Björnlandet

Long on my list, today I finally got to check out Björnlandets National Park together with Carsten. Located about 110 km from Umeå, it is a relatively new national park, only established in 1991, and covering an area of 11 square kilometres. 

Parking the rental car at the Angsjö Entrance, I ran the longest trail called “Svärmorsleden” which the map suggested would take 6-8 hours to hike, something that seemed a bit excessive considering that it is only about 12 km. Still, once out on the trail, some parts were indeed fairly technical with lots of boulders etc.

In the end, I ran the whole trail in a bit less than two hours, being extremely careful not to injure myself now when I have Fjällmaraton 100k coming up in four days. Running in my Salomon S/Lab Ultra 3, I liked them almost as much as their predecessor (which has been my go-to shoe for ultras) but I will leave it to the last minute to decide whether I will use them or my Hoka Torrent 2 for Fjällmaraton.

Being Seth for a day

With Seth James DeMoor having injured his back and probably not being able to race Pikes Peak this year, I felt like honouring him by doing something truly Seth-like for my birthday. So, what would be better than packing a new pair of Salomon S/Lab Ultra 3 and driving up to the mountains for a trail run in Björnlandets National Park?

Guilty Pleasures

With Petra and others having recommended it for some time, Umeå’s new brunch spot “Guilty Pleasures” seemed like the obvious place to take Carsten as he is visiting for a few days from Hamburg. While more than ten years have passed since we had breakfast at the Grand Hyatt in Seoul, it was great to pick up my German master class with the concept of „bornierte Bräsigkeit” as we enjoyed some well-executed “Eggs Royale” with the house Cava. 

Before meeting Carsten, I was able to swing by the gym for a first post-Covid session consisting of some rowing and weight training. Though feeling good, I have decided to stay away from treadmill tempo runs for now. In any case, speedwork is not really something that I need to practice for Thursday anyway, so I am happy taking it slow for now.

Warning signs

During a brief visit to the university yesterday, I saw a wonderful sign that I of course had to document. Clearly, it does not take a genius to realize that running Fjällmaraton 100k two weeks after testing positive for Covid may not be the best of ideas but, for now, I remain optimistic. Though I had some strange pain sensations in my lower back and legs, I was happy to see that my heart rate was fine on today’s 10k as well. While I would never think of doing a road marathon since it requires such a sustained maximum effort, a trail ultra is always more about the adventure and mental strength than anything else.

Yesterday we had the first viewing of the house which proved to be a herculean effort in terms of cleaning and packing. Hopefully, we will not have to do this again as there are now several families that appear interested in buying.

Electric boat

Today, Eddie is turning ten which, obviously, is a big milestone! Eager to celebrate, he woke the family up at 4.30 am so we have had a long morning with plenty of cake and, most importantly, time to drive around Nydalasjön with his new radio-controlled boat.

Taking a short break from the celebration, I also did a first lake run after Covid, suggesting that Fjällmaraton 100k may still happen in a week from tomorrow.

Nominal

After not running for eight days, I decided to take a first easy jog. Running in my mother’s signature pace of 7:10 min/km, I had an average heartrate of 122 which is about normal. Still, I will not do any longer runs for now, giving my body a few more days to fully recover.

Underwood

Making tabouleh in my beloved Beirut bowl, I am saddened to think of all the hardship that Lebanon has gone through since Ally and I visited in November 2019. While reality was always more multifaceted (just think of Rwanda or the Balkans), it is difficult to escape the feeling that, when I grew up, the world was still about rebuilding from war, walls were coming down and countries were opening up whereas, today, one cannot even travel to large swaths of the world (including liberal democracies such as Japan). Instead of engagement, all that politicians talk about are boycotts and sanctions, how to isolate our enemies rather than winning them over. As despicable as Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine is, every day makes me less and less certain about the wisdom of the current approach. If anything, the West should be everywhere in Russia right now, fostering cultural exchange, and creating millions of micro-connections undermining Putin’s antagonistic logic.

Ultimately, this is of course a question about who we are, and who we want to become. If there was ever any doubt, StarTrek will not happen by itself, it will take all of us if we ever are to climb to the stars and bring the world together.

California Zephyr

Being sick, I tend to watch a lot of travel-related videos. Yesterday, I got to follow the tracks from Chicago’s Union Station across the Mississippi River, through the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada, all the way down to Emeryville and the Bay aboard Amtrak’s iconic “California Zephyr” train. For all the time I spent in the US, my train travels have so far been limited to going back and forth between New Brunswick and New York and a one-time trip between Los Angeles and San Diego.

However, before I had time to dream of any future “train and trail” adventures in the US, a most anticipated book arrived in the mail, namely the pre-print of Anna’s PhD dissertation! While some proof reading remains, it is an incredible feeling to be able to hold the physical book and I am very much looking forward to her defence in September!

Wer hoch fliegt, wird tief fallen

After a couple of days with very mild symptoms, Covid hit me yesterday in earnest with fatigue, joint pain and chills. With thirteen days left until Fjällmaraton 100k, I am still optimistic about recovering in time, but I guess I will not do any more running this week.

Stranded in bed, I am reading more in Matar’s brilliant book, restoring some of my faith in our ability to communicate with each other. As often, being sick brings back memories, reminding me of the wild, fresh skies as I ran up to Ädnamvaara two years ago.

Lorenzetti

Reading A month in Siena by Hisham Matar, I am reminded of Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s painting “Allegory of Good Government” from 1339. Planning my autumn lectures in political philosophy, I will definitely use it in class when introducing the Renaissance. Now with Chiltern Wonderland cancelled, the schedule will be much less stressed for the students so hopefully we will have time for a lot of discussions. Knowing that we have done away with Covid (at least until some new variant emerges), I am also less worried about having to cancel classes like I had to do last semester.

As for the painting, it lacks the defined centre of traditional political art, hinting instead to the enlightened pluralism of the republic. More than ever, it feels important to put trust in each other and to not seek those “seemingly swift and simple solutions” that John F Kennedy posthumously warned us of.

Economics

Having both tested positive for Covid, Anna and I have had to postpone the viewings of the house, meaning that the whole process is put on hold for now. Considering the market situation, we are not in a position to buy anything until we have first sold the house, but hopefully it will not be that long until we have a new home.

After decades with falling interest rates and low inflation thanks to automation and China’s entry into the world economy, we are now seeing a return to the energy-driven inflation of the 1970’s. Consistently mistaking levelized costs for system costs, the proponents of renewable energy have a large responsibility for causing this situation as wind and solar have deepened fossil dependency and fragilized the grid in a time when we should have made clean electricity abundant and cheap. Although I did not foresee the madness in Ukraine, it should have been obvious that relying on the goodwill of corrupt foreign elites for your energy supplies was never going to be a good idea. 

While I still believe that Europe could have done a lot more to integrate Russia politically and socially, it is important to remember that the hypermasculine worldview and values of Putin is not at all that different from our own Sweden Democrats. While these forces have been narrowly defeated in previous elections, I am afraid that a worsening energy crisis may be just enough to tip the balance.

Five years

Though perhaps not out of the woods just yet, my Omicron encounter has so far been exceptionally mild. While I recognize that this is not a regular cold and that people are still dying from Covid, my own experience as a triple vaxxed healthy adult is still not that unusual with many cases being completely asymptomatic. As such, it is not surprising that domestic resentment with China’s zero-covid policy is growing. A recent declaration from Beijing to “unremittingly grasp the normalisation of epidemic prevention and control in the next five years”, has clearly not gone down well with its lockdown-tired urban population, many of whom are now looking for a way out, with internet posts on “run xue” or “run philosophy” becoming increasingly popular. Considering the global spread of Covid, including among animals (!), zero-covid is obviously not going to work but for different reasons, not the least its fondness for social control, the Chinese communist party does not appear ready to admit defeat just yet.

BA.5

Waking up with a sore throat, I cannot say I was particularly surprised given that Anna tested positive for Covid yesterday morning. So far, my symptoms have been extremely mild but, obviously, it will take some time until I know how affected I will end up being. For her part, Anna felt quite under the weather yesterday which was her second or third day but is already feeling a bit better today. Clearly, having three shots of vaccine helps as the body already has some familiarity with the virus even as the BA.5 variant (which this probably is since it is now dominant in the UK) appears to be particularly good at evading immunity, including immunity acquired from recent infections by earlier omicron variants.

In any case, I am not taking any risks and have put all running on hold. Instead, I went for a slow hike with Eddie through the nearby forest where I, to my great surprise, was able to find a new trail. Having returned with lots of blueberries, it is time to make some blueberry crumble.

Presymptomatic

Coming back from her summer school in Wales, Anna just tested positive for Covid with mild symptoms so far. Knowing that time was of an essence, I decided to go for a 30 km trail run around Stadsliden, completing two full circles on the SM-trail, in what might be my last run for some time. With Fjällmaraton 100k only two weeks away, I am not sure how this will end but I will obviously stop running once I start exhibiting any symptoms myself.

Sadly, out on the trail, I learned that Elin has decided to cancel her trip to Chiltern Wonderland as she is starting a new job and has a small puppy to take care of. While disappointing, it is probably for the best as I already have an extensive travel schedule for the autumn with Anna defending her PhD on 12 September and a big trip with the kids to Italy in early November.

Melty is back

With temperatures above 40 degrees expected in the UK just as Anna is taking her flight home, it felt appropriate to bring out my Melty-mug from the cupboard. Despite all the cynicism (the most extreme example being the German Greens using coal to replace nuclear), I believe that the broader conversation is finally changing. Part of this is about cutting through the media noise surrounding renewable energy and recognizing how little impact wind and solar have actually had on the world’s energy consumption over the last two decades:

Hamptjärn

With my parents visiting for a couple of days, I have had little time to update the blog. On the first day they were here, we all hiked up to Hamptjärnsstugan, picking blueberries and enjoying the views overlooking Umeå from one of the highest points in the area.

Yesterday, my mother biked next to me for the 16 km long Anumark-loop while enjoying both sunshine and a fierce morning rain. Later in the day, the sky cleared up and I was, once again, thoroughly impressed as my mother ran 2 x 4 km with 1,000 meters of swimming in between at Umelagun. Clearly, multi-sport runs in the family :-)

Running stones

At last, Justin and I managed to run around the lake. Except for Elin, I do not know many other people who would gladly go for a run at 5.45 in the morning. Like last time when we ran around Grössjön, it was a blast as we are both such running nerds. Among many things, Justin reminded me that the qualification criteria for the UTMB week have changed and that I now need to complete one of the 25 races in the UTMB World Series in order to acquire the “running stones” needed to qualify. In a way, this is a bit frustrating as I am finally on my way to have a good bunch of ITRA-points (especially if I manage to complete both Fjällmaraton 100k and Chiltern Wonderland) but, on the other hand, I am always eager to discover new courses and, with both the Julian Alps in Slovenia and Côte d’Azur in the series, there are some epic adventures on the horizon.

Marigold

It is funny how the body adapts to training over time, how an effort that would have knocked me out completely four years ago now only leaves me feeling a bit tired in the legs. Thinking back on yesterday’s run, I was also very happy about the performance of the pair of Hoka Torrent 2 that I picked up last year at a sale with Bergfreunde in Tübingen. While the Hoka Torrent model has been a long-time favourite of mine, the fit in size 48 turned out to be even better and, right now, I am even considering using these shoes instead of the Salomon S/Lab Ultra 3 when running Fjällmaraton 100k in three weeks from now.

Breakthrough Journal

This morning, Elin and I set off along Tavelsjöleden in an attempt to set a new FKT for her. Everything was going according to plan for the first 30 km as we made our climb up towards Tavelsjö. However, soon thereafter, I realized that I had again underestimated how much water I need for these kinds of summer trail runs. Even if it was just around 18 degrees, I felt how a massive headache was building up and, once on the top of Tavelsjöberget, we made the decision to not continue to Selet but cut our run short and just head down to Sundlingska and Roots. While this means that we must return once more to run the whole trail, it was definitely the right decision. Ten glasses of water and a swim in the lake later, I quickly felt much better.

After taking the bus back to Umeå, I was then stunned to find that Pressbyrån is now selling Breakthrough Journal. While outrageously priced at 259 SEK, I of course had to support a noble cause, topping up with some Irony pinot noir, also from dreamy California.

Ad

Finally, the ad is live on Hemnet and elsewhere so, if you know someone looking for a new lakeside home in Umeå, here is one!

Naken

Finding its way from Neusiedlersee, a bottle of “Naken” just made it to Lyktvägen. Considering my long-time love for Grüner Veltliner, it surely did not disappoint as I made my favourite chicken recipe with saffron and braised fennel that I have been making ever since I was living in Örebro two decades ago.

Otherwise, today has been maxed out with a visit to an exhibition about Umeå’s maritime past followed by the city library and then some swimming at Umelagun. If this is “sommarlov”, I will surely need some vacation once it is over :-)

Sulfite

At the moment, it is not easy to find storage here in Umeå so we started looking a bit outside, ultimately finding an old factory in Hörnefors which was once used for sulfite pulping but now has been turned into an affordable storage facility. Driving back and forth with Eddie yesterday, we were able to bring down about thirty cardboard boxes to their new slightly spooky industrial home, leaving enough room here at Lyktvägen so that the real estate agent could take her photos. Hopefully, the ad for the house will come up before the end of this week and, with a bit of luck, all the strawberries, fresh herbs and Laphroaig fudge that we have bought will do their magic.

Clear skies

Last night, a thunderstorm cleared up the air as the week-long heatwave finally came to an end. Waking up to clear blue skies and 16 degrees, Anna and I went for a gentle trail run around Grössjön for the second day in a row while the boys were playing Minecraft at home. Afterwards, we all went for a longer family swim at Kyrkstugan, making the most of this last summer next to the lake.

Much later, I make a short escape to more distant shores as I check out Condé Nast’s “Hot List” for 2022, including some stops around the world that might just appear here on Rawls & Me before the year is out.

Post-flight

After a week on the ground, it felt like the right time to open that KLM coconut macaroon and look back on all the big decisions that have happened since we got back. For one thing, we have started the process of selling what has been our home for the last six years. Though we still need to find a buyer, it feels like the time has come to move on to a new chapter as Anna finishes her PhD and the kids start the autumn semester at a new school downtown.

For the moment however, we are making full use of the lakeside location, with all of the family having a new evening swim routine as William’s shoulder has healed enough to allow him to swim again.