San Fransicko

It is 7 am on the day after this monumental election and, by now, it is all but certain that Donald Trump will win the presidency for a second time. If not before, this should warrant some serious soul searching among progressives about what has gone wrong. Though some will keep insisting that it is all due to the spreading of “fake news”, Ruy Teixeira published a very insightful piece on Substack a few weeks ago entitled “The Progressive Moment is Over”. While I may not agree with everything that Teixeira writes, I share much of his analysis.

Likewise, Svenska Dagbladet has picked up Michael Shellenberger’s book San Fransicko, seeing that democratic cities have become screeching symbols of government failure and lawlessness. From my latest visit to San Francisco in 2023, I was surprised by how rapid the decline had been over just a few years.

While a Harris victory could potentially have triggered a civil war, the prospects for American democracy under Trump look bleak indeed. As in 2017, the future of the republic very much hangs in the balance, and with no John McCain or Mitt Romney in the Senate, there will be very little holding Trump back this time around.

Staropramen

In Prague, our Airbnb was located just a block from the Staropramen brewery. Going for our morning runs, it felt pretty cool to pass the street sign “Pivovarská” and the overpass above, reminding me of seemingly simpler times. Now, as I am making a French-Italian potato gratin with chicken for dinner, I am thinking that it will take a lot of comfort food just to make it through the coming week with the US presidential election on Tuesday.

Water slides

As an adult, it’s all too easy to get stuck in one’s comfort zone. Three weeks ago, our family was in Mölndal at the new Åby swimming hall, which has some pretty wild water slides. The kids, of course, challenged me to join them on a raft but I was too much of a chicken to immediately accept, even though I knew deep down that I should have. After all, sharing these kinds of moments is one of the best parts of being a parent.

Returning today, I got some mental coaching from my dear wife, and soon enough, I found myself going down those 130 meters - to the delight of Eddie and William. As is often the case, my doubts seemed pretty silly in hindsight. Still, it was a good reminder of the importance of remaining open to new challenges.

As for that, Kullamannen is happening this weekend, with several friends from Strava running. Having sold my own registration for the 100k race, I am still tempted to one day give the full 100-mile version a shot, but I will not commit to any longer races until I have finished the Bandolerita in March.

The Tiber

Google Photos just reminded me that two years ago today, I was out running along the Tiber in the afternoon sunshine. Waking up to dark stormy skies, my morning run out to the airport in Halmstad certainly had a different feel to it but that is also very much the charm of all-year running, to fully embrace the seasons and the elements.

With track work along the West Coast this week, it made little sense to head back to Gothenburg to sleep for a few hours before going back so instead I decided to book a hotel in Halmstad and wake up refreshed to a full day of seminars on the different social insurance regimes in Europe.