When Erik from Salomon Sweden asked me to write a little about myself to send to the big boss Gregory Vollet, marketing boss of the international team of Salomon I said fine. I wrote all the things that I love about mountains, I told him about how much I loved to live in Tromsö because of all the wild mountains the city in the arctic have. And I told him about a few favorite runs I had done. When he responded and asked if I wanted to join the international athletes for a week of running. It was in April this year and even though I had not started the running for the season yet I said yes! I thought that the week was a disaster for me speaking of running. But somehow Iran okay and I felt so comfortable to be with all the people which has become my Salomon family.
Then the season of races started out. My first international race I ran was 3 peaks in the UK I was excited and I think I had done a good race. Still it was early in the season and all I had run was on that week in April. My legs got devastated after that race! I finished second and was super surprised! My second competition was Zegama in Spain. I still felt like a newbie, this was my 3 time I ran a long race! I still feel much more comfortable in races up to 25 K. You can just smash them! Anyhow I finished 3 rd, just some seconds after Nuria Picas, who has become my friend and one of my biggest competitor in long races. I admire her!
I still felt like a newbie and then somehow I started to win races. In Sweden I already had won some races, half marathon on trails, 2-days mountain marathon competitions and so on. But international, how can this have happened?
Dolomite skyrace a steep and technical 21 K race. I broke the old record. I had a good day at pikes Peak marathon. I felt good in climbathon of Kinabalu and I felt even better on NF Endurance challenge in San Francisco.
I started to count my races and I have done 21 races this year. I reached podium on every race expect one. This sounds so strange to me. I had no expectations on how this season would end. I told Greg I wanted to take race after race to see how I felt. If I still would have my passion and love for running. And i´ve keept it. My passion is bigger then ever. I feel so much joy of being with other runners and devoted mountain people and I want to share this feeling with everyone!
During the season I started to think about goals I wanted to achieve. One was that I wanted to lead a race from the beginning all the way to the finish line. And I did! That was huge. The other goal was that I wanted to win a long distance race. I know that that goal was pretty high, this was my first season on this level and I was even newer on long distances races. Somehow I feel good running long. I guess it´s because I have had so many days just being out in the mountains so the longer races I´ve done I felt pretty secure. I ended the season with the win at NF in San Francisco. I have no words for that feeling.
I am just a lucky girl who likes to spend her time out in the mountains. And this year have been incredible with all the new mountains I have been lucky to explore, the new people I´ve got to know and all the inspiring people who loves running that I have the opportunity to meet.
Thank you all for sharing our passion!
Have a fantastic year and hope you have a lot of wonderful time in the mountains.
Here are some glimpses of the year of 2012.
