Boardwalks and planks

From Austin to Malmö, there is something about running on wooden boardwalks – the sound, the slight give underfoot, and the sense of being suspended between water and land. Passing Pöl Harbour, I stopped for 3 × 60 seconds of planking before continuing up to Gamlestaden and Storeberget. While perhaps not quite the Griffith Observatory, the views over Gothenburg were not bad at all, and I was reminded of how much I have come to appreciate living here.

Returning home to the kids, I found that William had emptied the dishwasher, a small act of thoughtfulness that meant more than he probably realizes. With the exams piling up in Blackboard, I then grabbed a bowl of Greek yoghurt and blueberries and settled in for a Sunday of marking.

Szalay

My original plan for this week was to repeat one of the hundred-kilometre weeks of January, which would still be on the low side considering that I have a 132-kilometre ultra coming up in five weeks' time. But, being alone with the kids, I will struggle to even make it to eighty. Hopefully, I will be up with the sunrise tomorrow and ready for a long run.

Before that, I keep turning the pages of David Szalay’s Flesh, a novel that someone likened to a night train, where with each chapter the main character is older and in a new place, in medias res. A bit like Rawls & Me if you jump between the years. Following Stockholm Marathon on Strava, I realize that seven years have passed since I last ran it myself. Looking at the familiar route, I remember the completely unexpected tears when someone in the crowd shouted “Go, Dad!” and the feeling of crossing the finish line at Stockholm Stadion just short of my goal of 3 hours and 45 minutes. Like the protagonist István, one somehow ends up in a different chapter before noticing how much time has passed.

Eden

Over the years, this blog has seen many Edens, from my PhD studies in Lund to Steinbeck country. Tonight, I am thrown a world away to South Australia and the cool-climate wine region of Eden Valley, famous for its mineral-driven take on the Riesling grape, as Systembolaget currently carries a new wine called “Vickery” that I can wholeheartedly recommend.

Otherwise, one may be forgiven for thinking that I had been to Austria rather than Australia on my trail run as I passed lots of red and white waymarks while exploring a newly marked-out trail between Sörlyckan and Bertilson’s cabin this morning. Again, I feel so incredibly fortunate to be able to shift my work around so that I can go for these longer runs and make the most of these luminous early summer days.

Bridges and piers

Someone said that if a bridge requires a lifetime of one-sided construction, it was never a bridge to begin with – it was a pier. With those words on my mind, I look out over Västgötaslätten from the upper deck of train 167 as I head back to Gothenburg after a brief reprieve from my rapidly changing life circumstances.

In thirteen days, I am off to Naples for a conference themed “Abundance or Sufficiency? The Left’s Diverging Paths in the Green Transition”, which I am very much looking forward to. Before that, however, there will be another mad round of grading in the days leading up to the graduation ceremony in Halmstad on 5 June.

Et sola gratia

Halland

Wrapping up the last lecture of the spring semester, I jumped on a green electric scooter and took my Asics Novablasts out for eleven kilometres along the coast of Halland. A part of Sweden that was nearly unknown to me until 2023, Halland has definitely grown on me since, as its liminal character brings together childhood memories of Skåne, the openness of the western sea, and that windy Road 25 leading back to Kalmar.

But, like an old ghost from Kenmare, aesthetics again proved insufficient, and maybe that is ultimately for the better. It is just that it really is back to square one, to have been weighed only to be found insufficient – divides that no words can bridge. Sola fide.

Tomorrow, I am off to Örebro and the great forests of Bergslagen, renewing my faith in what truly matters, as time really does lend perspective on limerence and other things. The other day, I read Emma Engdahl’s new book, Lektioner i kärlek, and it is a book I plan to keep.

The Blue Line

For the second time in my life, I got to follow the blue line around Gothenburg. Unlike in Italy, where I was aiming for a new PR, or in 2024, when I was running next to Anna, I had no goal at all today except to make the most of my free race entry and fully embrace the party that is Göteborgsvarvet.

Running with 55,000 other people means that pacing for the first few kilometres is not really up to you anyway, but after three kilometres, I was able to dip below five minutes per kilometre and sustain that pace for most of the race. Passing Älvsborgsbron, it started raining but, unlike two days ago, it was not dramatic at all, and by the time we reached Vasagatan, the sun had returned.

Finishing in exactly 1 hour and 45 minutes, I was ten minutes short of my PR, but super happy with my even pacing and controlled effort. At no point did I feel dizzy or overextended, and at 47, I think I should be happy about finishing among the fastest 15% of runners.

Collage

After my original plans to check out Kol & Cocktails in Helsingborg fell through, I decided to spend this month’s American Express dining benefit at Collage right here in Gothenburg. Joined by Anna, who deserved a dinner out more than most after spending eight hours in front of Zoom supervising students, we were free to choose anything we wanted from the regular menu, which in our case meant entrecôte with red wine barigoule sauce, served with French fries and Collage’s foamed béarnaise sauce, to which I ordered a glass of Château de Rochemorin and Anna a Kronenbourg lager at our own expense.

Made from a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, my wine was a full-bodied red with firm tannins, something which foxes are well known to appreciate.

For dessert, Anna picked a fascinating rhubarb creation while I stuck to tradition and Crème Brûlée. With still more than an hour left before William would finish his chess class, we took the elevator up to Heaven 23 for their special anniversary cocktail celebrating 25 years high above the Gothenburg skyline.

Balmoral

Taking the ferry over to Lindholmen for some gym time together, William and I got to see the 217-metre-long Balmoral anchored at Amerikaskjulet, and also Hotel Draken in all its grandeur. After working out, we continued on foot to Sannegårdshamnen for a futurism-heavy stop at the same bakery where we usually take a break when I run my harbour half marathons.

Having consumed his fair share of science fiction lore and dystopias, it is both fascinating and slightly unsettling to listen to William talk about artificial intelligence and humanity’s future. Drawing on the “Dark Forest” idea from Chinese science fiction, he wondered whether an advanced extraterrestrial civilization might see humanity as uniquely dangerous once AI reaches a point where it can begin developing beyond our control.

Considering that his teacher apparently did not even know what the word “dystopia” meant, I sometimes feel sorry for William for having to wrestle with thoughts so different from those of his peers. Heck, they are far beyond the imagination of many professors of sustainability, who often seem to have remarkably little to say about the larger trajectory of human civilization.

Tapiz

Long before Gothenburg woke up, I attempted some fasted cardio – running through the loveliest sun-sprinkled mist before breakfast, aiming to improve my body's ability to burn fat rather than carbohydrates for energy. With the world’s largest half marathon, Göteborgsvarvet, coming up on Saturday, I will probably skip my planned midweek long run and focus on shorter sessions and some additional strength training.

The rest of today was spent supervising students online and working on a grant application for the Swedish Research Council, though somehow I still managed to have a surprisingly good lunch with Anna at the railway station. Once she and the kids got back from their TBE shots in the afternoon, I made Risotto alla Milanese with salmon for dinner, served with a blend of Chardonnay and Viognier from the mountains of western Argentina – a wine that has recently become part of Systembolaget's regular selection.

Knowing for certain that Anna and William will be moving to Västerås later in the summer, it feels good for all of us to be together for a few days.