Ticking off 2021

Waiting until the very last and bitterly cold hours of 2021, I met up with Elin for one of our signature river runs. Ending the year as it began, I was finally able to push through to 4,000 km and 419 hours of running.

Back home, I started preparing our New Year’s Eve dinner, consisting of crayfish soup as a starter, sashimi as the main course, and home-made strawberry and mint ice cream for dessert. Breaking with tradition, we went with Bründlmayer from lovely Langenlois in Niederösterreich rather than the house champagne, which turned out to be an excellent choice also for a winter mimosa with Sicilian blood orange juice and rosemary. With that, all that remains is to wish you all a very happy 2022!

All is possible

Last night, I was able to swing by USM for some last-minute rowing and treadmill running. In total, I have done 281 km of indoor rowing this year and it is a habit that I will try to keep in 2022. As for the running, I limited myself to six fast kilometres (4:19 pace) so that everything now comes down to tomorrow afternoon when I plan to do an extended 22+ km Silvester Run with Elin.

As the material consequences of the so called “energy transition” are felt throughout Europe with record high gas prices, the need for new positive energy futures could not be more pronounced. As such, I was reminded of Suzanne Hobbs Baker’s inspiring work on “reimagining nuclear”, pointing to a future with abundant clean energy by emphasizing the role of images and metaphors.

Project 22

Having soon reached my annual goal of running 4,000 km in 2021, I have decided that I will not set a new quantitative goal for the year ahead but rather try to bring back some of that simple joy of running when I feel like it (which tends to be more or less every day anyhow). However, before ushering into this unstructured running bliss, I have one insane challenge coming up now in January.

The idea, which I first came across back in July, is actually very simple, you run the same number of kilometres as the number of the day in the month. So, on January 1st, I will start with 1 km, on the 2nd, I will run 2 km, and so on. In total, this will give me a monthly volume of 496 km with my weekly volume topping out at 189 km (which, for reference, is 70 km more than I ever run in a week).

The obvious caveat is that I am likely to catch a cold long before the month is out, in particular if campus teaching returns as expected. But I will nevertheless give it a shot and see how far I make it. Given my time constraints, I should say that I have decided to bend the rules a bit so that I am allowed to run doubles (i.e. 15 km in the morning and 15 km in the afternoon) later in the month.

Återförvildning

While I am not quite ready to tick of 2021 with regard to the running (27.8 km still left to go), I was thrilled to see “återförvildning” (or rewilding) among the annual list of new Swedish words. Unlike “spökkök” (ghost kitchen?!), it is a word that I have used quite a bit myself over the years, so it is great to see it being popularized.

Meanwhile, looking at the latest Covid-data has me scratching my head. Despite very high vaccination rates, both Iceland and Malta are seeing higher numbers of new cases than anytime during the pandemic. While the omicron variant is still new, these numbers are so far not matched by an equally exponential rise in hospitalizations so it might just be that we have arrived at a “new normal” where covid is exactly everywhere and we just have to realize that a lot of people get sick all the time. After all, the effects of any lockdown are always going to be temporary as cases will start rising again once restrictions are relaxed. Instead of endless testing (it is worth noting that the UK is running out of PCR tests right now!), we might perhaps have to accept that the disease is now endemic and that we have to treat it more like the common cold?

Winter running

While maybe not as extreme as my Kurravaara run two years ago, this morning treated me to a biting -17 degrees and clear skies as I completed the December half marathon challenge along the banks of the Ume River. Over time, I have come to appreciate cold weather running more and more, especially when I can stop by at Circle-K for coffee and a lussekatt.

Once back home, I decided to cancel my trip south as Anna needs all the time that she can get to wrap up her PhD. Now I only have to spend half of the day on the phone waiting in line to get the points back...

10k

This morning, I was finally back to running again. Despite an outdoor temperature of -12 degrees, it did not feel particularly cold as I jogged around the frozen lake. Once back home, I made some coffee in my Malta mug and a sesame bagel, feeling immensely grateful for how 2021 turned out. Despite the pandemic, it has truly been an incredible year with lots of travel, races and academic publications.

Looking ahead, The New England Journal of Medicine just published an interesting piece on the future of the pandemic and vaccinations, underscoring how notoriously difficult it has been to predict what will happen next and the futility in believing (like China still does) that the virus can be eliminated. For my own part, I am thinking that maybe I have been overly pessimistic and that, for instance, campus teaching may very well happen as planned in January.

James Webb

Though William struggled a bit initially, he was ultimately such a trooper, and we even made it back in time to watch the successful launch of the James Webb telescope from French Guiana. With the telescope on its way to the second Lagrange point, night is already falling, and I am back dreaming of future crossings of the world's oceans.

Our skiing adventure took us through the part of the forest that burnt in the summer of 2018 which still has kind of spooky feel to it. Seeing the trail leading into Grössjön, I felt so frustrated that I am sick since the conditions for setting a CR could not be better with the boglands being completely frozen. Unfortunately, there is plenty of snow in the forecast so the snow will soon be too deep to allow for any fast pace running.

Being sensible

It is now more than one week since I started to experience cold symptoms and I am beginning to think that this may in fact be Covid, despite Anna’s negative rapid test on the first day when she got sick. Not only is the sequence of symptoms different from basically any other cold I ever had but I have a strange sense of fatigue that tells me that something is not quite right.

This means, that as for now, all running is suspended, and I will try to be as sensible as possible going forward. If I get well before the year is out, I might do some kind of Ultra Interval Challenge to catch up on those remaining 90 km but, if not, I will simply have to accept that not risking a heart muscle inflammation or something similarly stupid is way more important than any number in an app.

Being sick, I have had time to learn a lot of important things, such as that mouth guards for falcons are now back in the amenity kits aboard Qatar Airways, that Hilton Dubai Creek, where I went swimming with Eddie in the rooftop pool eight years ago today (as seen in the picture above) is no longer a Hilton hotel, and that when SJ cancels a train (as they did to my Kalmar trip), it is possible to change a regular first class ticket like the one I had to a single compartment sleeper for free (which I of course did!). 

Soon time to make some more coffee and perhaps take the kids out for some very gentle cross-country skiing. But first, I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas!

Saffron biscotti

It is the day before Christmas and both Anna and I are still suffering from the same stubborn cold. I guess that I did not help my recovery by running but now I have at least decided to take a couple of days off, even if it means that I will have to do some pretty crazy catch-up if I am to reach my 4,000 km goal.

While some swimming pools are closing due to the new Covid restrictions, our university vice-chancellor just decided that it will be all back to pre-pandemic normal in January. Given that Sweden is currently seeing community transmission of the omicron variant, I am somehow doubting this decision to double down on campus teaching. In fact, I would be very surprised if the decision is not reversed on short notice sometime in January. Having said that, I can understand why the vice-chancellor is wary of any middle-ground and the uncertainties that it gives rise to.

Winter solstice

Just as the queen cancelled her Sandringham plans, we decided to stay in Umeå for Christmas rather than taking the train up to Kiruna. Even if Anna is still really sick, the kids had at least recovered enough to join me for a hike in the cold winter sunshine, completing Strava’s one-hour “Winter Solstice Walk” challenge and checking out the cross-country skiing scene near Grössjön. The picture below was taken at noon, so the sun really does not climb much above the horizon at this latitude.

Though perhaps a bit stupid given my own health status but I did also run 10 km this morning, meaning that I now only have 96 km left to run during the ten days that remain of 2021. With Kiruna cancelled, I am thinking of spending some of my expiring SJ points on a train trip south sometime during the first week of 2022. Given my special January challenge (more on that in another post) and all the teaching I have coming up, I think it will be a bit difficult for me to do anything except running and working during the latter part of the month :-)

όμικρον

Unlike “normal” people who perhaps follow Champions League, I find myself constantly reloading Our World in Data’s Covid-19 data explorer. Though the numbers have plateaued in South Africa where the omicron variant was first detected, both Denmark and the UK are currently seeing an explosive growth in the number of new cases, and one cannot help but wondering when Sweden will join almost every other country in Europe in the fourth, or whatever, wave it now is.

As such, with new tickets booked for the March edition of the Cyprus Marathon, and Northumberland Ultra before that in late February, I am back wondering what sudden border closures and testing requirements that lie ahead. While the UK is somewhat of a wild card due to Brexit, I should say that I am fairly optimistic about travelling within Europe and, with the excellent travel insurance that I have found that covers all costs related to any hotel quarantine, I think I am ready to gamble.

Were it not for my parental obligations, I would even consider travelling overseas. For instance, right now, prices seem to be very affordable for accommodation in Thailand, but it would not feel right to bring the kids into this crazy world of outdoor mask mandates and deep nasal swabs. Instead, I simply find myself making a South-East Asia classic with cauliflower, ginger and lime for dinner.

The world ahead

As every year around this time, The Economist has a special issue about the year ahead. While its suggestion that the world has “turned the tide against the pandemic” may turn out to be premature in light of the omicron variant, there is a lot of fascinating stuff to read about, including “greenflation”, Indian politics and “America’s purpose” as seen by Francis Fukuyama.

Though my heart rate has been slightly elevated, I have kept going for very gentle jogs after Thursday’s debacle at Nolia, and hopefully all will be back to normal soon enough. Right now, I have 116 km left to run before the year is out.

Otherwise, I made salmon wraps with pomegranate, edamame and cream cheese for dinner as a throwback to my recent Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Stockholm.

11 years

11 years ago today, on one of the coldest and snowiest days in recent memory, I defended my PhD thesis in Lund. The picture above is from Malmö once Anna and I got back after celebrating with plenty of tapas and Grüner Veltliner at Eden with my colleagues. Ten days later, we would be on our way to Hong Kong and a new chapter would begin.

Indoor track

Last night, I was back at Nolia for 3,000 meters of running with my colleague Rolf and some of the best runners in Umeå. Though both Anna and William have been really sick, I decided to give it a shot since Anna had tested negative for Covid and I had no symptoms myself. However, once out on the track, my throat immediately felt sore, and I could quickly tell that this was not a day when I would run sub 12 minutes.

Finishing in 12 minutes and 9 seconds (which, if it is any comfort, is 9 seconds faster than in 2019 when I, incidentally, also felt that a cold was coming on), it was my time to clock those in the A-heat which I did despite coughing like crazy, something that does not feel that great in Covid-times. After a while, the cough at least settled down and, this morning, I am back to feeling more or less okay again.

ESD

This morning, I finally made it to 24,000 meters of swimming this year. Most of those meters have been at Navet (once it opened in September) but I been fortunate to be able to mix it up with Kalmarsund, Stöcksjö and the Med, not to forget our very own Nydalasjön. Going forward, I plan to step up my annual goal to 36,000 meters.

Once back home, I attended a two-hour Zoom meeting on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) which was in line with my expectations so to speak. Unwilling to polarize, I intentionally kept a very low profile ;-)

Assuming I am able to stay away from the cold that the other family members are passing around, I will race 3,000 meters on an indoor track tomorrow night in my Hoka Rincon at Nolia. The last time I did this was in December 2019 so it will be interesting to see how my times compare.

Smith Street

Almost twenty years ago in Cambridge, I had one Newcastle Brown Ale too many but still had to show up for class the next morning. I remember being sharply reprimanded and told that they had a history of such problems with Swedish students ;-) Luckily, I was well-behaved after that, and the incident was soon forgotten.

Stumbling upon a brown ale from Smith Street in Hedemora, I made some pulled pork with black beans and avocado as I am checking out the latest Monocle with its updates on the art scene in Taskhent, the rugged wilderness of Alaska and the latest city planning in São Paulo. Having decided to finally end my subscription, this may be one of the last issues that I will receive. As much as I sympathize with Monocle’s global mission, I am out of bookshelf space and, after the recent price hike, it feels better to spend the money exploring the world first-hand.

Dunning-Kruger

Fortune was clearly in my favour this morning, not only was William showing no cold symptoms, but I was able to mark the exams much fast than anticipated, even giving me time for some afternoon indoor rowing at USM. While I do not plan to have any quantitative goals for my running next year, I will definitely keep the goal of rowing 25,000 meters every month given its outsized effects.

Between juggling the kids and signing up for Björnfrossa 63k ultra marathon in June, I have otherwise spent a fair part of the weekend reading Andrés Stoopendaal’s new novel The Dunning-Kruger Effect. Set in pre-pandemic Gothenburg, it sort of reminded me of my own years in Gothenburg and some slightly too pretentious conversations of the past. While the book is sometimes a bit off balance, I still find it unusual and well worth reading.

Loose snow

Sunday morning and William showing new cold symptoms, meaning that all bets are off for the week ahead. As such, I decided to at least quickly wrap up my running for this week by bringing my total volume above 80 km in loose snow that reminded me of the long sand beach in the middle of Trail Kuršių Nerija. I now have 172 km left to run this year which should be doable as long as I do not catch anything myself. 

Back home, it was time for some Sunday waffles with blueberries while I wait for the students to submit their exams so I can start marking. This time around, it is a fairly manageable number of about 15-20 exams so I should be done within the next couple of days.

Windy Hill

Today, William turned seven and celebrated with lots of Lego, mud cake and strawberries. For my part, I woke up to the realization that I, in a moment of bravado, registered for Fjällmaraton 100k last night. While this year’s race ended in defeat, I hope that I will be able to set the record straight next August and get those 4 ITRA points. Unlike this year, I do not plan to drive back and forth but rather take the train to Åre.

Among William’s gifts, he got a Lego airplane featuring a dad who is out travelling with an infant in a baby carrier. Talk about flashbacks! I spent so much time with the kids just like that, long nights standing in the galley with Eddie in the carrier before landing jetlagged beyond words in America.

Far from all transpacific adventures, I made tacos tonight with some “Windy Hill” from Mikkeller Brewing in San Diego. With Fjällmaraton 100k again on the horizon, it is difficult to think of a more appropriate drink.

The world made local

Waking up at 5 am, I briefly considered going for some cross-country skiing around the lake, Shackleton-style, but with the temperature close to -20 degrees, I decided to instead prioritize my swimming. After a morning excursion to Navet, I now only have 2,843 meters left to go this year.

Having compiled this year’s Gold List, I then picked up the latest Condé Nast Traveller at Pressbyrån to get some inspiration for the year ahead.  While much remains uncertain with regard to travel in general, I am tempted to make one more attempt to run Cyprus Marathon in March. I am also already registered for Chiltern Wonderland in September (even if Elin’s participation remains uncertain).

For dinner, I made a creamy soup with chantarelle, parsnip, celery, and “Inocente” sherry from Jerez de la Frontera, perfect on a winter day like today.

2021 Gold List

Making a caffè latte with the beans from Lot61, I realize that, with all international travel finished for the year, it is time for the most shallow of traditions here on Rawls & Me, namely my annual Gold List. Compared to last year, this year has seen a bit more of travelling with 14,401 miles flown (which is still far below the dizzying heights of some pre-pandemic years) and five countries visited, of which Malta was the only new one.

Best Hotel Pool(s): Hyatt Regency, Malta

Best Lunch: Fallon & Byrne Food Hall, Dublin

Best Budget Bite: Falafel at Kebabji, Malta

Best Cocktail Bar: Alchemikas, Vilnius

Best Airport Lounge: Swiss Senator Lounge, Terminal A, Zürich 

Best Cancelled Award Booking: Umeå – Seychelles

Santa

If six cans of illy espresso coffee do not make one believe in Santa, I do not know what it takes?

Back home in Umeå, I am catching up on admin and kilometres, having done 17 km of running and 5 km of rowing so far today. Sadly, I just learned that Thursday’s dinner and ceremony for those who have been promoted for excellence in teaching has been cancelled due to Covid. In light of this, I think it is only a matter of days until our department Christmas lunch on the 21st is also cancelled for the same reason. At least my own rapid test turned out negative so, hopefully, I did not pick anything up on my trip.

Mask up

Flying back and forth in an ATR-72/600 and spending just 18 hours on the ground, Kalmar turned out to be an exceptionally icy affair, but I am very happy I got to see both my childhood friend Johanna and my parents. Considering that I will spend the holidays up in Kiruna, this was sort of the only window I had to travel.

Already back in Stockholm, I am now having lunch in the SAS Lounge while reading up on the paperwork for Thursday’s meeting with the faculty hiring committee. On yesterday’s flight down to Kalmar, I was more or less the only person wearing a facemask but, starting from today, the mask mandate is back on all SAS flights within Scandinavia. Looking ahead, I do not see the mandate going away any time soon and, after my visit to Hessen and Covid-land (where I had to show my vaccination certifcate about a dozen times), I cannot escape the feeeling that a new wave of restrictions and cancellations is just around the corner... 

Marmorgugelhupf

Dreading the thought of spending a whole day in the air and the added risk of getting stuck in lockdown Austria, I made one last attempt to change my flight to a direct one to Stockholm and, bingo, I managed to get the very last seat on LH802, meaning that I am now going to… drum roll… Kalmar! 

Who would have guessed? But first, I need to grab one more piece of Lufthansa's marble cake.

Misconnected

As with so many things in life, be it 100k mountain marathons or book chapters on N-DAC, one’s luck does at one point run out. After spending twenty minutes that I did not have in a holding pattern above Frankfurt Airport, I rushed all the way down the A-gates, up the elevator, through passport control (who knew that Cyprus was not in the Schengen area?), down to Z21 only to see that my flight had already departed.

Walking back towards the Lufthansa Service Centre, my phone alerted me that I had been rebooked to the exact same flight. Tomorrow. Meaning that I would miss Cyprus Marathon. Since I knew I would receive 300 EUR in EU 261 compensation from Lufthansa, I immediately started searching for other options of my own. And there it was. Frankfurt to Larnaca via London Heathrow for 231 EUR, landing at 9 pm which would still allow me to run the marathon tomorrow. Since I would only do an airside transfer at Heathrow, I would not even need a Covid test. So, I picked up my credit card, realizing that I was about to play a very dangerous game. There were only minutes left to issue the ticket and, if I would miss the check-in deadline once it was issued, I would maybe then ended up being denied boarding. Still, worth it. So, while rushing over to BA in Terminal 2, I entered my credit card details and tried to book. Sadly, my card was declined as the highly unusual transaction had triggered a fraud warning and, while I called American Express to unlock the card, my booking window had expired.

Thus, instead of a marathon along the Med, I had no choice but checking in at the Hyatt Place Frankfurt Airport where I, yes, briefly entertained the idea of running 42.2 km right there on the hotel treadmill but, after not sleeping more than a few hours and not having eaten lunch, 10k turned out to be a bit more sensible. And tomorrow? Well, fun fact, I will now spend two hours at Larnaca Airport before flying back to Sweden via Vienna with Austrian Airlines.

LH809

Upgraded to business class for my morning flight down to Frankfurt, I am reading up on the conflicted history of Cyprus with its “Green Line” while Sweden fades away below. Though reviews of the new “Tasting Heimat” regional food concept have been mixed to say the least, I think “Hamburg” was quite okay. 

Unfortunately, some snow has fallen overnight in Hessen so we had to wait on the ground at Arlanda for more than hour before we got a new slot time for landing in Frankfurt. I can only hope that I will still make my connection to Larnaca. Once on the ground in Cyprus, the plan is to pick up a rental car at Avis for some good old driving on the left, something I got to practice in Ireland back in September. According to Google Maps, the drive to Paphos is 132 km and is expected to take 1 hour and 22 minutes which seems a bit optimistic. Anyhow, I will then pick up my bib at the Expo before crashing in bed so I am ready to take the bus to the starting line at 6 am local time tomorrow morning.

A Noël, je t'ai donné mon coeur

With all the radio stations playing Christmas songs on infinite repeat and the snow falling, I boarded a Canadair Regional Jet and flew away on my second international adventure in as many weeks. This time, I am enroute to the island of Cyprus, which just like Malta, is all new to me. Pending any last-minute cancellations, this means that I will soon have visited all the member states of the EU and now only have a handful of other European countries left on my list (Iceland, Belarus and Moldova, know that I am coming for you!).

On Sunday, I am running the Logicom Cyprus Marathon from Aphrodite's Rock to Paphos Castle along the Mediterranean. For the moment, the forecast looks a bit ominous with a possible thunderstorm but, in some ways, that may still be preferable to blinding sunshine, especially when jetting in from -20 degrees in Umeå. With Austria in full lockdown, I will jump in my rental car directly after the race and be back in Stockholm already on Sunday night. Instead of the Andaz Vienna Am Belvedere, I am now using my free night certificate at Hôtel Reisen which recently joined Hyatt’s “Unbound Collection”, so two extra Hamilton-points right there ;-)

Lot61

Walking along the canals of Amsterdam three years ago, I came across Lot61 coffee roasters as recommended by Monocle. After a delicious cinnamon bun and a flat white, I could not resist buying an enamel camp mug that I have kept in my office since. Fast forward to Malta last week where, to my great surprise, the same Dutch company had opened a couple of stores. Of course, I had to go there with Anna and enjoy some great coffee. This time around, I also topped up with a bag of Brazilian coffee beans to take with me home to Umeå.

Calendars

Running back and forth to the school yesterday, my fingers were absolutely freezing despite the Hestra gloves so, waking up to a real feel temperature of -24 degrees this morning, we decided to stick to the carpool Hyundai i20 for the coming days.

After driving our neighbour, and legal owner of the Hyundai, to the airport, I also skipped my original plans for cross-country skiing and instead stopped by USM for the usual routine with 5 km of indoor rowing, 5 km on the treadmill and some strength training. With that behind me, I really need to rest if I should have any chance of breaking 3:30 on Sunday.

Otherwise, Christmas is clearly on its way as can be seen in the picture below. As tradition suggests, we have just ordered calendars with photos from the past year for the family. This is something that we have done for eight years in a row, so Anna’s and my parents now have a decent stack of calendars with their grandchildren.