On this historic day not only did I actually make it to Eksjö but I also started and finished Ränneslättsturen, the most technical långlopp I will do this year. The start went fast and people were just flying along the grusväg and I was trying my best to keep up. I felt bad and was not terribly fast but I made it through Sträcka 2 without too much trouble despite constant noise from the jävla vevparti. Food stop #1 with the first Squeezy gel. I didn't drink so much which was stupid but I did from there on.

Sträcka 3 was the worst for me but I felt okay after the food. The singletrack at Bastabergen was so jobbig och dryg that I will officially call it Ica Stig. It got better after that but it seemed to take a long time before Food Stop #2 and just before that was quite tragic because someone had a heartattack. They got it going again but us gubbar need to watch.

While I was drinking and enjoying the break and another Squeezy gel, Kristina and Bernt rolled up. I knew they would catch up because I was useless. And they left before I finished my gel so I had to battle my way to catch up to them. Like it says in the banbeskrivning the next part was their training course and it was so jävla rolig with those up and down parts. It reminded me a lot of Mörksuggan although the one there is better.

I could see that Kristina was having it tough and it got worse since hip troubles made the last 30km horrible. But she finished as the hero of the day! Anyway, I felt great so at the point just before the tunnel under the road I said 'you guys will likely catch up again later' and I made my attach. That was a good section for this since it was easy and flat so I could fly. And again with 25km left there was a road section so I could again take off.

By the time I reached the Skidstugan part my cramp monster was growing in my knee and that 2.9km section was pretty crappy. The 'hills' were not really bad and I was always on the middle klingan but just that section was tougher. Food stop #3 was taken quite fast since I didn't want anyone to catch up. New Squeezy gel and a full bottle of Enervit for the last 19km.

Sträcka 6 was fairly nice and I kept a steady pace but there was one hill I had to get rid of someone I had been following for too long. Something I have been training is to keep going after a long hill since most take a break and slow down. So my first try worked so well that he was gone...very gone behind me. This is the point when I usually get confused with the signs because I was not sure if the sign I saw was 15km or 10km. Turns out it was 10km which is good because I was in the process of flying and took any chance I could to pass since those around looked rather dead. I was not exactly full of energy either and my stomach was starting the cramp game but at the 5km sign it was time.

You will know from the past that I go all in during the last 5km because there is nothing to lose. But this was a nasty 5km. From 5-4km I passed 3 people and made another of those uphill passes. 4-3km was pretty bad overall so I just tried to keep moving. Somewhere in 3-2km I passed one more guy on an uphill and had a nice lead but from 2-1km he was behind me. I did not want any spurt because I had been killing myself so I had to choice but to get my lead before.

I was on fire at this point and did actually lose him before the trail ended and it was just a smalö road up to the start area. I looked back and saw that he was nowhere but decided, fan, why stop now. Spurt the whole freakin way around the finish area and flying across the line. Then I was dead.

The results are up now and it seems this took me 4:51:35 which is progress. Under 5 hours would have been my goal if not for the bad luck associated with this race. When I think about 2009 Billingeracet which took 5:22:54 for the same length, this feels like quite an improvement.

After a crappy start, this was one of my best långlopp in terms of how I felt and how I arranged the energy. And since everything else I do will be less technical, you can't ask for better training. So I am more than satisfied!

You can write your own race report under the comments if you want. It would be nice to hear how it went for the rest of you...