200 km in March

Though it took a bit of effort, I was able to push through to 200 km of running this month and thus complete Strava’s “Running Distance Challenge” for the first time this year. I remember how proud I was back in 2018 when I did this for the very first time even as 200 km soon became the minimum that I would run in a month.

Beyond running, I have finally been able to submit my application for the development of hybrid learning environments. If we receive the extra funding, I think there is a lot of potential in making my classes with the social work students more interactive. For now however, it is time to wrap up the day with some smoked shrimp and a white wine from Adelaide Hills.

Train like a superhero

Looking back on last year with its 4000+ km of running, I sometimes wonder how I was able to achieve that while working full-time. For the last four weeks, since I recovered from the acute bronchitis, I have struggled to find the time to even run 40 km per week on average. As such, the road to 100 or even 80 kilometres per week (which I was doing last year on a regular basis) seems very long indeed.

Anyhow, having just finished the marking marathon that began last Thursday, I have at least done my best today to catch up on the superhero training schedule, starting with 10 km of running in the morning, followed by 1,000 meters of swimming with Anna at lunch and now 5 km of action-packed cross-country skiing at night. In case you wonder about the action, it had nothing to do with the rumoured bear and everything to do with how worthless I am when it comes to going downhill on a pair of skis.

Trieste

Overnight, cold winds brought a fresh layer of snow to Umeå. With another decimetre expected tomorrow, I have some hopes of going cross-country skiing but for now I settled for a morning run around Innertavle with Eddie biking next to me. Once back home, I made waffles for him which he greatly appreciated. For my part, I am very happy to have another red bag with “Academia” beans from Trieste, taking me back to the Europe of my dreams.

Sushi and proofs

Taking a short break from the marking, I have been going through the proofs for a new article that I have been co-authoring with my PhD student Kalle. The article is entitled “Using short-format video to widen the canon of political thought” and is based on a group assignment that we came up with in response to the pandemic. This is the second pedagogical article that I am publishing, and it is really rewarding to be able to reflect on one’s practice in this way.

SubZ

With the spring on pause and snow again falling outside, I received the white Craft SubZ Lummen Jacket that I bought with 50% discount the other week. Having long been looking for a really warm jacket for cross-country skiing and winter running, I liked this one when it was released back in the fall but decided to wait, a decision that now paid off. While probably too warm even for today, it will hopefully come to great use next winter as I plan to make up for all the skiing that I missed this winter when being sick.

Exams

Today I received 100+ handwritten exams to mark. In anticipation, I stopped by for a Starbucks Americano, instantly reminding me of long gone drives through the Californian desert. It is funny how taste and smell can play such tricks on one’s mind, however short-lived the escape may be. As for the exams, I should know by now that the only way out is through...

Rooted

You know that the end times are near when Jens Stoltenberg, in his strong Norwegian accent, has to clarify that Russia cannot win a nuclear war.

Far from these stark realities, I have spent the afternoon answering student e-mails before making a classic Thai beef salad to go with a newly released South African wine based on the Cinsault grape which I never tried before.

Springtime

Speedwork

After delivering William to school, I tried my luck on a 500 meters long segment in 3:56 min/km pace. To my relief, my calf held up, but I will wait some more until I bring back any further speedwork or go all out.

As for the California mug, I have to report that it was with a heavy heart that I declined the invitation to this year’s Breakthrough Dialogue on the theme “Progress Problems”. While I already decided that 2019 would be my last Dialogue, the isolation during the pandemic and my interest in where the ecomodernist movement is heading made it very tempting, especially as I would have had a chance to meet up with my long-time co-author Jon. However, with both Madrid and Newcastle already scheduled for the early summer months, it was simply not possible to spend another week away.

Madrid

Madrid has long been one of my favourite cities in Europe. Last time I was there was in 2017 with Sofi and, meeting her in Örebro the other week, we both felt that a new visit was long overdue. As such, we just decided to book a short trip in late April with Lufthansa :-)

Aequinoctium

As the days are overtaking the nights, I decided to challenge myself and go for a half marathon around the lake. While my calf did not protest, being sick for months has clearly not helped my overall fitness. However, as long as I can stay injury free, I am confident that I will soon be back in shape. With both Northumberland Ultra and Cyprus Marathon cancelled, my next race is Umåker in May but maybe I will find something exciting before that.

Pinot noir

Recently, I have felt at lost when deciding what to make for dinner. To broaden my horizons, I decided to start with the wine for a change and look for suitable pairings at some different Australian sites, ultimately settling for roast cauliflower with bacon and parmesan cream, which turned out to be an excellent choice.

Coming home

It took a couple of weeks longer than planned but now we finally have a bathtub upstairs. With all the bathrooms in the neighbourhood being fixed, we went all in and opted for a bathtub shower combo, perfect for cold winter nights, especially when knowing that the water is heated by certified 100% nuclear electricity from Kärnfull ;-) 

Hybrid learning

The good news is that I felt absolutely no pain in my left calf as I ran around the lake this morning. The bad news is that both kids now have cold symptoms so that my plans for today, which included going for a core workout session at USM with Anna, have been dashed.

Yesterday, I was at least able to attend a conference on hybrid learning which gave me a lot of ideas for the autumn semester. Having such large and diverse student groups as I do, it is important to provide as many ways of participating as possible, and based on the pandemic experience, I feel that HyFlex (hybrid flexible) courses that integrate face-to-face classes with online learning is very much the direction that I like to go. For now, time to make waffles.

De La Mer

Sadly, William has come down with a cold so our return to normality turned out to be short-lived. To somewhat offset this, I found a twist to an old recipe by Tuvessonskan, this time with lemon-fried black cabbage and Gruyère sauce to go with a glass of cloudy Australian wine from the Central Ranges. 

Otherwise, as for the unreality of distant continents, I just read a story about a group of Ukrainian researchers on Antarctica who have been watching what is happening to their country from afar. While safe themselves, it must be so incredibly stressful to know what your friends and family are going through back home and not being able to do anything.

Olkiluoto 3

Though thirteen years delayed and subject to endless lawsuits, the Olkiluoto 3 reactor is finally online. At 1,600 MW, it will provide about 14% of all electricity in Finland. While it clearly shows the potential of nuclear power to provide massive amounts of clean baseload energy, it is so sad to see how we keep treating our nuclear plants as unique pieces of art, after building one of each design we simply stop. Instead, what we should do is to drive down costs by building ten or fifteen reactors at the same time so that we once and for all can end our reliance on fossil fuels and stop the burning of biomass.

Sasja Filipenko

Flirting with the Mediterranean, I felt like making a mozzarella and tomato panini for dinner. Tired of screens, I am otherwise reading a new novel on Soviet history by the Belarusian author Sasja Filipenko which strangely enough does not appear to have been translated into English.

 

When moving back to Sweden in 2014, one thing that I appreciated was the egalitarian approach to taking care of the department’s kitchen, with even senior professors doing their share. Today, it has been my turn, and for some reason I was able to pick an exceptionally busy day with everyone being back at work. With all pandemic restrictions officially over, life is very much back to what is was two years ago.

Yakiniku

After learning about the latest initiative to increase the bureaucratization of higher education at our morning APT-meeting and eating some white chocolate mousse cake, I took my bike down to Navet for 1,000 meters in the pool before a quick Japanese lunch. While downtown, I also decided to pick up The Economist as a somewhat more tangible memory of these anomalous times than all the news that I am doomscrolling at night. Right now, there are some indications of progress in the peace talks even as the risk of escalation remains.

TGIM

This morning, I was once again running next to the kids as they were biking to school. As much as I have enjoyed our week in Gothenburg with its ferry rides and multiple visits to Universeum, it feels great to be back in Umeå and our daily routines. Today, I was even joined by Anna at USM as they had a one-week free trial, giving me a chance to show you all exactly how happy indoor rowing makes me ;-)

Sweden at risk

Despite the fact that I haved cancelled my subscription, I keep receiving new issues of Monocle. However, after another night with deadly attacks in Ukraine, the March issue of Monocle has not aged particularly well with its special on “Putin-approved clothing” at the Dubai World Expo next to the most trending streets of Kyiv.

Being in Gothenburg last week, only a few kilometres from the largest port in Scandinavia, the war in Ukraine felt ominously close. After all, given that Russia has already become a pariah state, what would actually stop Putin from launching a cruise missile against Sweden in retaliation for the weapons that it has sent to Ukraine? Unless the missile is nuclear tipped, such an attack would probably not trigger World War Three nor is it likely that Sweden would start bombing Russia in return. However, it is less certain how such an act of war would be received domestically in Russia or by the broader international community. Nevertheless, like Andrey Buzarov in today's Svenska Dagbladet, I think Sweden, unlike its neighbouring NATO countries, is very much at risk, especially if Putin fails with his objectives in Ukraine, something that seems increasingly likely for every day that goes by. I am not saying this as an argument for joining NATO which, if anything, would only further increase tensions but I think it is something that is worth keeping in mind. Sadly, just like with the Kim Family Regime in North Korea, the only immediate response to this is greater deterrence but, in the long run, the more important question is obviously how to avoid ending up in situations like this to begin with.

Heidelbeere

Finding some Darbo blueberry marmalade from Austria, I am thrown back to that morning at Schwechat when I was boarding for Kyiv, thinking that Austria had indeed become a bridge between East and West with dozens of flights leaving for Russia, the Caucasus and beyond. As such, it is not surprising that Austrian banks such as Raiffeisen are among the ones hardest hit by the sanctions with tens of billions of euros in exposure. With missiles landing ever closer to NATO territory, many people now blame liberal idealism for supporting Putin’s regime in the years leading up to the war. In my view, I think the exact opposite is the case, that it was rather the lack of idealism and a transformative vision for Russia that led us here. As I have pointed out in the past, just imagine what a difference it would have made if the Swedish defence budget since 1990 had instead been spent on student exchanges and broader socio-economic integration with Russia.  

Discord

In my political theory classes, I always stress the value of dissent. Instead of seeking “harmony”, I believe that there is a distinct value in discord and that disagreement is in fact essential for learning. While John Stuart Mill said much the same already in On Liberty back in 1859, it is still an argument that I think is worth repeating, especially when considering how much the climate movement, but also the populist right, is defined by its quest for social purity and ethical homogenization.

Interestingly, several articles have recently attributed Putin’s gross miscalculation with regard to Ukraine to the fact that he has been so successful in stifling dissent and mostly surrounds himself with former KGB people who are not, how should we say, renowned for their critical thinking.

3x Stockholm

Train 430

Friday morning and I am on a high-speed train to Stockholm as part of a journey that would originally have taken me to Cyprus. Instead, I will spend one night in Stockholm, meet my sister and hopefully go for one of my signature Djurgården runs before taking the train to Umeå tomorrow morning.

 

Having booked my ticket already in December, I was able to snatch one of those rare single-seats in first class at a bargain price so the trip could not be any more comfortable. Like back in 2010 when I used to commute between Gothenburg and Lund on these trains, I had pre-ordered food but, unlike then, I guess I am out of luck with regard to snow and delays so that I will not get the ticket refunded. In fact, over the past week, the spring weather could not have been any more beautiful and, as such, I fear that it will be quite a shock to return to the winter in Umeå.

Älvsborgsbron

When running with Elin, Kolbäcksbron in Umeå always becomes Älvsborgsbron in our imagination. Beyond it lies the wide-open Western Sea and, recognizing that it may be a while until I get to run across the Golden Gate Bridge again, it felt like a decent substitute for my afternoon run.

Despite the spring sunshine, it is difficult to not get drawn into the darkness that our continent is going through right now. Talking to my friend Gabriel the other night, we both agreed that it is immensely important that the EU and NATO make clear that membership would be possible also for Russia, if it were to become a democratic state. As much as I believe in imposing maximum sanctions in the present, it is crucial that the Russian people understand that this is not against them but a direct response to the behaviour of the Putin regime and that a future democratic Russia would be warmly welcomed in Europe.

Murals

On Strava, I am following a guy in Aalborg who always posts the most incredible murals from his runs. Before seeing them, I had absolutely no idea that this Danish city had such qualities. Being in Gothenburg for a week, I am doing some wall painting exploration of my own as I am trying my luck with my left calf after what happened on Saturday. Running here is so different from the flat coastland in Umeå. Even on today’s short run, I managed to get 131 meters of elevation gain.

Demands

Today, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov spelled out Russia’s demands for ending all hostilities. Even if accepting these terms would in a way vindicate Russia and its behaviour, I must say that I personally find the terms to be fairly reasonable, especially as they would give Putin an “off-ramp” that could bring an end to the conflict without further (nuclear) escalation.

In short, Russia is demanding that Ukraine becomes a neutral state and gives up its territorial claims for Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk. Considering the predominately Russian population in these areas, and how unlikely it is that Russia would ever cede Crimea, I think Ukraine has a chance here to get out of a lot of problems and instead being able to focus on peaceful economic integration with Europe. Having said that, I am almost certain that Ukraine will reject these terms and instead settle for a long war of attrition. While I believe that Ukraine may ultimately prevail in that fight, it will come at immense human cost with the continuous risk of triggering a war that could end all our futures. As much as I get that Russia is the bad guy here, I cannot really see the point in taking such existential risks for the political control of territories that do not really want to belong to Ukraine in the first place.

East Indiaman

For the second day in a row, I am criss-crossing the waterways of Gothenburg in brilliant sunshine. Just like me, the boys were thrilled to check out the sailing replica of the Swedish East Indiaman “Götheborg” which is one of the largest operational wooden sailing vessels in the world. Fifteen years ago, Götheborg even sailed all the way to China and back. I remember seeing her on a wintry walk just after returning from Australia in 2009, feeling an immediate sense of affinity.

Moscow Mule

Known for never staying too long in the same place, I decided to make a short trip up to Örebro last night. Greeted by the castle lit up in the colours of Ukraine, Sofi and I hade a great night out, featuring Baron Trenck from Brno and a Moscow Mule in the Clarion hotel bar.

Reading Putin’s own justification for the war turned out to be more illuminating than I first thought. Brushing aside the nonsense about NATO threatening Russia in a military sense, Putin himself clearly states that this is in fact about culture: “they sought to destroy our traditional values and force on us their false values that would erode us, our people from within, the attitudes they have been aggressively imposing on their countries, attitudes that are directly leading to degradation and degeneration, because they are contrary to human nature”. Or, in short, this is all about feminism and the ever-present spectre of homosexuality. Plus, of course, protecting his own illegally amassed wealth.

In the best of worlds, people will see this for what it is and stop voting for those who share Putin’s values, be it Le Pen or the Sweden Democrats.

Fröken Olssons

It was well past midnight when I finally got to my hotel room in Gothenburg. Walking through the city nightlife, I was reminded of when I used to live here more than a decade ago. This time around, I am only here for a week so I decided to make the most of it with a quick city run.

However, beautiful as the morning was, the pain I felt in my left calf as I picked up the pace on asphalt for the first time since that fateful run in January, made it clear that I have no choice but cancelling Cyprus Marathon next weekend. With the situation in Ukraine being the way it is, I was already hesitant about leaving the family and travelling abroad, but this was sort of the final nail in the coffin. So, instead of the Med, I will have to do with the Swedish west coast and coffee at an old-time favourite café.

SK2031

After a busy week that has been dominated by the dark news from Ukraine, I am finally aboard “Torborg Viking” and on my way south. Some ten thousand meters below, Anna and the kids are making the same journey on the night train. If everything goes according to plan, we will meet tomorrow morning at the station in Gothenburg.

Drinking my tea, I look out towards the east, thinking that these are indeed strange times to be out travelling as millions of people are desperate to make their way towards the west and safety. Over in Trondheim, my friend just shared a consent form that the nursery is distributing, asking parents for their permission to give the kids iodine tablets in case of a nuclear event. In its absurdity, it is difficult to think of anything more symbolic of the current moment in time than this mix of post-modern parenting and, what is essentially, planning for the end of the world.

Väven

Every year, the department has one day fully dedicated to discussions about our teaching. With all meetings having been on Zoom for the last two years, it felt both strange and familiar to meet in person down at “Väven” yesterday. Being one of Umeå’s fancier conference venues, with expansive views of the river, everything was like before the pandemic with the only difference being the ever-present bottles of hand disinfectant (which, as we have learnt, probably have zero effect on Covid transmission when people sit in the same room for hours). In any case, it was a productive day and it was great to see everyone again. Tomorrow evening, I am flying down to Gothenburg for a week, but first I have a couple of classes to teach and a lot of things to organize.

Bouncing back

Even if the bronchitis is not entirely gone, I am feeling stronger for every day. As such, I decided to extend my morning school run to Anumark for a total of 16 kilometres. Though still far from the shape I was in back in January before all of this started, things are at least going in the right direction.