Anything that works...

To get your three year old to brush her teeth can be challenging... Good thing a three year old monster is more cooperative...

And suddenly it's autumn...

The summer came to a fast end. The heat and the endless, bright nights turned into windy, chilly, rainy ones. The girls grew enormously during the summer and it seems more like they're a year older than only a few months since spring...

 My big girls playing "mamma, pappa, barn" (mum, dad, child)

Andréa started a new group for older children at the daycare and this means we don't need to bring her stroller every day and it's so nice to be able to cycle with the girls to and from daycare. Lovisa has a new big bike and she's been practicing to start and stop on her own and now she's getting the hang of it...

 Andréa on Lovisa's old bike...

 A happy soon to be 5-year-old!

One thing that is a sure sign that autumn has arrived is the yearly "surströmmingsskiva" at dads place that took place yesterday. "Surströmming" is the very special fermented herring that smells so bad that I can't take it in my mouth. But a party is always nice and the girls played with their cousin, I took a nice sauna and did my best to stay away from the party tent that smelled of that fermented herring...

 Three party girls at dad's place...

Another sign of autumn are the daycare infections... This time Lovisa came down with a cold so instead of going to a wedding Lovisa and me are home today. To comfort ourselves we made a mug-cake in the microwave. Good, fast and very chocolaty! And hopefully very effective against nasty colds...

June and July check-up or how to lose your marathon shape in less than 2 months...

We've really had the most amazing summer. Hot, warm and beautiful. Imaging all the kilometers I could have run if my body didn't fail me... For so it did. I thought everything was fine after the marathon.  I felt a bit worn of course, my body aching here and there but that's normal after your first marathon. Then about a week after the marathon I ran to work one early morning and felt pretty OK. But during the day a weird pain in my right hip started to make it entrance and little did I know that that pain was here to stay. It increased during the day and finally it hurt for every step I took. Stupid and impatient me didn't want to realize that this probably had something to do with all my running so instead of resting I went running again a couple of days later. Just 17 km... And then the pain increased again. So the vacation has been a lot about resting from running, doing lot's of strength training (a lot and a lot but more than usual anyway) focusing on my core and trying to run little, a little bit more and being disappointed again when the pain keeps coming back...

I finally went to see a physiotherapist and now I have a plan. I do exercise to strengthen my core and my hip everyday, I cycle to work every day to keep up my shape but I have to admit I really miss running. So much that I think I'm a little bit depressed. Because it's hard to go from marathon shape to limping from one day to the other... The upside of this misery is that I've come to realize that running is so much more than just running. You have to be really strong from the inside and out and there's no shortcuts. So now I'm working on becoming so strong that I'm going to be able to run again. Without pain and with that great feeling that I could just keep on running forever... Here's my training in June and July:

January: 104 km

February: 139,2 km

March: 204,2 km, cycling 14,9 km

April: 178,1 km, cycling 267,6 km

May: 244 km, cycling 237,3 km

June: 67,6 km, cycling 327 km

July: 42,9 km, cycling 149,9 km

Total running during 2014: 979,9 km. Cycling: 996,5 km

It's boring to be injured, not being able to do what you love. It sucks to feel that your body is not capable enough. The day I can run without no pain I'm going to be so grateful. I keep these pictures from Stockholm marathon, that beautiful day in May, close to my heart:

With an amazing feeling somewhere during the first half of the marathon...

The last meters with the goal in sight on Stockholm stadion