Last month I completed Midnattsloppet, as some of you might remember. Midnattsloppet is a 10k run late evening in Stockholm (or other cities in Sweden). Preparing for that run got me into more serious training, even though this month I didn’t get the shoes on as much as I wanted to.
With me it’s like I need the first 3 to 4 kilometres to warm up. After that distance I get the feeling that I can run as long as I like – not necessarily hugely fast, but about 10k should by now always be achievable, even though I rarely make my round that long. Sometimes one is contemplating, do I take the longer round today? Or shall I take the shorter alternative? Well, I usually decide depending on what I fancy. But then, sometimes, something on the way happens that makes you going the extra mile, so to speak.

During a hot summer evening (I hate running in really hot weather) I was close to giving up and walk the last 500 metres. But then there was another runner crossing my path, seemingly boasting with energy and just whizzed past me. Effect on me? Well, I did run even the last stretch and afterwards I felt so happy that I did it! Physically it was possible, so it really is only in your head!

Today’s run went superwell, nice and relaxed, sunshine, and I had all the time in the world, no “musts” waiting to be done at home. So I decided to for the longer round straight from the start. When there was about a third of my round left, I met an old fellow being out and about with his walker, holding on to it tightly while pushing it forward. When I went past him, he took a moment to rest and shouted “Right you do, going running on such a beautiful day! Really good job!!”, smiling broadly at me, waving with one hand. I shouted back a “Thanks” and “Good job yourself to get out and enjoy this beautiful weather!” and off we went, each in our own direction. It made me laugh and glad to meet a person probably about 80 years old, getting that enthusiastic about my humble jogging round. Nice it was, and yeah, I reckon that acknowledgement did put a bit of an extra spring into my steps. Such a difference to most peeps one meets on the way, lots of which looking at one like something from a different planet approaching. OK, probably that assumption is triggered by the colour of my face matching the one of my T-shirt (red) … Anyway. Sometimes it’s small events like these that make you go the extra mile, or just a wee bit faster than you probably would have gone otherwise.

Happy Sunday! 🙂

Skogsrunda = Swedish for a jogging round in the woods.

And when I say woods, I mean woods. Because I am in Sweden, on the country side, in Grythyttan. We are surrounded by woods.

Since I enjoy this week the incredible luxury to work from home or better saying the summer house, I decided to start the week with a nice discovery jogging round. Especially since for once there was no damp, hot summer air already at 7am, but some nice, almost chilly weather outside.

I decided to find that way that we once walked with a relative and her dog. Eventually I did, after having been down to the lake first, enjoying the view. Calmness all around. And again, I mean really calm. Super unusual for any city kid. Trains, cars, motorcycles and even other human beings – you hear them all from way in advance, long before you even get a glimpse on any of them.

After running a while I stopped, listened, looked around, hearing nothing but my own breathing, a few birds and very far away the main road. Great actually that one can find ones way just by listening to the different sounds.

I met only 2 people, both out and about with their dogs. And both willing to help with advice on in which direction I should continue. There were a few possibilities to choose from, but having no idea how long the whole round actually might take me, it was good to get some extra information. It was a proper round I found out that way. No risk of ending up somewhere at the other end of the lake at least.

That is another thing. When jogging on a road or similar, I somehow have a feeling for time and distance. Today, though, all that was not there. I left with house key only this time. No watch, no mobile phone. Quite liberating actually, and especially when trying to figure out ones way through new terrain.

The result was that I came back refreshed (in fact I am still much awake now after a good full first day of office work, quite unusual after holidays for me), somewhat inspired and in an incredibly good mood.

Almost 5 kilometres I covered this morning, and since it involved some cross running and walking in the very uneven places, it took me an hour.

I posted my new round on Runalong.se, in case you are interested.

This is what I spent yesterday night with – running 5 kilometres in the Vårruset (translatet maybe “Springtime run”) in Norrköping.

My first run of this kind ever, but certainly not the last one. The 5k I managed in almost exactly 30 minutes, not bad for someone who is a bit lazy with training sometimes and only started last autumn with some more serious running.

The next step might be Mittnattsloppet in Stockholm in August – a run that starts around 10 o’clock  at night over 10 kilometres. The training goal for this summer 😉