The last supper

After a week that has been beyond crazy, it is finally Friday and time to make the same persian lamb stew that I made 16 years ago at Tornhem in Lund.

Tomorrow we are moving to the village of Sävar, about 20 km northeast from here. Considering how many food pictures I have taken on the porch over the years, I thought I owed it one last shot. Now time to pack some more boxes, see you in a bit!

Cold season

With both kids exhibiting cold symptoms, this week has hit somewhat of a roadblock as I am starting a new course with 120 students tomorrow and still have to pack up the house. Luckily, I invested in some biscotti to go with my morning Americano as I am reading the news of the Nord Stream explosions. In the commentaries, it is common to hear that the German dependency on Russian gas was caused by insufficient commitment to its “energy transition” when, in fact, it is that very transition that is the reason behind the dependency. After all, as I have pointed out in the past, the proper way to think of wind and solar power is as fuel-saving devices for gas plants. As such, when moving away from coal and nuclear baseload, deepening gas dependency is precisely what you would expect for those cold days when the wind does not blow or the sun does not shine.

Nittardi

While Italy goes to the polls and Kipchoge sets a new world record on the streets of Berlin, I have been busy cleaning out the carport storage and slow cooking some spaghetti bolognese.

At her PhD defence, Anna was given a bottle of Casanuova di Nittardi which turned into a perfect match for dinner and the two pedagogical portfolios that I still have to assess before the next (Zoom) meeting with my course, not to mention a wonderful reminder that we will be in Italy with the kids in just over a month from today.

September half marathon

For three years now, I have been running at least one half marathon every month. With September drawing to an end, I realized that time was of an essence if I were to keep my streak intact. Joined by Eddie on his bike, I thus did the Anumark loop before topping up with five km on my own along the lake shore. Before setting out, I came to think of Bernd Heinrich’s words in his Why We Run: “there is nothing quite so gentle, deep, and irrational as running – and nothing quite so savage, so wild”. 

Unwilling to give up on my dream of running across extinct volcanoes in Skåne, I once again signed up for Tjörnarparen 100k in mid-February. Having been cancelled twice due to the pandemic, this is one race that I have long had on my radar. After finishing Ultravasan 90, I am confident that a 100k is within my ability as long as it is not too mountainous.

Inner emigration

The other day, I talked to my friend in St Petersburg who described her life of “inner emigration”. After all, as an individual, we have little influence over how society evolves, and with the European borders now closing for Russians, leaving is not really an option.

Far from such real-world concerns, I finally got to catch up on sleep with my Polar watch giving me full score in terms of “nightly recharge”. With that in the bank, I went for 10k along the lake followed by some American pancakes made with Oatly rather than milk. With only a week left in the house, I am not sure how many more lake runs there will be (currently at about 250) before I will start exploring the trails around Sävar instead.

Party

Two years after I was promoted to distinguished university teacher (“excellent lärare”), it was finally time for the formal ceremony and subsequent dinner together with the university vice-chancellor. Having been postponed twice due to Covid, this was certainly an occasion worth waiting for as we had a wonderful night with lots of really inspiring conversations, all organized by the one and only Lars Larsson.

No sleep data

When boarding the night train, I could immediately tell that it would be a rough ride with lots of young people partying in the neighbouring compartments. At last, someone told them to be quiet, but I would still lie if I would say that I felt particularly rested by the time the train arrived in Umeå.

With the housing market in tumult, we have withdrawn our bid for the house as we wait for the verdict on Anna’s postdoc application. Instead, the plan is to move out to Sävar, about 18 km northeast of Umeå for a few months while the dust settles.

Dirty Tacos

After a great first day with the course, I got to spend a couple of hours alone in Örebro, eating some super-yummy tacos at “Dirty Taco” and being overwhelmed by how much the city has changed since I used to live there. Now on a north-bound train, I have two more hours to go until Gävle where I will have to wait one hour on the platform before catching the night train to Umeå at midnight.

Luckily, I have my gym card with me so I can take a quick shower at USM before going teaching tomorrow morning. When returning in December for the last course day which is also in-person in Örebro, I will definitely plan my travels better. 

Back to Wadköping

After driving up to Ramsjön for a swim yesterday, I decided to kick off this long day of sitting with some faster photo intervals along Svartån, rediscovering what used to be my hometown for four years while completing 2,000 km of running this far in 2022.

Heading out to Oset, I got to see the sun rise over Hjälmaren before returning to Clarion for an excellent hotel breakfast.

As for yesterday, Kilsbergen was just as stunning as I remember it from two years ago when I was running Bergslagsleden Ultra. Still a lot warmer than in Umeå, the water was 14 degrees according to Sofi’s thermometer, so I did not stay in for long. However, in the car back to Örebro, I made the bold promise to go for another swim when I come back to Örebro in December!

In Palma

Though three weeks ahead of myself, I picked up the latest issue of In Palma. Both starting and landing in rain, the sun nevertheless shone on our Airbus 320neo on its way down to Stockholm as I am about to take part in a pedagogical course in Örebro at the very campus where I studied for my undergraduate degree two decades ago. 

When not flying or dreaming of southern latitudes, I am marking, as often at this time of the year. Between the student papers, I am also reviewing a few manuscripts, including one on climate change and inflation, a topic that I have been wanting to write about myself for some time. 

Lidl

For some reason, I have been biking by the local Lidl for six years without ever stopping, always getting my groceries at COOP and ICA instead. As Anna and I went to a house viewing at Ålidhem this morning, I thought it was a good idea to check it out. To my delight, I discovered that they have pretzels (fairly genuine ones on top of that), so now I know how I will get my Bavarian fix going forward.

As for the house, we liked it a lot and decided to make a bid so hopefully we will soon have some clarity regarding our post-Lyktvägen life.

Playfulness

Today, I attended a brown bag seminar on “Playfulness” in higher education. As a concept, it very much aligns with what I am trying to do in the classroom, to move away from criteria-based assessment, quantifiable outcomes, and the associated fear of failure. Instead of risk-avoidance and instrumentalized pedagogies, I believe in “Bildung” as a shared existential journey and that, by challenging the students (and myself) to think hard, we can open a space for the unexpected. It is along those lines that I for instance have come up with the student video assignment on the canon problem that I wrote an article about earlier this year.

Likewise, I appreciate being challenged by those who think differently about the world, and few used to think as differently as Roger Scruton did before he passed away two years ago. If nothing else, the title I Drink Therefore I Am: A Philosopher's Guide to Wine got me the moment I spotted it as a suggestion on Amazon.

Successful defence

Yesterday, Anna defended her PhD in what turned into a genuine and inspiring conversation with the excellent faculty opponent Maria Stern from Gothenburg University. Being in the audience, I was brought back to all the museum visits and conferences that we have attended over the years at both ends of the Pacific. Writing on the conflicted history of the "comfort women" system in North-East Asia, Anna has clearly not chosen an easy topic and I was happy to see that it was given the serious treatment that it deserved.

While Anna gets to sleep in at Hotel Savoy in Malmö, I am already in the air on my way back to Umeå where I will give 2x2 hours of lectures today. With minimal sleep for the last few nights, this calls for some caffeine so right now I am enjoying my third cup of black coffee as Gerald Viking is making its way through the clouds. After remaining on the ground for a few months, I now have quite a bit of travelling planned with Örebro coming up already on Monday. Before that, my childhood friend Gabriel is coming to Umeå for a visit so lots of exciting things to look forward to.

Malmö mornings

Waking up to a dreadful election result, I went out for five kilometres through the parks of Malmö, before returning to the hotel room just so I could cut myself while shaving.

Beautiful as the morning was, it is frightening how the Sweden Democrats have solidified their gains of the last decade, with practically every fifth person in Sweden now apparently willing to vote for an anti-democratic party which, if in government, may well end up upsetting our “freiheitliche Demokratische Grundordnung” as the German expression goes.

Right now, Anna and I are on the high-speed train up to Växjö where she will defend her PhD in three hours from now. Undoubtedly, this is a very special day after all the hard work that she has put into it.

Southbound

Today, Anna and I are on our way down to Malmö with SAS. With the first flight being operated by the Estonian carrier XFly, I was again impressed by the effort that the cabin crew has put into learning Scandinavian languages. Unfortunately, we missed our connection so we ended up spending the whole day at Arlanda Airport which at least had the upside of being able to visit Pontus for one last time at the expense of American Express delayed-flight-insurance.

While we are on the road, Sweden is going to the polls in another history-defining election. Like back in 2018, the race is extremely tight with a very real risk that the far-right Sweden Democrats will get the influence that they have sought for so long. Both Anna and I voted weeks ago when the polls first opened so all we can do now is to wait for the results. Most likely, both sides will struggle to form a government and it may take, if not 134 days like in 2018, so at least quite some time until we know how it all ends.

Australian Red

Today, Australia came jumping back like wallaby, giving the whole day a magic glow as I taught my class on the Reaction and reviewed a couple of manuscripts. As such, I obviously had to go with a bottle of Shiraz from South Australia and some Spaghetti alla Nerano from the Sorrento Peninsula, the latter as a taste of what is to come when we head down to Italy with the kids in a couple of months from now.

Though the post-Lyktvägen future remains most uncertain, I am somehow much less stressed about it than I was only a couple of weeks ago. After all, there is a certain freedom in not knowing, and just accepting that many different things may happen, ranging from us renting a cottage in the Kvarken Archipelago for the winter months to buying an apartment in Malmö...

Old news

Living at the end of the world, it is only natural that the newspaper agent in Umeå is selling New York Times from a fortnight ago. Since then, lots have happened. Russia has finally cut the gas supply, leaving Europeans terrified of the winter that lies ahead and the EU commission now wishing for a mild winter (the very thing, that until most recently, was feared as climate change).

I know, it is easy and not particularly productive to be ironic. Still, having been forced to listen to all these people telling me that renewables are so much cheaper than nuclear, there is some strange satisfaction in seeing reality proving them wrong, big time. However, for the millions who are directly affected by fuel poverty, there is no satisfaction in any of this. Sadly, I fear that, at least in Sweden, nuclear energy is the new high-speed trains, a topic that will be debated for decades, after which, “environmentalists” can use the very delay that they have caused as evidence that nuclear takes such a long time to build...

Swimming update

Nine months into the year, I thought I should give an update on how my swimming is progressing. Having set a goal of 36,000 meters this year, I am afraid that I have fallen behind quite a bit though. Despite my intention to swim a lot in the lake this summer, I ended up with barely a thousand meters of open-water swimming and now it is already way too cold in Nydalasjön for me, even with the wet-suit. As such, I have returned to Navet where I did a first swim of the season today. With a bit of luck, I will be able to return once per week on average for the remainder of the year and reach my annual goal. Though I think that indoor rowing is actually a more effective form of cross-training, the pool is much less mentally demanding, and also a nice break from the autumn cold as Sweden, unlike Germany, is still keeping its showers warm.

Valspurten

With the election looming, Runner’s World is organizing a virtual 5k race called “Valspurten”. Though I had originally planned to do this at Campus Arena with the ambition of finally breaking that 20-minute barrier, this week has enough pressure as it is with 20+ hours of lectures so, one kilometre into my usual morning run, I decided to just go for it. Having woken up to -2 degrees, the mist was hanging in the treetops as I raced along the Eastern side of the lake, ultimately finishing in just above 22 minutes which is about a minute slower than I was doing Parkrun in June.

By the time I had showered and was on my bike to work, the mist had completely cleared, and I just had to stop and take a picture. With that, time to teach some Plato.

Lilla Umemilen

Though not fully recovered from his cold, William decided that he still wanted to give it a shot and race “Lilla Umemilen”. Running with kids aged 8-9, the start was brutal with a boy dressed in a blue “IFK Umeå” shirt quickly taking the lead up the hill. To be honest, I am not sure if I would have been able to keep up with him as he finished the race in 4 minutes and 6 seconds.

46 seconds and two runners later, it was William’s turn to cross the finishing line, about half a minute slower than his time at “Lilla Blodomloppet” back in May. All in all, William was of course disappointed with not making it onto the podium but he was still happy with fourth place and eager to run another race soon.

Race plans

Exactly one year ago, I was racing the streets of Trondheim, failing to set a new marathon PR but still having one of the best running experiences of my life. And one year before that, Elin and I were running through Skuleskogen and over the slippery cliffs of Höga Kusten, completing one of the most technical courses that I have ever attempted. Today, in contrast, I am just doing two easy-paced loops around Nydalasjön.

Having finished Ultravasan 90 two weeks ago, it feels strange to not have a major race to train for. In many ways, I am at a crossroads with my running after failing with Fjällmaraton 100k for the second time but still unwilling to give up on my UTMB dreams. With the transition to “running stones” rather than ITRA-points, qualifying has also become more difficult as I need to go for specific races. Still, it would be sad to have come this far and not taking part in what is essentially the Super Bowl of trail running. 

With everything being extremely uncertain at the moment as we are moving houses, I cannot say for sure, but I am at least thinking of registering for “Umemaran” on 8 October so that I have something to look forward to before North Cornwall Ultra in mid-January 2023.

Red vest

With the black running vest that I have been using for the last three years starting to show some signs of wear and tear that have made it slightly unbalanced, I invested in a much smaller red Salomon Adv 5 to use for shorter and more supported races. This morning, as Anna and I went running around Grössjön, I decided to take it out for a test run, allowing me to take some pictures along the trail.

 

Once back home, I made American pancakes with extra everything as Anna went up to work to finish her postdoc application to the Swedish Research Council. Sadly, William has come down with a cold, putting his long-anticipated 1k race tomorrow in jeopardy. Having finished in the top five of “Lilla Blodomloppet” with a time of 4 minutes and 22 seconds when running with much older kids back in May, his chances of a win tomorrow in his own age group obviously make this particularly frustrating for him.

Scooters and pizza

Like most of Europe, Umeå also has its share of electric scooters these days. Though I somehow doubt the business case, especially considering that we can have up to seven months of snow per year, I have remained mostly agnostic about this new fad. This morning however, Justin and I got to witness an e-scooter accident on Kolbäcksbron as a man crashed and hit his knee pretty hard, making me grateful for sticking to my running shoes. After making sure that the man did not need an ambulance, Justin and I continued our run, chatting about future races and our shared dream of one day being able to run really far.

To do that, one obviously needs energy, and as such, I was happy to learn that our local café “Crosta” has invested in an Italforni pizza oven. Opting for a “spicy chevre” pizza, the result surely did not disappoint.