Saturday, 29 March 2014

Flocktjärn long run

One of the many fine traditions AIK has is to run to Flocktjärn and back, a run that is approximately 24 km long. I woke up early this morning, as usual when I'm at home and in the company of a cat that craves my attention even when I'm asleep by, say, crawling under the bed and sharpening his claws on the underside of my matress. Strange dreams had plagued my sleep, nightmares where I had to go to work on a Saturday and miss the run.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to go to work when I woke up, and I did make it to training. It was a beautiful day, which might have been one of the reasons why we were as many as 20 runners – some of us in sunglasses and shorts, no less - that met up to run to Flocktjärn. 


The route is pretty hilly, and it didn't help that we had headwind for three quarters of the way. Three. Quarters. Of. The. Way. On a route that could best be described as a circle. Gothenburg, eat your heart out. I hereby nominate Skellefteå as Sweden's real Wind City.

The pace was low, so we didn't let hills or headwind deter us. We marched on with clenched teeth, eyes watering from the dust-carrying wind, struggling to keep upright on the icy roads. We were even approached by blood-thirsty wild animals, obviously hungry for human meat.

Do you see them? Do you see the blood dripping from their jaws?

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Okay, I may have exaggerated a little bit. The wind wasn't that bad, there were only scattered patches of ice and we spent most of our time chatting. The only animals we saw were three reindeer running away from us as fast as they could, and Anja, the long-distance running cocker spaniel, who belonged to one in the group and who probably wished she could run after the reindeer.

Time flies when you're having fun, and we were back where we started before we knew it. My legs were tired but they could still carry me, which I count as good enough, especially when you think about how tired they were before we started. Another long run in the pot. I haven't run many of them lately, and it's nice to know that the knee can behave itself so that I can run more of them.

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