Goosebumps. We all get them. Like when a Maltipoo puppy crawls up inside your t-shirt or David Bowie's voice cracks on Heroes. Then there’s goosebumps for real. Few have been blessed with these. If you get the chance to experience it, enjoy it. That's what Carolina Johnson did when she entered the race at Grönsta on Lidingö in September 2023. In a safe lead. All around the crowd cheered, as the sun shone above. Inside she was very tired, but on the outside...proper goosebumps.
In her very first senior TCS Lidingöloppet, she won the women's class in 1.54.25. The first European winner since 2017 – in the fourth fastest winning time ever.
“The feeling of the support of the entire audience - it's one I will never forget. You are lifted by the atmosphere, by all the happy and encouraging people. This applies to both the spectators and the runners around you. I'm in my bubble a lot when I run, but I can still take it in subconsciously throughout the race. It is very special. “TCS Lidingöloppet is an institution in Sweden and internationally. It is the world's biggest off-road race and everyone knows what Abborrbacken is. It feels powerful and historic to run,” she says.
Why TCS is the title sponsor of Lidingöloppet
Carolina Johnson is one of a long line of winners and runners in the Lidingöloppet since its inception in 1965. A race for which Tata Consultancy Services has been the title sponsor for eight years. As IT consultants and innovators, TCS has also developed the competition's official race app. The app contains smart functions for a good experience before and during the competition, for both runners and spectators. TCS is the title sponsor of several classic races around the world – including marathons in London, Amsterdam and New York – because sport and health are engines of positive change, for both people and society. Something that is reinforced by the fact that TCS's former CEO - and now chairman of Tata Sons - Natarajan "Chandra" Chandrasekaran overcame diabetes by taking up running.
Running inspires and builds relationships. Hundreds of TCS employees, customers and partners run the TCS Lidingöloppet every year. The race also generates money for charity. Among other things, TCS makes its annual donation to Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital in Stockholm in connection with the competition. It may sound pretentious, but it is difficult to capture the feeling of well-being. The feeling of seeing Abborrbacken behind you. Or the goosebumps Carolina got on the home stretch at Grönsta. But that feeling is a key to TCS's sponsorship.
Three wins in a week
It probably shouldn't have worked. Carolina Johnson had never run 30 kilometres before and the starting field was called the strongest ever with multiple winner Sylvia Medugu from Kenya at the front. At the same time, she did not walk straight in from the street and win. She belongs to the Swedish elite in both 5,000 and 10,000 metres on the track. Three weeks before the TCS Lidingöloppet, she ran the Finnkampen and broke a personal record at 5,000 metres (16.06). In fact, the TCS Lidingöloppet was her third race, and third win, in one week. “My legs were perhaps not one hundred percent alert, but I had the form and the momentum. I felt a tailwind,” she says. In the winters, there will be more road races. During the winter of 2024, she ran seventh all-time fastest in Sweden in ten kilometres. In the half-marathon, she almost did it again – there she reached tenth fastest of all-time.
Ran with horses
As a youngster, she studied at the University of California in Los Angeles and participated in the big cross-country scene with over 300 participants. As a 19-year-old, she came seventh in the F19 cross-country European Championships in 2015, the best ever placement for a Swedish junior in the class. “I always liked things that others disliked as physical training. I have always loved running. When I was young, I was in the stables a lot, but I would rather run next to the horse than sit on it.
She talks about her own little way. About learning to love the hard and look forward to challenges. That everything becomes a virtuous circle. Because when you teach yourself not to give up, to work to get good at something - then you start to like it more. And when you enjoy something, you get better at it. You find your purpose, why you want to run. You become motivated by participating in races and inspired by others who run. “Running is also about community. Just as you can teach yourself, you can get help from others. If she can, then so can I,” she adds.
So how do you win in your very first senior TCS Lidingöloppet? "Be curious, not judgmental" goes a saying. Carolina grew up in a sporting family (father Fredrik is a former world champion in squash) where she learned early on to be positive and curious. In a sport that challenges one's limits, it is easy to judge oneself in advance, to think "it will never work".
It's not dangerous to get tired
She came up with 100 reasons not to succeed. But, she also came up with 120 reasons how she could win. So, she stood on the starting line with a mix of naivety, curiosity and determination. "Your mental attitude is more important than your fitness," she says. You can influence how you see things. “Take fatigue, for example,” she says. “How do you view it when it arrives? It's not dangerous to get tired, it's just one of several aspects in running. The fatigue goes in waves where you can test yourself. Sometimes it increases, and sometimes it doesn't. What happens when you push through the fatigue barrier? Then you can, for example, use your mantras.”
Carolina calls them mantras, or power words: the answers she gives to the lactic acid when it asks if it's time to give up. “The two most important words in life are "I am" and what you put after them. I'm strong. I'm alert. You reinforce it. How you talk to yourself makes a difference,” she adds.
It makes a difference
Faith can move mountains. That's true in both running and business. Carolina Johnson's mix of naivety, curiosity and determination are the same qualities that create success, innovation and a good corporate culture. A culture where everyone can go their own little way - together. TCS calls it building on belief. The atmosphere Carolina describes at the TCS Lidingöloppet, the support and community you feel from the audience and runners, makes a difference. It makes a difference on the track and in the workplace. It makes a difference when you must overcome obstacles, surpass yourself and achieve new goals.
The technique you have on the hills determines a lot
Although Carolina mostly runs on track and road, she thinks that running is running. There is a little more running economy on the track and a little more strength in the terrain, but the synergistic effects are significantly greater than the differences. “In terrain you can enjoy nature a bit and the hills let other muscle groups work a bit. The technique you have on the hills determines a lot. It's a bit unnatural,” says Carolina. “I usually take short steps uphill, keep a higher frequency and help with my arms. It is also good to have your eyes fixed a few meters in front of you, look a little down at the ground instead of up. You can sometimes also benefit from walking uphill and save energy. On the way down, you can take the opportunity to relax your legs a little. Rest and stretch them.”
Carolina could have run faster
When Carolina Johnson realized that she had run the TCS Lidingöloppet in the fourth fastest winning time ever in the women's class, she thought she could have run faster. Maybe the fastest time ever. It was her drive to win that spoke and it will always sit on her shoulder whispering in her ear. But running is about much more than that for Carolina. “You get so much from running. Everyone is a winner in some way. It's not black or white. Running is the world's best metaphor for life - one foot in front of the other, one step at a time. It goes fast when you're having fun,” she says.
Read more about TCS sponsorships and commitments to society and sports on TCS.com https://www.tcs.com/who-we-are/sports-sponsorships/lidingoloppet-cross-country-race
