Dancing in Odessa

Of course, I signed up. So now I have two races scheduled for 2022, first Northumberland Ultra 58 km in February and then Chiltern Wonderland 50 miles (80 km) in September. With a bit of luck, I might even get Elin to join me for the latter.

For tonight, I picked up a collection of poems that Gabriel recommended, Ilya Kaminsky’s Dancing in Odessa. 

“Where days bend and straighten

in a city that belongs to no nation

but all the nations of wind”

Oddly enough, a glass of nero d'avola, not from Sicily, but South Australia. It is anyone’s guess when Australia will open for tourists again, at least without a quarantine requirement. As the pandemic grinds on, it is becoming increasingly difficult to understand the logic behind all these travel bans, especially as delta is now the dominant variant everywhere. While new variants may perhaps emerge in the future, for now it seems reasonable to just open up the world for vaccinated travellers and accept that Covid is here to stay. But nationalist logic obviously works in its own funny ways.

American pancakes

Saturday morning and, somehow, I was able to complete the marking last night. With all the grades submitted, I went for a 25k morning run with Elin around Stadsliden before making American pancakes with blueberries and raspberries.

Now time to clean the house and just maybe sign up for Chiltern Wonderland 50 miles in September 2022.

Hands were raw

In his 2009 inaugural address, Barack Obama, when referring to previous generations who built America, said that they “worked till their hands were raw”. After completing 10k of indoor rowing at USM today, my hands somehow reminded me of that quote. Like last time, it took quite a bit of imagination and perseverance to not give up halfway through. Still, I guess part of it is simply that I am unused to real physical work, spending most of my days in front of the computer or taking care of the kids.

As for the kids, they have, sadly, not recovered from their colds so tomorrow will be yet another day at home with them. It is a bit unfortunate since I still have about 60 exams to mark so I will probably have to spend most of the weekend marking as well.

Wayback Wednesday

Now home with two kids, I am marking my way through hundreds of exams, trying to give as much feedback as possible. In terms of sanity, it helps a lot to start every day with a ten km run around the lake. Considering how icy it has been on these early morning runs, I am in a way happy I do not have to the bike up to campus.

As for biking, I thought I should add some evidence of my dark fossil past with a paparazzi-style throwback to the United Arab Emirates and Oman in 2014 when Eddie was 1.5 years old. Together with Anna’s parents, we were driving around in the desert in a black Toyota Landcruiser, the most iconic of all neo-colonial vehicles.

Add oil

Today, I am staying at home with Eddie who has come down with a cold. While he reads old Donald Duck cartoons from the 1950’s, I am marking exams and thinking more about the situation in Hong Kong. This weekend saw the Standard Chartered Marathon taking place on Hong Kong Island for the first time since the pandemic. Apparently, there was a strict crackdown on any slogans deemed even remotely political, such as “add oil” (a phrase used to express encouragement). It is truly sad to see how hyper-sensitive the political environment has become in wake of the national security law.

Palladium just published a frightening piece on Wang Huning who is sometimes described as the éminence grise behind many of Xi Jinping’s policies. I have no way of knowing what is true in all of this, but it is obvious that China has taken a dark turn and it is important to try to understand as much as possible about the underlying motives (however shallow these tend to be). After all, Lisa Ekdahl of all people probably already nailed it, “makt är för dem utan tillit”.

Thin ice

Overnight, a thin layer of ice had formed on the lake as I set off on my morning run. With the temperature well below zero, I got a first taste of winter running, grateful that I have my warm Craft winter tights and merino base layer. Once down at the river, I was then treated to a sunrise that I will not forget anytime soon with different shades of purple filling the sky.

Making pancakes afterwards, I took out my England-mug, thinking that Northumberland Ultra is four months away. With every new ultra, it feels like I am getting better at knowing my limits and balancing my effort. Hopefully, I can take some of that with me to Cyprus Marathon in December but, based on my experience in Trondheim, I fear that I will go out way too fast once again.

Pumpkin

With the temperature expected to drop to -10 degrees overnight, the time seemed ripe to make some slow-cooked Boeuf Bourguignon with creamy mashed pumpkin and kale. Finding a pumpkin from dreamy Båstad, the contrasts between the north and south of Sweden could not be more pronounced. 

Lebanon and Hong Kong

Though obviously different in many ways, I just read a reflective essay in The Atlantic that compared the fate of Lebanon and Hong Kong, two places that have both experienced a recent loss of freedom. As liberal values have been pushed back, once vibrant and creative societies have suffered, leaving behind fear and a sense of loss.

Having lived in Hong Kong and visited Lebanon, this essay struck a chord with me. I remember the protests in support of Ai Weiwei on campus and how different the Mainland seemed every time one passed the border at Lo Wu. I also remember the hope that I felt among the protesters in Lebanon back in 2019, not knowing how hard the Covid pandemic and then the port explosion would hit them. In hindsight, my two Monocle guides clearly seem to belong to a different universe. Still, I think it is crucial to not fall victim to defeatism. While those wanting to build walls and sow distrust of others may have gained the upper hand for now, we should not stop believing in the open society and a planetary future without borders.

Risoni

As wet snow keeps falling outside, I mixed some risoni with pesto and Thai basil for an oriental twist. One week has now passed since I was running up the hills of Vilnius in eager anticipation of Trail Kuršių Nerija (which by the way keeps posting cool race day pictures on their Facebook), and my body remains firmly in recovery mode. According to my Polar watch, I am still in red as in “overreaching”, so I decided to take another rest day in front of the computer. After all, in order to get the full training benefit of these kinds of “historic relative efforts” (as Strava likes to call them) you need to give the body enough time to repair all those microscopic tears in your muscle fibres.

This weekend, Anna is both presenting and chairing at an online conference organized by the IR-journal Millennium so I will be alone with the kids. Luckily, the forecast is promising cold and sunny weather, perfect for another forest adventure!

At night

At night in Klaipėda, looking out of the window from my hotel room, I could see an endless stream of rail cars with Russian hydrocarbons being loaded onto ferries and shipped off to Kiel and Rostock. Each tank car holding more than a hundred cubic meters, they were a very visible reminder of how much the German “Energiewende” is failing. With the last six nuclear reactors being closed down over the next year, another eight gigawatt of low-carbon electricity (equivalent to about 12% of all German electricity production) will soon be lost. Despite massive investments in wind and solar, the German emission trajectory is only going up which, after all, should not be particularly surprising. Rather than being energy sources in their own right, it seems more accurate to describe intermittent wind and solar as “fuel-saving devices” for gas-fired power plants. On days when the wind blows or the sun shines, they sure reduce the amount of gas that needs to be burned but, ultimately, they are inherently part of a fossil paradigm (especially when considering the Chinese coal power needed to build those solar panels in the first place).

It is easy to get frustrated when thinking about these things. Down in Germany, I have some brave friends like Rafaela Hillerbrand who dare to speak out. But for my own part, I am most of all getting tired. For every day, I feel more and more convinced that I should focus on teaching and my pedagogical research rather than risk becoming like Don Quijote and his windmills. At least, I was able to get 5k of treadmill running into my morning schedule, sporting my new black “Trail Kuršių Nerija” t-shirt.

In theory

The other month, I was contacted out of the blue by Stephen Eric Bronner (who was my mentor at Rutgers back in 2008) asking me if I wanted to take part in a grant application. Of course, I was more than happy to accept. This in turn made me curious about what Bronner has been up to lately and, apparently, he just published a new book entitled Existentialism, authenticity and solidarity. Since these are all things that I am very much into, at least in theory, I immediately ordered the book ;-)

After the first sub-zero school run of the season this morning, I took my bike up to work for two hours of doctoral supervision followed by 1,000 meters of swimming at Navet. Wrapping up the day with some salmon sins and cheap wine from Sicily, I cannot really say that I look forward to biking through tomorrow’s 25 mm of rain and slush but, obviously, what would the challenge be if life was just lunches at Pontus and thrilling escapes?

3x Trail Kuršių Nerija

Sunset at Arlanda

Looking out of the plane window, I got slightly uncertain of the geography before realizing that we were flying out over the Baltic just above the island of Saaremaa in the Gulf of Riga. No matter how many hours I have spent looking at maps, reality always has its tricks. At least, after this weekend, I can add the Curonian Spit to my list of places that are not just names on a map.

Following a stunning approach in the sunset, I got to the SAS lounge just in time to catch the last rays of sunshine and SK1044 departing for Kiruna. Like two years ago, we have decided to spend all of our Christmas holidays up there so this year will most definitely end on a snowy note.

Caffeine

Unlike after Trondheim Marathon when I was limping like House, I feel quite okay today as I wander the streets of Vilnius. On the four-hour train ride from Klaipėda, I was able to make some substantial progress on my book chapter about N-DAC and, after a coffee here at Caffeine, I plan to head out to the airport and write some more.

On the train, I also got a chance to read up on the fascinating intra-war history of Klaipėda, a city which was first governed by France following World War 1 but then merged with Lithuania after the 1923 Klaipėda Revolt. Like the situation surrounding Gdańsk, it is sort of the perfect setting for a spy novel and I regret not checking out more of the old town when I had the chance.

Trail Kuršių Nerija

Having been registered since June, today I finally got a chance to race 70 km along the Curonian Spit in Lithuania. Running together with Elin, we were off to an incredible start just as the sun was rising over the lagoon separating the curved sandy dunes of the Curonian Spit from the mainland. Starting next to a large granite sundial only a few hundred meters from the Russian border, we got to run through the most beautiful pine forests as we made our way north. About nine kilometres into the run, we ran 800 meters along an abandoned Soviet-era airfield! 20 km later again, everything shifted as we had to follow the beach for ten gruesome km while our feet kept sinking into the sand. Passing the 40 km cut-off with almost an hour to spare, the last 30 km were demanding in their own right but fairly runnable. With only ten km left, I realized that I could not keep up with Elin’s pace so I fell behind, calling Anna in Umeå and my mother in Kalmar, before making it to the finishing line in 8 hours and 16 minutes. Elin, on the other hand, raced ahead to an incredible sub-8 hour performance, finishing as number 13 of the women in what was clearly an elite field. For my part, I ended up as a slightly less impressive number 85 of the 139 runners who completed the race.

All in all, it was a fantastic ultra adventure. Already tomorrow morning at 5 am, I am off to Vilnius with the train followed by a long day of travelling before I am back in Umeå. Hopefully, the race will post some cool photos from the day but right now I only have this blurry one from the short ferry ride back to Klaipėda after the race.

Leafy banks

After a pandemic hiatus, I was back to city runs this morning as Elin and I went out to explore the hills of Vilnius. Though perhaps not as insane as Jakarta in October 2019, there was a lot of traffic that took away some of the joy but Vilnius still had its charms, including the Bernardine Garden and the leafy banks of the Neris River.

Now we are on a regional train to Klaipėda where we will pick up our bibs and get ready for tomorrow’s ultra adventure along the Curonian Spit.

Back in the field

After a long day of work at Arlanda Airport, the scenes shifted and I was suddenly thrown back to the world of the grand detour with its absinth bars, boulevards and trolley busses. Eastern Europe. 

Like when Anna and I were in St Petersburg back in 2018, this is clearly one of those “shoot in and out”, a quick sip of a different universe, just enough to unsettle reality before returning home with a lot of memories to process.

Rex

Last night, I went for something as unusual as a three-course dinner with the department at Rex. After staying away from large crowds for 18 months, I have to admit that it felt strange to suddenly mingle with all the colleagues. Nevertheless, it was a nice evening with great food and drinks.

With William waking me up just after 5 am, today will be a long day with fire safety training on Zoom and a Q&A session with my social work students. But already tomorrow morning I am off to Lithuania for the 70k Trail Kuršių Nerija.

Bäcksjön

After working all evening yesterday, I decided to take the morning off and go for a long run together with my colleague Johanna in my Hoka Mach 4. Meeting up just after 7 am at COOP Ersboda, we ran a 26 km loop up to Bäcksjön and back. Unlike last time, I did not go swimming in the lake since the water was really cold but it was still a nice autumn excursion that felt very much like "Skåne" somehow. Though I will not meet my weekly running distance this week, next week promises to take me to 90 km and beyond.

Burning biomass

As the sky cleared up, I took the kids out in the forest to “grilla korv”. For ecomodernists, there is something slightly suspicious with the voluntary burning of biomass, not to mention meat eating, but, as always, life is not about maxims ;-)

Anyhow, we had a great time together and now I am back to reviewing a piece for Nature and Culture on Daoist environmental philosophy that I had completely forgotten that I agreed to reviewing back in August.

Grading

This time of the year, I find myself inundated with exams to mark. According to our human resource management system, I am currently staffed at 227% which means little time to update Rawls & Me but at least I get to eat a cookie or two with good conscience :-)

Yesterday at work I was stunned to find that my old desk had been replaced by the ultimate in postmodern office comforts, a new height adjustable desk! Since this has been discussed ever since I joined the department back in 2014, it feels kind of incredible that it finally happened.

Bouillabaisse

After dropping the kids off at the school in Innertavle, I went for a recovery swim at Navet before heading up to work to grade some more. Slowly, life is returning to its pre-pandemic parameters with the lunch room at work becoming increasingly crowded. I guess I was not the only one feeling slightly socially awkward today after spending so many months in front of Zoom.

If not from the Monocle shop but I was happy to receive a pair of dark blue Lee jeans today as well as a white Oxford shirt, as I look forward to long hours in the lecture hall now when all remaining restrictions are being lifted at the end of the month. However, for the time being, many meetings are still on Zoom and, with the amount of rain in the forecast for tomorrow, I cannot say that I really mind :-)

For dinner tonight, I travelled to south of France for some bouillabaisse with the house sauvignon blanc from N.Z. Somehow, it takes so little (but also so much) to survive the winters up here.

Umbrellas

Above a sea of umbrellas, I did my first five kilometres of indoor rowing this month with the rain hammering down on the glass dome. While Gotland felt almost like summer, there’s no mistaking that autumn is here big time in Umeå. As such, it feels most appropriate to make my favourite autumn risotto with funnel chanterelle and Västerbotten cheese for dinner as I am looking forward to a busy week with another hundred exams to mark...

Gotland Ultra Marathon

Racing 52 km along the sand dunes, shingle beaches and old-growth pine forests of Gotland, I had an incredible day yesterday. The only incident was somewhere half-way into the race when I ran into a branch with full force, luckily only hitting my sunglasses with no resulting injury, making me realize that those Bliz glasses for 499 SEK might have ended up saving my eyesight.

Though the aid stations were few and far between, my nutrition plan worked well and I was never particularly dehydrated. As for pacing, it was quite difficult in the beginning as we had to queue to get over fences almost every kilometre, but as often with ultras, going slow in the beginning might not be that bad after all.

As expected, the main attraction yesterday was the sea, with the coastline reminding me a bit of Rügen. Once I finished the final climb up from the harbour in Visby, Sofi met up and provided the best post-race support, including one big chocolate medal that made me feel just as proud as Pelle Svanslös.

Today, we are going to church in a couple of hours before catching our flight up to Stockholm. Unlike after Trondheim, I feel quite okay in my body so I guess I will recover quickly.

Gotland

After being tossed around by strong southerly winds during the approach, our ATR-72 finally touched down at Visby Airport just before 1 p.m. Having met up with Sofi at Arlanda, we were both surprised by the summery feel as we walked across the apron, making me immediately regret not packing shorts or sunglasses for tomorrow’s ultra adventure. Luckily, I was able to pick up the last pair of black Bliz glasses at Stadium so now I feel somewhat better prepared for those 52 km along the sea. Contrary to earlier forecasts, I can look forward to mostly sunshine and winds up to 15 m/s from the south.

Blue hour

Just before boarding, I finished marking the last exams in my political philosophy class. As always, it has been a mad race but I really think there is a value in giving as much quality feedback as possible.

Once aboard, Torborg Viking quickly climbed above the cloud cover just as the sun was rising in the East, treating me to magic hues of red and purple. In a short while, I will be back on the ground at Arlanda for some hours of article writing in the lounge before my connecting flight down to Visby. Being my first visit to Gotland in over two decades, and also the first time I get to see anything outside Visby, I am really looking forward to the weekend.