It is a new school year. Volleyball, climbing and badminton started. New schools, new schedules and new homework routines. Still feel very Swedish when it comes to school, will I ever make the transition? Late nights and not reasonable bedtimes, packing lunches, setting alarms much too early for teenagers and moms too, answering emails, going through mail, starting a new school year at Swedish School, meetings at all three schools, running in the dark early mornings, and always wanting to do so much more. There are so many adventures waiting out there. So many mountains to climb. So many trails to run. So many laps to swim… And our house… a constant chaos…it is always a work in progress… a never ending story…

For those of you that read my posts have probably read that I have been working on my swimming. Really working, like visiting-the-pool-every-day-in-a-cap-kind-of-serious working. (Well, not really true. I always think that I should go every day but I don’t.) I can tell you all that it is a struggle, swimming is not really my “thing”. I am still working on finding my thing, my one good and fun thing to do, but I am starting to think that my thing is a mix of many things.

When it comes to my swimming, breathing is really the biggest issue. The trick is that you have to breath every now and then but when I swim I have to breath all the time. Two laps and it feels like somebody punched me. At the same time I have to move my legs, that are supposed to be straight and not bent from your knees and keep my head down under the water. And I almost forgot, moving arms, I need to move my arms too. Million things to think about. It is so much easier to go back to regular breaststrokes and frog legs. So in conclusion, I need to work on my breathing.

When I run I always hate or maybe at least dislike the first mile. My heart beats too fast and hard and I can’t seem to catch my breath. It really sounds like I have bronchitis and I seriously think I will get a heart attack every time. But after a mile I raise my chin, relax my shoulders and forget that I am actually running… and then I can breath again. So simple and without even thinking of it. It took some time to come to this point, easy breathing and forgetting everything around you. So the question is, when will my body start to cooperate and start swimming? Will I ever get to that point? Maybe some people never learn how to swim in a nice, relaxed, easy way?

When you’re in a bad mood, feel a little bit down or lost your running mojo one easy thing to do is to buy yourself a new pair of running shoes. You can never get too many runners, can you? It sure is something special to open up a brand new box… Welcome sparkling new shoes, lets go for a run! But have you ever heard of a new pair of fins, a pair of goggles or a new snorkel that make you feel like you want to throw yourself into the pool or the cold, dark lake. No no. No wonder it’s a struggle, it is not a shoe sport!

I need to be a tiny bit serious today too. I am so extremely grateful for my friends, all my friends that I meet in different circumstances and environments. Friends that I run with, tireless and very chatty morning runs in the dark, mid day runs and sometimes bike rides that usually ends with me crashing and limping back to the car. Friends that make me go to the gym every day and hear me moan and complain. Friends that I meet for happy hour, just being happy together, colleagues that are friends and all you other friends around me. Thanks all of you for all the birthday wishes, phone calls, emails, texts and hugs. I really like hugs! Thanks for enriching my life! I appreciate every single moment with you all!

Think I need a new pair of trail shoes… This is how you run if you get a pair of Salomon’s. You will run like Kilian Jornet.