End of the marathon

In the 2021 feature film about his successful attempt to break the two-hour barrier, Eliud Kipchoge talks about pain in running and "the joy at the end of the marathon". I cannot think of a better illustration of the latter than this photo of Petra and me as she was approaching the finishing line of her first marathon race last Saturday in Jönköping.

Today, I am in Halmstad for my first lecture of the semester. After spending a few months preparing, it feels great to finally be back in the classroom and kicking off this highly unusual semester.

First day at work

Today is my first official day at work as Associate Professor at the School of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences (LHS) at Halmstad University. Having taken an early morning train through the rain, the sky cleared up by the time I got to campus, and I will now spend the rest of the day making the last preparations for my classes that are starting tomorrow.

Though Petra was less lucky and had to spend all night on a delayed train to get back to Umeå, I made it back already around noon yesterday, in time to eat a delicious pizza, show off my medal, and take William to his first fencing class which he absolutely loved.

Jönköping Marathon

In October last year, I persuaded Petra to go for a marathon-distance training run, stopping at different Circle-K gas stations for coffee and cinnamon buns along the way. Running 14 km longer than she had ever done before, she finished strong and eager to take on a real marathon race. Yesterday, she did just that, along the southern shore of the lake “Vättern” as we both took part in Jönköping Marathon.

With severe weather warnings in effect, we set off in rain on the white Munksjöbron together with thousands of other runners, first heading east towards Huskvarna before turning back along the beach into Jönköping. Though less hilly than previous years, the course still came with 531 meters of elevation gain and a few sections on muddy trails which felt a bit unusual for a road marathon.

At 32 kilometres, we stopped to take a photo, and with Petra's parents cheering on, she finished in high spirits, even sprinting the last hundred meters down Munksjöbron where we had started the race 4 hours and 41 minutes earlier. With Jönköping Marathon in the books, I now plan to take two easy weeks leading up to Tallinn Marathon on the 10th of September.

Neighbourhood

Having lived almost two months in Gothenburg, I figured I have not posted any pictures of our new house. Built in the mid-1960’s, the house is one of three brutalist residential houses that truly stand out in the surrounding neighbourhood, a bit like the Barbican Estate does in London.

A bit further along Danska Vägen, almost opposite to Lejonet & Björnen, is Café 77 where Anna and I had lunch yesterday, and about two kilometres from our doorstep, the large green swaths of Skatås and Delsjön await.

 

With bus 60 taking me to Gothenburg railway station every morning in about ten minutes, commuting from here is super convenient. Though our current contract expires at the end of May next year, it feels like we have already made this part of Gothenburg our home with William’s school being literally next door. As such, we will try our best to stay in the area going forward.

South Pole

As India succeeds with its landing on the lunar south pole, I am reading up on statistical methods that I used to master two decades ago (but have done my best to unlearn since).

Waking up already before 4 am this morning, I took the train down to Halmstad for a meeting with my new head of department followed by 8k on the treadmill before lunch. Now already on the train back home, I am thinking that I will be able to make good use of the time aboard as every seat has its own power socket and there is 4G/5G reception along almost all of the line. With the train once again running all the way between Halmstad and Gothenburg, the commute also becomes much less of a hassle.

Done marking

A moment ago, I submitted the final batch of grades to the Umeå Ladok system, effectively completing my last task as a university employee after nine years at the Department of Political Science. In six days from now, I will officially start my new job as Associate Professor at Halmstad University, but I am already busy preparing slides and teaching activities for, what I expect will be, one of my most demanding semesters ever.

Otherwise, I spent an hour yesterday morning with my PT at Nordic Wellness Järntorget which left me feeling incredibly sore yet thrilled to have a large set of new exercises for the autumn as I prepare for my upcoming ultra races. Today, however, it is Anna’s birthday and we plan to celebrate with a chickpea curry from Kerala and strawberries.

Next weekend

Next weekend, I will be in Jönköping with Petra for her first ever marathon race. Considering that Tallinn Marathon is only two weeks later, I will try to keep my heart rate low and focus on the social aspects of the race rather than my own time.

Making pancakes with blueberries, I can look back on a super inspiring kick-off event at Riviera Hotel in Båstad with my new colleagues at Halmstad University. By coincidence, it was the very same hotel where the department of political science in Lund had its kick-off in 2004 when I had just been admitted as a PhD student, so, full circle.

3x Halmstad morning

Strandspring deluxe

Leaving my laptop behind, I took bus 350 up to Haverdal Nature Reserve known for its “trolltallar” and tall sand dunes. 

Running south along the beach, I got a bit of that TKN-feeling even as the salt in the air made it perfectly clear that I was not running along the shores of the Baltic.

Once in Tylösand, I stopped for a sports drink before following “Prins Bertils stig” back to Halmstad. Though a few months late for the rhododendron, I passed through a lot of rose hip, which for some reason always reminds me of my early childhood. Now at the hotel, I will spend the evening preparing my upcoming lectures.

Jimmy & Joan’s

Once on a transatlantic crossing, I read about a NYC-style bagel place in the SAS onboard magazine and, half a decade later, I finally got to check it out on Teatergatan 22 here in Gothenburg. Though bagels for me personally will always be more about London and Brick Lane, it was still perfect after almost killing myself on the treadmill at Nordic Wellness Järntorget. Clearly the nicest of the NW gyms I have been to so far, I also got to wrap up this month’s 25k of indoor rowing and sitting down for a 30-minute PT consultation to go over my training goals.

Opting for “The Classic” bagel with salmon, scallion, cream cheese, capers, red onions and tomatoes, I can wholeheartedly recommend Jimmy & Joan’s even if it was a bit on the pricey side.

Gearing up

With two weeks left until my classes begin, I had hoped for a full day at work but apparently “fritids” had other plans as they turned out to be closed today. Thus, between a visit to the dentist and a flooded basement, I was only able to spend a couple of hours planning my lectures and ordering the last books. Later in the afternoon, all of the family went up to Delsjön for a swim and, again, William impressed us, this time by swimming several hundred meters in one go.

Once back home, I made chicken with chanterelles and pancetta, served with the leftover wine from last week’s train adventure, and felt that this autumn is truly make it or break it as I will be teaching everything from quantitative methodology to French democratic theorists, all while finally trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Unfortunately, for the moment, the trains here on the West Coast are in complete disarray with rail replacement services also between Varberg and Kungsbacka, meaning that I will try to limit the number of times that I travel until I formally start my new position on 28 August.

Night Ryde

In the end, the high-speed service from Stockholm was five hours late when it finally arrived at the railway station in Gothenburg. Well past all public transport, I jumped on a Ryde e-scooter with my Muji carry-on bag and backpack (which was kind of crazy), ultimately getting home at 02:20 a.m. Thus, I have been taking it a bit slow today, doing the laundry, and coming up with a title for a paper, “The Ecomodernist case against epistocracy”, which would sort of be a reply to Jason Brennan.

While Eddie has already started his “fritids” or holiday club as the Brits would say, William is still at home until Monday so, between the washing machines, he joined me for 2x5 kilometres. Given how low I am on sleep though, I will save any longer runs for the weekend.

The golden goose that just keeps giving

This trip. Now into its third day, I am currently about 60 km south of Stockholm with an estimated arrival time to Gothenburg well past midnight. Travelling alone, with double points in the bistro, it would be wrong to complain, especially as we just stopped in Järna to pick up passengers from an earlier train who had been waiting five hours in the middle of nowhere, but let’s just say that this trip turned out quite different from how I planned it.

In addition to the Italian wine, I at least have some cute company here in the first-class coach, all reminding me of the wild winter of 2009 when I spent many hours trying to get from Gothenburg to Lund with limited success but with lots of free food and time to work. These days, SJ has reduced their maximum compensation rate from 100% to 50% but with their new policy of reimbursing alternative travel arrangements up to 3,000 SEK for cancelled night trains, I think the trip will nevertheless end up as net positive.

Älvtået

When Anna and I first moved to Umeå in 2014, there was an absolutely lovely café and “ekokrog” called “Älvtåets Gröna”, located a few kilometres upstream along the Ume River that was the kind of place that we would always take any visitors to. However, with its comfy hammocks in the garden and artisanal coffee, it quickly became a victim of its own success with super-long lines on the weekends and an overwhelming workload for the owners, forcing them to eventually close it down and instead focus on events and catering.

Yesterday, after SJ cancelled my return trip as well, I suddenly found myself having a night in Umeå which I spent over tapas with Petra. This morning, we met up again for a run along the river, passing Älvtåets Gröna, which made me feel immensely sentimental.

3x Umeå

Hans

In the end, the storm "Hans" managed to screw up my travel plans after flooding washed away the railway track near Hudiksvall and trees fell on the alternative inland track. With my night train to Umeå cancelled, I was scrambling for options as SAS has a reduced domestic traffic programme over the summer months. Ultimately, I found a connection with the high-speed train to Stockholm and a morning flight with Norwegian, giving me one night in a hotel in Stockholm. Being me, I would of course not let such an opportunity pass so, shortly after 4 am, I laced up my Cliftons and went for a lovely morning run and now I am already at Joe & Juice in the terminal formerly known as Terminal 4.

With the storm having moved west, the sky is all clear right now and the sun is slowly rising. Hopefully, I will be in Umeå in time for a River Run with Elin before meeting Kalle and my co-supervisor Magnus. The big question then is if my night train tonight will be cancelled as well or if I will indeed make it back to Gothenburg as planned.

Tretorn

Far from the white romance of Dunkers Kulturhus, the reality for the workers making rubber boots and rain jackets for Tretorn a hundred years ago was quite brutal with lots of toxic chemicals etc. Today, the production has long left Helsingborg for China and I do not know what I should think about the ethics of my Wings Rainjacket, more than that it is keeping me dry on this rather wet and windy Monday morning.

The label says "Born out of Scandinavian weather" and it seems kind of fitting as I take the rail replacement service for my first ever commute to Halmstad. Getting into campus shortly after 8 am, I was able to pick up a Dell Latitude 7440 and an iPhone SE that will be my new work computer and phone respectively.

I was also able to locate about twenty boxes with books that have made their way from Umeå even as I still have to find out where my future office will be. As of now, I am already on my way back to Gothenburg while the storm “Hans” rages on outside the train window.

Real bad lookin'

With the rain starting to fall, I made my new signature dish, mango salmon Kerala-style, today slightly less spicy but with fresh cilantro and lots of ripe mango. Though I normally consider myself a “terroiriste” (despite all my universalist inclinations), in this case, I must say that the hyper-rationalist Gothenburg-based company “Wine Mechanics” has nailed it with their Chenin Blanc, sold for a limited time only by Systembolaget in a can (of course).

The calm before the storm

Despite a red weather advisory and expectations of a 50-year flood, the sky was still all blue this morning as I took the kids out for a 10k morning run/ride along Bohusleden.

Tomorrow morning, I expect conditions to be quite different as I head down to Halmstad for a first day at work. With the railway between Mölndal and Gothenburg Central Station still being repaired, I will have to take a rail replacement service for the first part of my journey, giving me a total travel time door-to-door of more than two hours each way.

For my run this morning, I pulled out my Salomon Ultra S/Lab 3 from the wardrobe, a pair of shoes that I have not used since Tjörnarparen 100k back in February. Running in the shoes, I was immediately thrown back to the wild forests, extinct volcanoes of central Skåne and a race that I will definitely attempt again next year. Having just wrapped up a week with 110 km of running, I am back to doing higher volumes again, and with no less than four races scheduled this fall, I will hopefully be ready to finally complete a 100k race in February.

The places we’ve swum

Though no longer a Monocle subscriber, I could not stay away from their “Swim & Sun” guide when it was published earlier this summer. From Fanore Beach to Rügen, I have so many fond memories of diving into the blue and, hopefully, I will be able to add a few more memorable swims before the year is out.

Making Korean chicken with home-grown sprouts for dinner, I am surprised by how well I have already recovered from yesterday’s run on Vildmarksleden. Clearly, trail running is so much better for your body than road running, even if it goes on for many more hours. Having done Vildmarksleden, my next challenge is Gotaleden which is 75 km long with about 1,500 meters of climb. With a bit of luck, I will be able to run it with Justin who has recently moved to Alingsås which happens to be one of the endpoints on the route (the other is right here in central Gothenburg).

Tall Tales

Vildmarksleden

After a first attempt with Eddie in early July, it was finally time for me to take on the whole 40 kilometres long “Vildmarksleden”, going from Skatås here in Gothenburg to the railway station in Hindås. Already after a few kilometres, a relatively steep climb up Getryggen began but I was soon rewarded with great views overlooking the city and Karlatornet which is currently under construction. When finished, it will be the tallest building in Scandinavia at 246 metres.

After another eight or so kilometres, I was at Kåssjön and it was here that things started to go wrong. In retrospect, it is unbelievable, but somehow, I was able to make a few wrong turns, and head back the way I came for several kilometres without noticing. In the end, I added about five bonus kilometres until I was back where I was supposed to be, leaving Gotaleden behind and continuing towards the east on Vildmarksleden. 

Anyhow, unlike when I took a wrong turn at Fjällmaraton 100k last year and had to do a thousand meters of extra climbing, I was soon on my way, passing through beautiful forests and some fairly technical trails. When my water was running low, I was given some by a kind family in a red house, and my two Maurten gels really made all the difference to keep me motivated and happy.

As I was approaching the endpoint in Hindås, I passed over a bridge that made me think of the White Bridge at the end of Western States. Unlike on Öland, I felt strong when turning off my watch, and I would definitely had been able to continue for much longer if I had brought more nutrition along. But for today, seeing the station house in Hindås felt almost like getting a medal and, in no time at all, I was back in Gothenburg with the express bus.