Midnight run Stockholm 2011

Very nice midnight run yesterday. Paul ran on 50:35min and Elena on 59:34min.

 

Antalya, Turkey

Vacation in Antalya, Turkey with Irisha and Gesha at the very nice Kremlin Palace.

Degin party in Göteborg

This weekend we spent with friends in Göteborg - the annual party with Svenska tipsakademien Degin.

Midnattsloppet 2010

Yesterday we ran Midnattsloppet - a 10km running race - at Södermalm in Stockholm in warm (24 degrees) and humid conditions, togheter with over 20 000 other runners. We finnished at 52:05 and 59:52min.

Prague

This week, Paul has been on a nice conference in Software Engineering (CompArch) in Prague. On the Friday, Elena, Elin and Alexander joined to spend the midsummer weekend (until Monday) in Prague. We had a big appartment in central Prage. From there we made excursions to the castle, old town square, zoo, etc.

Pictures here.

Göteborgsvarvet

This weekend, we went to Linöping, and then to Gothenburg, on the Swedish west coast, to run the world's biggest half marathon. It turned out to be a very difficult race this year. The weather switched from Swedish spring to high summer - 25 degres and very sunny, which resulted in many exhausted runners dropping out of the race. Both Elena and Paul run out of forces after 13km and had to run the final 8km on pure will-power. Dispite this, we both completed the race. Paul in 2:00h and Elena in 2:25h.

Val Thorens, France

Jan 2, 2010: We traveled with Norwegian Air from Stockholm Arlanda at 05:45h, and continued from Geneva airport at 10:00h with bus to Val Thorens. The trip went smooth, but the early departure from Uppsala kept reminding us during the day. Upon arrival in Val Thorens, we check in at Hotel Chamois d'Or and went for lunch across the street. We also did some shoppning until we got access to our room/appartment at 16:00h. We spent the evening by resting and did some more shopping.

Jan 3, 2010: The day started with buying skipass in Val Thorens at 10:00h. The skiing conditions were quite good: -10C, no wind, and cloudy. We first went to Glacier de Peclet and then moved towards the highest peak, Pointe de Bouchet (3230m). Everything went as planned except for minor problems with Paul's skipass (it stoped working so we had to talk ourself into every lift except the first two). On the way down from Pointe de Bouchet, we experienced how the skiing conditions got worse. The biggest problem was the bad sight which made it difficult to see the snow surface. That we accidentally ended up in a non-prepared and difficult piste did not make things better. We then had a very nice lunch at Plan Bouchet and decided to move back towards Val Thorens where we exchanged the broken skipass and decided to go back to the hotel to rest. In the evening we had dinner at a nice restuaruant in Val Thorens.

Jan 4, 2010: The conditions were just a few minus, cloudy, no wind, lots of new snow, and snowing. We started by skiing in Plaein Sud in Val Thorens, then moved on to Col de la Chambre (2850m), and further to Meribel, including Mont du Vallon (2952m). The skiing was very, very nice due to all the new snow and many of the pistes were not prepared, leaving lots of nice new snow to ski in. We had lunch in Meribel and then moved back towards Val Thorens. In a slope near Val Thorens we found a very nice afterski where we stoped for some time, before going back to the hotel. In the early evening we went to Centre de sportif to swim and have sauna and hamam. We then did some shopping and cooked dinner in the appartment.

Jan 5, 2010: The weather was absolutely perfect! Sun, -10C, and no wind. We skiied on Caron before noon, then moved on to the sunny side of Val Thorens and Menuires. There were still lots of good opportunities for offpiste skiing which we enjoyed. We also very much enjoyed the pistes that had perfect snow and were faster than yesterday. We had lunch on the top of Col de la Chambre (2850m) and then skiied on intensively until 16:00. We then went back to have a short rest in the appartment before going on a snow mobile tour at 17:30h. It was a very, very nice experience that last for an hour. We took turns in driving and both had lots of fun! We drove slow, very fast, and in deep show. Both uphill and downhill. After the tour, we did some shopping and had dinner in the appartment.

Jan 6, 2010: Yet another day with excellent skiing conditions: -5C and not a cloud in the sky. We decided to ski in all three valleys, i.e., from Val Thorens to Courchevel and back. It worked out really well, and we had lots and lots of nice skiing in the sun. We stopped to have a late lunch on one of the tops and made it back to Val Thorens just in time before the lift stopped (at 16:30h). In the evening we packed our suitcase and cleaned the apartment. We also went to have beer at the local bowling place and had a nice raclette (with lots of cheese) in a restaurant near by our hotel.

Jan 7, 2010: The bus left from Val Thorens at 07:20h and reached Geneva airport at 10:30h. In the airport we had brunch and tried to do some shopping, but ended up at a gate, resting and writing this text.

In summary, our experiences from Val Thorens are very positive. The skiing is absolutely excellent, regardless if you prefer on or off-piste skiing. Val Thorens is a 100% tourist resort. On the negative side this means there is no old or genuine city centre. On the positive side, the whole resort is optimized for skiing and winter sports. It is basically a village located around a slope in which more or less every hotel has direct access to the pistes, which in turn means you never have to bother about ski buses or car parking. The ski system is also very well developed with a high capacity. During our four days of skiing we stayed in line less than 15mins in total(!).

Click here to see pictures and videos.

Elena's motorcycle drivning license

Today, Elena passed the motorcycle driving license test. Congratulations!!!

Tjejmilen

Today Elena ran the 10km race Tjejmilen in Stockholm. She completed in 63:47 mins. You can see the data from her run at Garmin Connect. Pictures are at
Picasa Web Albums.

Thanks to Anders and Anna for hosting us before and after the race!

Midnattsloppet 2009

August 15 we ran the race Midnattsloppet in Stockholm. It was only 15 C and raining at the start, but the race was still very pleasant. The first 5 km were quite flat, but the 2nd half was much tougher, starting with 700m uphill on the 6th kilometer (up to Sofia church). We finished the 10 km at 53:49 and 65:46 min.

The track with Paul's timing can be found here
The official timing: Elena and Paul.

Svenska Flicka!

Today Elena received information from Migrationsverket that she (from the 5th of March) is also a Swedish citizen! Grattis!!!

About Elena

During Elena's trip to Shanghai, she gave an interveiw to a journalist for the Ericsson magazine Kontakten about the development of a recent product. The interview resulted in a few lines in a recently published article (click the image to see a larger version).