I was dropped off and started at Kloten 11:56 at Friday (a few minutes ahead of planned start). Packed with my 10 kilogram backpack! Weather was kind of chilly in the wind so it was nice to get going and get warm. I tried to cover some extra distance in the beginning and was well ahead of plan in Gillersklack and also at Stjärnfors, where I had to take some extra time to refill all my water supplies from the lake. At Nyberget things were still all good but along that leg it started to rain and getting dark at the same time. So I missed a turn at a place and had to retrace for a few minutes. It was wet but not cold yet. A few km before Uskavi the route had changed i bit, something that I was not aware of and I had to look both once and twice.
At Uskavi I filled up in water again and decided to take the next leg (18k) like a rest a walk it in the dark rainy night to have more energy in the morning. I put on my 10 SEK rain cape and that was my most valuable equipment of the trip! During this wet wet wet leg I saw a Lynx close up for the first time in my life and that gave me extra energy and happiness. In Hammarby I had to go off route to get to the water supply and ate some breakfast as well. It had now stopped raining but the vegetation was still totally wet so I skipped changing socks or anything and went on again. In Digerberget (old stop) I refilled water and at the new stop in Pershyttan I used the rest room. Next leg to Mogetorp was ok as well, even though the sun come through a bit too much. Also here there is a short detour to get to water supply. The leg to Blankhult is quite messy and mostly uphill and I started to get sleepy and a bit dizzy in the heat here. So when at the water supply place at next stop (Blankhult) I layed down for 15 mins and tried to take i powernap. No sleep but much needed rest for the eyes and brain. And at the same time some rain and winds started to pick up, looking like a thunderstorm on the rise. But as I went on the rain stayed away and I reached Ånnaboda also quite according to plan. With only 7 k to Suttarboda I decided to only fill water there and continued a few km to Garphyttan National Park parking lot. Here I had reached over 100 miles and was also within 2 km from my home. And at this stage I passed by my home at a 2,5 km radius two more time - something that could have been tough if I had any thought of quitting (which I had not). Towards the end of this led the route was changed earlier this year and hence also the stage ending. The stage went well and since there was no water supply at Lekhyttan I had already filled extra in Suttarboda and pushed directly on, soon going into night two. Passing Stenbäcken and getting some water there realizing that I might not make it to next leg stop before midnight I pushed on to get as much ground as possible covered and reached within 5 km before I had to just stop and lie down because I almost fell asleep walking in the dark. I did not have good eqipment for sleep and did not sleep good due to freezing. Anyway, I got a 3 hour rest and about 1.5 hours of "sleep". My gps watch was getting low on battery even though charged a few times and I put it on pause before sleep. But I stopped it later and started a new tracking when leaving at 4am again. Quite sore legs to start out but I got warmed up and could run soon again. After water stop in Sixtorp and quite some climp directly after, a easier patch start. And I was well aware of this and knew if I got here I can do the last 85-90 km as well. I had good tempo and reached Svartå (or Lugnsbo as the new stop is named) and also here the route has changed a bit this year.
Going forward with no big issues to Ramundeboda, also this a quite easy (but boring leg). This is also valid for the next one but that one has some nice parts in the middle, but also many deforestation and gravel roads with large gravel or macadam that is quite harsh on sore feet at this stage of the race. I was getting sleepy and although I could run quite ok (steady but not as fast as it feels) I had to stop for a new 5 min powernap and some koffein. Towards the end of this leg the watch again started to get low on battery and I had problems recharching and navigating at the same time. When charging it lost the satelites and wanted to calibrate over and over again. I lost quite some time due to the watch over these days! I had re-scouted the water stop late at this leg and refilled plenty before doing the last part of it. If I was tired at this leg I really got my energy back the next on, nr 16 of 17 from Gråmon to Tivedstorp. I really wanted to get there before midnight and maybe go under 60 hours (just for fun) and that gave me some extra motivation. So I started out in a quite fast run but had to stop to fix some eqipment. When starting again my right knee locked up and I could not run for a while and had to limp for a while. And this was the case for the rest of the adventure, mixing nice running with limping. My watch was causing a lot o problems and I had to turn navigation off, try to load on the go and change battery setting to less gps-friendly (even more). That did not help and I was afraid it would run out totally and I had to push all i got to get to the next stop. But this stage seemed to never end and when it did I was quite happy. I stopped the watch and started tracking in the Suunto app on my spare phone. Quite risky but I had no choice. With three hours before midnight i skipped refilling water (and ran out later as well) and went on. First parts are quite friendly but in the middle of this stage it starts to get really tough. And here the dark came and I also really missed navigation on my clock. At a place I thought I had gone wrong because the trail felt too easy and I went back and forth for some time, checked some apps and finally went with the decision that I was probably right. Now the rough patch started and this was tough, but I got through it and was really happy to get out on a gravel road again. After a bit of rest walking since I had plenty of time before midnight and only a few km left - my light battery died. I did not manage to change to spare in the dark and spent some time with this getting a bit frustrated. The last 30 minutes (felt like hours) I had to use my phone light to guide my way and could not run that part, so I finished some minutes after midnight (although the stop at the Bergslagsleden portal was right at midnight with the picure timestamped at 00:01). Happy to reach the final "route board" my wife met me and took the kissing of board.
The exakt time is a bit uncertain. Some of the timestamps does not include seconds. Starting at at 11:56 am the 15:th and reaching goal 00:05 am the 17:the, I set the time 2d 12 hours and 10 minutes. Feel free to change it.