I came back to Sweden 10 days ago, it has been very nice to catch up with friends and family after 9 months away. It was especially nice to meet our new family member Esther, my nice’s daughter, sooo cute! It has also been nice to come home and rest, I have slept much more than normal – well needed:-)

Yesterday was my race premier in Sweden for 2014, it was a repeat of last year. It was Långa Lugnet, the second race in the Swedish Marathon series, here in my home town Falun, it was part of the Scandinavian Outdoor Games, a very good initiative from the organisers, there are races in all kinds of different adventure and outdoor sports during the weekend. I was as nervous as last year, I had a very stressful day on a personal level the day before with my dad at the hospital and problems with a new rear derailiur, at the same time as I really wanted to do well on home soil in Falun! The start was at 1pm so there were lots of time to sit and get nervous.

The start went well but I was a bit surprised when the elite men took it easy up the first kilometer hill and carried on like that for the first 15km, it made for the whole bunch to stay together and also a lot of crashes, it was a bit nerve wracking! I saw Hanna and Emmy around me in the bunch and it was clear that it was the 3 of us that were going to be on the podium. I got a gap when the bunch finally strang out but I could not keep it up and fell back to a bunch with Hanna in and we were next to each other when we passed the venue to go out on the second loop. We were together for the first 28km when she got a small gap up a steep hill and I never caught back. I raced as hard as I could but just did not have that little extra to chase. It was a bit frustrating at some places with the men around, some of them were not so good at the technical stuff but strong on the open roads, it made it difficult to pass and also to keep the speed I wanted.

When I came to the venue to go out on to the third and last loop I could see Hanna, she was only 50 seconds ahead, I was expecting it to be more. Unfortunately my energy was starting to fade and I had nothing to speed up with. I had to settle for second again, the same as last year.

I must anyway take a few positive things with me, I was 10 minutes faster then last year on the same course (the men were a bit slower) and I was only 17 minutes behind the winnig men.

It is now time to recharge for next weekend!

It was nice to see Pronghorn there at the Expo! Thank you for my new road bike Pronghorn!!!