'Tao of Pooh' - Benjamin Hoff

I was first introduced to this book years ago when I was traveling to a race on the other side of the country. My friend who hosted us had it on his bookshelf and my travel/racing partner at the time snagged and read it throughout the weekend. He loved it and couldn't stop raving about it. I dismissed it, focused on the race, and never came back to it until these last two weeks.

I would hands down recommend this book to anyone. I knew little to nothing on Taoism besides a brief uninformative overview in one of my college courses. The book is intended as an introduction to the eastern belief system of Taoism for westerners in relation with the writings and characters of A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories.

Everything I took from this book I related it to my training and racing. I took a couple quotes from the book that I am going to hang on to and put in a place that I will consistently see.

"When you know and respect your Inner Nature, you know where you belong.
You also know where you don't belong."

I take from this that everything has it own place and function. Do not try to be something you are not and know your limitations.

“The main problem with this great obsession for saving time is very simple: you can’t save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly.”

I feel like I am pretty wise in the way I spend my time, but I need to practice the idea of that you can only spend it. I run around trying to save time and stress out when things are tight.

"If we add up all the rewards in our lives, we won't have very much. But if we add up the spaces between the rewards, we'll come up with quite a bit. And if we add up the rewards and the spaces, then we'll have everything - every minute of the time that we spent."

Most importantly this quote reminds me to cherish the spaces and the rewards will follow. So when I need to get up in a blizzard at 5:30 in the morning to go swim. To cherish the experience.

Read this book and I am sure you will walk away with your own quotes and takeaway. Up next, 'The Te of Piglet', also by Hoff.

Indulgence

One way I keep balance in my life is by eating the "Best Pie in America". If you live near a Baker's Square it is a must. Two words: French Silk

Balance

One of my everyday mantra's is simply the word balance. It reminds me of something to keep me sane in life. Not everything will work according to plan and not everything will be perfect. It is important for me to find a balance in those things that don't with the ones that due.

I also find it is easy for me to find balance when I don't push myself to the limits. When I simplify my life and am at ease with the workload I can simply balance like I would balance on one foot.
But it is outside of my realm of capability to simple balance on one foot. I am someone who consistently pushes myself forward. I always have something more to strive for and a more difficult balance to obtain and hold.
It is my goal to strengthen myself to be able to achieve this stretched balance and hold. It takes practice and consistency and time and patience.

I have been turned to the dark side...and am now an addict.

Addicted to gadgets that is. In August, for my birthday, I received an awesome gift from an even more awesome person. I got the new Garmin 610. For a full in-depth review check out DC Rainmaker's review of this cool device as well as a bunch of others.

The main things I wanted out of a GPS watch was something that included heart rate and that wasn't big and bulky. That was a hard thing to find since I have the wrist of a 7 year old boy. This does the job.

Since tearing this bad boy out of the package I have purchased some additional accessories including the awesome wrist band in the picture which has made the fit even better. I also have purchased the bike sensor and bike mount. Since I tend to power my way up hills and I have never ridden with cadence before I think will benefit greatly.

Most recently I have added the Garmin foot pod to my Christmas list. Its going to be hard not to purchase it before then because once on I will be able to measure my running cadence as well. I am super excited. One of my main goals is to make my running form more efficient and I have been told that cadence is an extreme factor in this.

Some shop for shoes, some shop for purses; I shop for gadgets!