Happy go lucky

In the last blog entry I wrote about how much I enjoy uphill and mountain running/hiking. Weather gods must have liked it! As an unexpected reward, I received during the past seven days beautiful sunny winter weather and five wonderful uphill and mountain running and hiking experiences.

Sunday and Monday evenings I had the pleasure of doing, for the first time in the dark, two hikes that I know very well. Sunday it was Geitanuken in Åsane in the northern part of Bergen. I really like this hill, as it offers a 360 degree view from the top, which is really rare for Bergen mountains. And Monday it was our own neighborhood hike from Nattlandsfjellet up to Nubbevannet along the ridge facing the city. Incredibly enough, I had never done this in the dark before.

As much as I enjoy hiking in the dark with a headlamp, Tuesday and Wednesday it was time to take advantage of the beautiful sunny weather and the daylight. I was lucky enough to be able to leave work early, and even luckier to have friends who could do the same to join me. Tuesday offered a 16,2 km course and a combination of hiking and running from Ulriken to Svartediket on the heights of Bergen, and Wednesday we went for a shorter version just up to Ulriken via the steepest path and down on the slightly longer path to the south. It felt incredibly good to enjoy hours of sun in the darkest time of the year!

As enjoyable as all these wonderful hikes were, the highlight of the week came Thursday evening during the regular Melkesyre training at Stoltzekleiven. This hill will never stop surprising me. Since 2001 it has given me a lot of memorable experiences and pleasures, along with a lot of pain, and it has constantly helped me to improve my form over the years. Until 2013, my best time ever up Stoltzekleiven was 17:15. In the race of 2013, after a lot of training during that fall, it rewarded me with an incredible jump to 15:58. In 2014, I managed 15:10 as my official race time, and improved it further to 15:02 later in the fall. It was in fact one of my announced goals to reach below 15:00 at Stoltzekleiven in 2014. On Thursday, 22 days overdue, it happened! I managed 14:40!!! The feeling is so amazing that I think I still haven't touched the ground yet since Thursday!

I must explain, though, that I did not do it alone. I got fantastic help from my Melkesyre friend and mentor Bjarne (whose official 2014 time is 10:22!). He was right behind me all the way up, giving me precise instructions on many things, like step length, placement of hands, how to follow the path, at the same time pushing me, albeit very gently, and most of the time telling me how great I was doing. I cannot describe how grateful I am to Bjarne for this amazing experience. It came at a very unexpected time. First of all, in the middle of winter and really off season. Secondly, I had been to muscle therapy the same afternoon, and I had been running and hiking several days in a row. In addition, as during all of the hikes described above, I was wearing spikes, which were extremely useful on the icy paths on the way down, but really not ideal on the bare rocks up the hill. There is more good news: Bjarne has pointed to several small mistakes that I am doing, and by simply correcting them I can improve my time further without necessarily improving my form.

Unfortunately I do not have a finish picture from the last Stoltzekleiven experience, but below is one from September 2014 which shows how I normally look when I reach the top (just that on Thursday it was far worse than this...)

The bottom line of this week's story is that nothing is impossible! Don't ever slow down on your goals and expectations. Plan your weeks as much as you can to take advantage of the possibilities that life offers at all times.

Seize the day!