Mist

Waking up at 5 am after eight hours of solid sleep, I started this Sunday morning with some marking before heading down to the barque “Viking” where Elin was staying. Launched in 1906, Viking is the biggest sailing ship ever built in the Nordic countries, and she has a rich history of epic sea adventures, including taking part in the Great Grain Races from Australia to Cornwall in the years following the Second World War. However, after the construction of Älvsborgsbron in 1966, she is essentially trapped inside the harbour of Gothenburg and remains permanently moored as a hotel (though she did escape once in 2021).

Having met up with Elin, I ran up to Masthuggskyrkan which was completely covered in mist, reminding me of when Anna and I stayed at the 85th floor of the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai and saw absolutely nothing from our hotel room. From there, Elin and I continued through Slottskogen to a part of Guldheden that I have missed on my previous runs but which was absolutely lovely and, from there, we returned through Johanneberg for a total of 19 kilometres. Once back home, Strava reminded me that exactly one year has passed since I ran the 48 km version of Transgrancanaria and, seeing friends finishing the 126 km classic edition, I have to admit that I dream of one day returning for the full race.

Two weeks to Bandolerita

In two weeks, I will be out on the course in the mountains of Andalusia, taking part in the Bandolerita 80k ultra, and as such I am still trying to get as much volume as I can before I start tapering next week. However, as both Anna and Eddie woke up with colds today, we decided to skip our planned Mountains of Mölndal group run. Instead, I did 11k easy on my own while Anna went to work.

Being peak semmel-season, I picked one up from last year’s winner Steinbrenner & Nyberg to share with Eddie and to make him feel slightly less miserable. With no hope of any “semlor” on the course, I need to start thinking about my nutrition plan for the Bandolerita. Sometimes, like on Öland in 2023, this has been more of an afterthought which has left me exhausted and barely able to finish, so I know this is important, especially as the website does not say anything more than that they will have “Avituallamientos” roughly every 10k and that the race, if things go bad, may take twenty hours or more to complete.

Ice Age

Though Gothenburg sometimes goes directly from fall to spring, winter (defined as five days with an average temperature below zero) did indeed arrive ten days ago, which made it possible for people to go ice skating on Delsjön last night as I went for an extended lake loop during William’s chess class. But already this morning, the temperature was well above zero again and, with a fresh low pressure coming in from Greenland, it is forecasted to stay that way for the coming weeks. As such, this may well be all the winter we get this year in Gothenburg. Which, ignoring the climate change dimension for a moment, feels kind of good as Anna and I can now do the Mountains of Mölndal group run tomorrow in ice-free conditions. And on Sunday, I hope to meet up with Elin who is here for the Gothenburg Horse Show and do a technical trail run together.

In other news, I am as confused as everyone else about what is actually going on with regard to Trump and Ukraine. As humans, we always strive for ontological coherence even when there is none, but the best I can think of is that Trump wants to weaken Zelensky’s relative position to make him quickly agree to a peace deal. While many analysts had thought that Trump would rather be pushing Putin to the table by threatening to double-down on America's support for Ukraine, that strategy always had the risk of Putin not yielding and instead sparking global conflagration. After all, Ukraine cannot win on the battlefield and push back Russia back behind its 1991 borders without risking nuclear escalation. And as much as I feel sorry for Ukraine, ending the world is not the best way to protect its long-term interests.

A43 Coffee

With the last week of winter sunshine giving way to freezing mist, I joined Eddie for a morning workout at NW Almedal before taking tram number 4 to Avenyn and A43 Coffee which is one of the best places in Gothenburg for artisanal coffee.

Otherwise, I am spending most of today marking exams and planning my upcoming public lecture at Halmstad Teater next Tuesday. The topic of my lecture, "Can disagreement help solve the climate crisis?", builds on my long-standing interest in Machiavelli’s work on political conflictualism.

Ciao

Right now, Moldova needs all the support it can get and there are many good ways of doing that (like travelling there). However, buying the wine “Ciao” at Systembolaget is not one of them. At least, this pinot grigio had some badly needed analgesic properties after my costly visit to the dentist earlier today (making up for old sins from my days as a firefighter in the late 1990s). And the rest of the dinner was excellent with a roasted beets and grape salad, salmon, jasmine rice and feta yoghurt.

Meanwhile, Trump’s recent Versailles-style demands on Ukraine for rare earth minerals and hydrocarbons only underscore that the leaders of the world’s major superpower are now completely bereft of moral purpose. More than that, these demands are simply embarrassing, as American companies would likely have been able to exploit these resources after the war in any case but without generating such bad will. It is almost as if Trump goes out of his way to vindicate Putin’s dark, zero-sum worldview.

Grand Fitness Revisited

When my summer trial membership expired and I had my last free breakfast in August, I was almost certain that I would never return to Grand Fitness. Yet, there was something with the atmosphere (or, perhaps more accurately, the deodorizer?) that made it feel like a gym in New York so, when Nordic Wellness offered me another month of free trial membership, I gladly accepted. As such, I was back this morning for some exercise and a free smoothie. However, with the abundant winter sunshine outside, I decided to skip the treadmill and limit myself to a bit of indoor rowing and ten kilometres of stationary biking (which was just as awful as I remembered it to be).

Instead, I took my Salomon Pulsar Trail Pro 2 out for eleven faster kilometres in the afternoon which apparently was enough to impress Strava’s AI. Meanwhile, in the real world, things are finally starting to move with regard to Ukraine, the question is just in what direction. In general, as much as I understand the need to stand up against Russia, I am also not certain that freezing the present lines of contact would be such a bad thing since, with the war over, Russians may more clearly see how little that has actually been gained at such a terrible human cost. It would also leave it to Russia to rebuild (and demine) the lands that it has ravaged. 

Wild boar

To our surprise, Anna and I spotted a wild boar fifty meters down the road on our morning run. As we continued, so did the boar but after a few minutes it disappeared into the forest. Unlike in the forests of Neubrandenburg, it was alone so much less terrifying than the ground-shaking train of hundreds of wild boars that I once encountered there, yet, I am still happy that it was not William who was out jogging on his own.

Afterwards, Eddie surprised me by wanting to go to the gym for the second day in a row and, unsurprisingly, I was not difficult to persuade. Thanks to this initiative, I was able to wrap up a second week with 11+ hours of training but now I should probably stop and focus on absorbing the gains in the sunshine on the sofa ;-)

Purple dawn

With Bandolerita three weeks away and Anna having her first ultra in April, we both need all the long runs we can get so, with the kids playing “Valheim” at home, we set off shortly after seven for a half marathon in Skatås. Passing Svarttjärnen, the colours were simply otherworldly but soon the snow started falling.

Once at home, I made a Greek tray with roasted vegetables and feta for lunch. Then, Eddie boldly asserted that he wanted to do one hour (!) on the gym stair climber which would be twice his previous record time. To my surprise, he did indeed succeed with what he had set forth to do so I stopped my own workout on the elliptical in time to document him passing the one-hour mark. Meanwhile, about 850 kilometres to the north, Höga Kusten Winter Trail took place in Skuleskogen National Park with my two friends Rasmus and Madeleine winning their respective gender categories. Knowing firsthand how demanding it was to run just half of those 50k, I am deeply impressed by their achievements.  

Valentine

With my sister turning 40 today, we got to sing for her on WhatsApp and witness how much Vilgot has grown since we last saw him in November. Otherwise, Anna and I made the most of this Valentine by running around Skatås in -9 degrees under starry skies, passing lots of candy hearts at Virginsgatan before returning home to pancakes.

Though far from the waters of Portugal, I had to open a bottle of wine from Alentejo for dinner, which brought back so many memories, including from our Airbnb balcony in Ajuda exactly a year ago today.

Foxy

This week, the kids are off from school but, unlike last year, we decided to stay in Sweden and limit ourselves to taking the train up to Örebro for some aqua park fun at Gustavsvik. With six big water coasters, I was grateful for having practiced beforehand at Åbybadet, even if this definitely was one level up, with double tubes going backwards through the dark. In between the action, I was able to go for 1,000 meters of all-out breaststroke swimming in the adjacent Olympic-size pool and also fully enjoy the heated outdoor pool area which reminded me of my childhood visits to the thermal baths of Budapest.

After a full day at Gustavsvik we all crashed in bed at the newly opened Scandic just next to the railway station. In the hotel lobby, however, I discovered an irresistible red fox which would be just perfect in my Halmstad office so, on the train back to Gothenburg today, we had a new furry travel companion. And, on our morning walk to Wadköping, we bumped into Sofi so all of the family got to say hello to her and Krut as well.

County Kerry

Diving into the past of Google, I found a photo taken along the Ring of Kerry in 2007, and an even older poem about the Irish landscape by Seamus Heaney:

A rowan like a lipsticked girl.

Between the by-road and the main road

Alder trees at a wet and dripping distance

Stand off among the rushes.

There are the mud-flowers of dialect

And the immortelles of perfect pitch

And that moment when the bird sings very close

To the music of what happens.

Though my next encounter with the Atlantic will be 1,700 km further south in Andulusia, I will have Ireland just across its waters in April when Anna and I take on the Pembrokeshire Ultra. And then in August, it is time for the greatest of maritime adventures as my dad and I will sail for two days aboard the grand dame of ocean liners, the Queen Mary 2, from Hamburg to Southampton, celebrating that dad turned 75 last year. With all this (and more) in store, I am really looking forward to taking Rawls & Me along as I look back on almost twenty years of blogging.

Victoria Falls

Thanks to some creative routing, I was able to find two award tickets with Kenya Airways so now Anna and I have tickets in both directions for our big autumn trip. However, compared to the return in Air France's swanky business class, the trip down to South Africa will be quite the adventure. Not only will it be in economy class with Kenya Airways, but the flight from Nairobi to Cape Town will be aboard an Embraer 190 with a technical stop in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

As for our time in South Africa, we plan to hit the road more or less directly, as hotel prices in Cape Town are quite high and we have so much we want to see, including the Cape of Good Hope, Stellenbosch and, of course, a couple of vineyards.

Kremla

Today, I had the privilege of welcoming back my old friend Nils to our online course in Organizational communication for a two-hour guest lecture in the afternoon, covering everything from the Victorian Internet to the lack of European social media platforms. Before the lecture, I bought a “kremla” from Lilla Sur to share with Eddie and his friend in clear violation of my "no sweets" policy for February. So, instead of twenty-four days, it seems that I am failing already on the seventh day :-)

At least I started the morning with a beautiful 11k Skatås run as the stars disappeared and were replaced by sunshine that even felt warm for the first time this year. Tomorrow it is exactly one month until the start of the Bandolerita and, even if my early symptoms of shin splints have faded, I am torn between wanting to get as much aerobic stimulus as possible and not wanting to get injured.

Certificado Médico

Today, I had a first Teams-meeting with the other members of the bioenergy research project which felt incredibly inspiring. Afterwards, I submitted a grant application to the Crafoord Foundation and then took the tram into town for lunch with Anna at Jimmy & Joan's famous bagel shop on Teatergatan. Topping up with a post-lunch walk in the winter sunshine to renew our passports, we passed a house with a running track on the roof, and now I cannot wait to return for some intervals.

Then, at 2 pm, it was time for me to get my medical certificate for the Bandolerita at Intygsläkaren, something that turned out to be quite entertaining. With an AI listening to our conversation and writing up the paperwork, I had my heart and lung checked, followed by the rest of my body, leading the doctor to conclude that I was all healthy and ready to race. However, going through the details of the race, he replied: “no one should have to go through something like that”.

Shin splints

Always balancing on the edge of overtraining, my recent faster treadmill runs, including a half marathon at the gym in Halmstad, has apparently pushed my left leg into shin splints territory. As such, I decided to skip a planned second run last night and instead went for a morning swim before attending our department meeting in Halmstad. However, as a long-distance runner, it is not always easy to know when to “listen to the body” and when not to considering that running 100+ kilometres is always going to involve a certain measure of pain.

With the campus flags at half-staff, much of today has been in the shadow of yesterday’s heinous attack in Örebro. With the death toll now standing at 11, it is the worst mass shooting in Sweden’s history.

On a brighter note, the department meeting turned out to be exceptionally inspirational and my afternoon statistic class also went well. As for the latter, I found the following heart-warming words in the preface of one of the theses that I supervised in the fall: “We would like to start by thanking our supervisor Rasmus Karlsson, who supported and guided us during the thesis when SPSS felt most difficult”. Considering how much stress I have felt myself over relearning statistics after twenty years, I cannot think of a better reward.

Västhaga

As people all over Sweden, I was shocked to learn about the mass shooting that took place in Örebro yesterday and which has left more than ten people dead and many more injured. Happening close to where I used to live for four years, and right where I passed through on a beautiful spring morning run, it is as incomprehensible as these things always are.

Signed up

Though we still do not have a plane ticket to South Africa (but only the return with Air France), Anna and I just signed up for the Cape Town Marathon on 19 October. Being her first road marathon, I am very much looking forward to experiencing the running culture of South Africa which I have read so much about, not the least in Adharanand Finn’s excellent books. And considering that we started the year by running in Tromsø, 2025 will certainly be a year of geographical spread.  

This morning, Anna and I were able to go for a 16k run while the boys were playing their computer games. Finishing at Tony’s Coffee Bar on Skånegatan, we hope to keep this routine of longer weekend runs as Anna keeps preparing for her first ultra in Wales in April.