Goodbye 2021 – Kingstedt

”In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” -Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln reminds us all that you need make sure that life is not just about reminiscing (or thinking about things to come), but also to actually live. To strive for happiness. With the passing of my dad Sölve in January and with the accelerated illness of my mother Kay, optimizing life becomes even more important. Nearing retirement adds to this ”sense of urgency”, if you will. Lately, I’ve started to receive questions like ”when are you going to retire?” or just friendly (?) reminders like ”you’re soon eligible for retirement” (as if I didn’t know this…!). I don’t know if these friendly questions/reminders are just that, friendly, or perhaps a passive-aggressive way of saying ”Shouldn’t you retire now?”. Who knows? Anyway. It’s been an interesting year, not entirely spent in (Covid-19) isolation. Here are some highlights from my (narrow) perspective.

Travels

Yes. We managed to squeeze in some journeys, in spite of the restrictions. The two vaccine shots helped obviously (just received our third shots, Monica and I). And the EU vaccine pass – way to go EU!

So. In July we headed for Sivota, Greece, for a week of laziness mixed with extensive workouts (obviously). The Apollo Playitas Resort met our fairly high expectations. But Monica (rightfully) complained about the lack of good running opps. Beside that flaw, the resort really shined in the availability of training facilities – tennis/basketball courts, padel courts, indoor gym, a plethora of classes, road and trail bikes, SUP:s, kayaks – all for free! The close proximity to water made the 35-40 (on the celcius scale) temps bearable.

The mandatory post gym and evening beer outside our quarters…

Monica’s negotiating the river Styx during an amazing excursion (the only one we made), where we wandered and swam in the cold and crystal clear waters of the river for two hours…

View from the Hotel overlooking the closest island, accessible by crossing a shallow strait between the mainland and the island

While exploring the nearby islands in a two seater kayak, I learned that Monica suffers from a – I believe – rare disease: Fear of Caves. As soon as we came near any of the many caves Monica started to back paddle like crazy, shouting ”don’t go further in!!”. Who’d have known?

In August, Otto and I took off for the 4th World Deaf Athletics Championships WDAC, held in Lublin, Poland between the 23rd and 28th. Otto’s main rivals were expected to be (and also turned out to be) the Kenyan contingent. The other less negotiable opponent would turn out to be inclement weather; it was sunny and warm the weekend we arrived in Lublin, but on the first day of the meet it started to rain. Or, rather, pour. Out of the five days of the championships, it didn’t rain just one day.

Otto did great, placing second at 10 000 meters in a race that probably would have earned him a PR in better conditions (time: 29.47,31, less than 3 secs after the winner, the super friendly Kenyan runner Symon Cherono). Otto was a little bit fatigued in the 5000 meters race (just two days efter the 10 K), but still managed to capture a bronze with a time of 14.31,50. Great going Otto. Lublin? Wonderful city – highly recommended.

Wet and happy 10 000 meters runners post the race

Otto quickly became a favorite of the Kenyan team! Pic from the 10 000 meters prize ceremony

Team Sweden celebrating the success of the championship, with Theo taking gold in the javelin event in addition to Otto’s silver and bronze. In the pic is also Ralph of the Netherlands. A small but really successful team – good job!

Our final journey of 2021 took us to Mallorca. It’s been on our bucket list for a long time. Visiting the balearic island in November has its advantages but also some disadvantages, rain being one of these. But the lack of tourists made for a great short (five days) vacation break. We stayed in beautiful Soller and spent the last night in Palma. Would love to go back.

Highlights: the hike / run (well…) up to a nearby mountain top. Going up was strenuous but OK. Going down was…horrific (mostly for yours truly and because of the damn knees’ less than workable condition). Last stretch on the descend was done going sideways – must have looked really bizarre for the poor folks going up that we met …Running to Soller’s port sister town, visiting Alcudia and ending up in a Michelin restaurant on the last evening of our stay constituted other memorable events.

Trail map – we obviously opted for the toughest (and longest) trail, leading up to the mountain lake shown on the right hand part of the map…

Half way up, overlooking Soller in the background. The old fart still in reasonable good condition…

Enjoying al fresco dining after having jogged from Soller to Port de Soller

…and we of course took a stroll (jog) around Palma to get acquainted with the surroundings.

Miscellaneous

Yes. It’s been a tough year. I’m still working as the CEO for an IT consultancy (Mjukvarukraft). Still waiting for my peers to discover what a fool I really am and how surface thin my actual IT knowledge really is…Still. Just a few years to go now. Maybe I can get away with my life long scam?

Outside the job, most of our spare time revolves around two important elements:

1 – Nancy, our only grand child. She never stops to amaze us. Of late, she’s been assuming new personas, almost on a daily basis. She’ll appear as Pippi Longstocking, a Unicorn, a Cowboy, a Frozen character, Britt (long story…), a cat…the list goes on. She so much fun.

2 – Workouts, in different shapes and forms. My knees aren’t longer cooperating. Neither my lungs. Or the ole’ ticker. So the running form is beyond bad…But I’ve learned to appreciate other forms of getting tired. Bought ourselves a SkiErg (Google it..). Doing interval sessions at the gym, alternating between the Assault bike, SkiErg and the rowing machine. And knees allowing, sometimes I manage to do short (30 s) intervals on the treadmill. The rest of the family though – wow. It’s been a great year. How about this:

Monica: dominated the W60 age category at the Swedish XC champs this year finishing way ahead of the pack. At the Lidingoloppet, she crushed the rest of the W60 runners, winning the tough 10 K no less than 4 minutes before the second finisher, just some seconds above the course record. Prediction (my): Monica will keep on dominating the W60 age category. Who knows, maybe even be back in sub 40 minutes 10 K form?
Otto: in addition to the WDAC success, Otto also managed to place 5th at the Lidingoloppet 30 K (men’s category) in 1.41. Otto also set new WR’s for the deaf twice at 10 K road. The best time set in Germany (sub 30 minutes) in conjunction with Saucony’s world launch event. On the track, Otto did some consistent racing without besting any of the previous PR’s. Oh yes, Otto also made his debut at the Marathon distance, running 2.20 in horrible conditions in Dresden in March. Prediction (my): PR’s across the board next year.
John: A good year for John, in spite of some injury issues. PR’s at 5000 m (14.12) and 10 000 m (29.46). Especially John’s terrific race at the Swedish T&F champs (10 000 meters) stands out. And excellent racing at the Swedish XC champs at both distances (4 and 10 K). Prediction (my): PR’s across the board next year.

Here are some pics to illustrate the 2021: