Tracking south

With nothing but GPX-files on our watches to guide us, me and about fifty other runners left Olofsbo camping just after midnight to take on the hundred kilometres down to Båstad. After a few kilometres on easy trails, it was time for the first water passage. Heading out on slippery stones with our headlamps, I was super careful not to fall. After being sick all Friday, I knew going in that completing the race would be nearly impossible and I also had quite a bit of stomach pain throughout, still I felt excited and happy for not just ending up as a “DNS” on the race list.

Approaching Falkenberg, the GPX-track took an unexpected turn to the left across the grass and onto an asphalt road which felt strange so I misread it and thought that there would be a trail somewhere in the forest instead, giving me plenty of nettle burns and making my legs all pricked by thorns before I was able to get back up where I should be. Then, a few kilometres later, I suddenly found myself surrounded by the nightlife of Falkenberg which always feels kind of surreal when you seem to be the only one running. Having never been to the city of Falkenberg, I must say that it looked really nice, and I made a mental note to return under different circumstances.

With the only aid station of the race being located at the halfway point in Tylösand, I spent some time trying to replenish my water bottles at Skrea Strand but the promised public showers and toilets were all locked. Luckily, I did find water a few kilometres later at Hansagård Camping. 

When entering Grimsholmen Nature Reserve, I found myself running next to a girl from Nybro called Emma, and it felt good to have company as the second and much longer water passage was coming up. Yet, wading out into the sea to where the water was less deep, we forded the river mouth of Suseån without much difficulty, and then we chatted all the way past Ugglarp and into the dawn along “Steningekusten”, making the kilometres go much faster than they would otherwise have. About 45 kilometres into the run, we were finally among “trolltallarna” in Haverdal Nature Reserve, one of my favourite spots along the coast where I even got to take Anna and the kids back in July. 

With the rain coming and going through the night, with plenty of thunder in the background, the real downpour started only a few hundred meters from the checkpoint in Tylösand, making me completely soaked and grateful for having packed a new merino running shirt and my Salomon Bonatti rain jacket in the drop bag. After a few waffles at the checkpoint, I left in high spirits, talked a bit to Anna on the phone as I walked back onto the beach, feeling excited about the remaining 48 kilometres to Båstad. Yet, deep down, I knew that my body was already beyond exhaustion, and in retrospect it would have been much better had I simply taken my drop bag and returned with the bus to Gothenburg. 

Running the ten kilometres along “Prins Bertils stig” into Halmstad, I gradually began to realize that finishing would just not be possible. With constant cramps in my stomach, and my energy levels critically low, I finally made the difficult but necessary decision to quit the race. Stumbling two hundred meters in ten minutes to the bus stop, I could also feel how cold I was, and with my eyesight almost disappearing once I got on the bus, I realized that I had pushed myself far beyond what is advisable. Getting off the bus at Stora Torg, I decided to get a room at Scandic Hallandia so that I could shower and get warm. Talking to Anna on the phone, she got extremely concerned when I could not answer simple questions, and as a true heroine, she thus jumped on the train to help me get home. 

While Anna went down to Båstad to pick up my dropbag, I took a long warm shower at the hotel, slept for maybe thirty minutes, and ate a bit, with the pain in my stomach gradually fading. And now, after sleeping eleven more hours, I am ready to go swimming with the kids. So, all in all, I got to spend a dreamlike night along the coast, learnt something about my true limits, and feel incredibly fortunate for having the best wife in the world.