the ice, now her surface of preference is the asphalt. Up until her teen years, the young Berliner was a passionate ice skater.  “I well remember getting picked up every day after school by my mother. I would eat something quickly in the car and get changed. Once I arrived at the ice rink, it was full concentration at training.”

As a professional athlete, that was pretty much her daily routine. But all the training was worth it. She was Berlin champion multiple times. “That was a fantastic time for me. Of course, my daily life was completely different than that of my friends. For me, there were no drunken party nights, which the other girls talked about at school on Monday mornings.

For me, there was the ice, the beautiful costumes, loving parents who supported me at training, and my training partners, who became true friends.  That was more than enough for me at the time,” reminisces Antonia fondly. Only when she became a young adult and her grades at school were suffering from her constant time on the ice, and other things gained importance in her life, did she decide to give up the life of an athlete.

After she stopped, she was not active for a long time--until one day she recalled the races that she had accompanied her father on. “I was only five years old, and already I was running next to him.” Antonia’s father is a passionate marathon runner. Whether as a spectator or running along side him for segments of the races, Antonia was often there during her father’s competitions to cheer him on.  This recollection led her to the desire to become active again herself. She worked her way back into top shape with 5K and 10K races.

In order to improve her times, she joined the sports club SCC last year and began integrating interval runs into her training. She ran her first marathon a year ago in Berlin. However, she did not feel that she had prepared well enough in training and was not satisfied with her time. That is supposed to change this year. “I am now working out according to a training plan and go running five or six times a week.” She has set her goal at a time of 3:30. “I already get goose bumps when I think about the music that SCC plays just before the start. Last year my emotions poured out in tears.”  Antonia laughs.

This year she plans on allowing a tear here or there once more. “Running is simply an emotional thing. You meet other athletes, running next to them and often speaking different languages. But at a race, in the end, we are all the same: We run and all speak ‘Marathon-ish.’”  This unique feeling is one that no ice skating could ever give her.