– I hope to run some good races at the end of the season, Aurskogingen told Indre Akershus Blad, and made no secret of the fact that, among other things, he has the National Championship cross-country running in Oslo on October 8 in mind.

The remarks stand in stark contrast to what he experienced at the Jessheim stadium nearly five weeks ago. He was there for a long time in the fight for NM gold in the 3000 meter hurdles. But two laps before the finish, he bit the back of the right thigh. With a painful strain to his hamstring, he had to be helped off the court as the medals were handed out.

The dreaded end of the season

– It hurts so much that I’m afraid the season is over for me. One thing is I might miss an NM medal, maybe gold. It’s so boring that the World Cup hopes, which are still alive, have really gone up in smoke, the 27-year-old said of the painful experience.

But fortunately, it turned out that the damage level was not as great as it seemed. The pain gradually subsided in the following days.

– After the injury in NM, I had to rest more than a week without running. During that period I received a lot of treatment, and after about 10 days of jogging it was pain free. It went faster than I thought it would, so that’s certainly a positive, he said.

In the following weeks, he still has some familiarity, but can train at relatively high volumes as long as the pace and intensity are relatively low.

Three weeks in St. Moritz

– That’s why I decided to go to St. Petersburg. Moritz was high in Switzerland and trained there for three weeks, continued Boutera.

There he joins, among others, the Ingebrigtsen brothers, and approaches final WC preparations for Norway’s greatest WC hope, youngest brother Jakob.

– I stayed for a while with Filip, and practiced a bit with him, Henrik and Jakob. But I do most of the exercises myself to give my hamstrings and shape a little extra attention myself.

Nevertheless, he clearly thought it was great fun, and least inspiring in the situation he was in, to be there and see many of the world’s best preparations for WC.

Inspired by Henrik

– It is full of top runners from Europe, USA and Africa. Of course, it was a bit awkward to go home and not continue on to Budapest alone, said Boutera, and reported this about the two Sandnes brothers:

– Jakob seems as strong as ever. It’s also nice that Henrik got the WC spot after a few rough years. It provides inspiration when you yourself are going through a slightly heavier period. It might be a little awkward to watch WC from home. Especially when you were there last year and hope to make it back this year but at least I can use that as motivation.

Desire for off-road NM

The Ull/Kisa runner himself hopes to get in good shape over the next few weeks so he can do some good races before the end of the season.

– I hope to join some good fields in the future. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but there are still a few weeks left in the season, said Jacob, who has also marked Sunday October 8 on his calendar.

Then this year’s NM cross-country race, a long track, will take place at Frognerparken in Oslo.

– I really want to get involved in that. It was great in Bergen last year, he said, and recalled the brilliant duel for NM’s win against Magnus Tuv Myre, which was decided first at the finish line.