Journey of a Thousand Kilometers

Hello strangers…

Spring is finally here!  The snow has been melting rapidly in the capital region for the last couple of weeks, and the warm sunny days have allowed me to get out on the bike a couple of times already and as I am also a fair-weather runner, run outside too! Today I rode over to the Strathcona Athletic Park and was pleasantly surprised to see the track almost entirely clear of snow.  Unfortunately, my track workout tomorrow may be postponed for another week due to a forecast of scattered flurries and a high of -2. DOH!

Strathcona Athletic Park

My last day out on the skis was the week after the winter triathlon, the trail base has melted completely at most of the ski areas.  I really started to enjoy skiing this year, and may try to ski almost every day I can next winter, when the weather/conditions permit.  I never knew Nordic skiing was such an amazing sport and I will likely invest in a pair of classic skis  to expand the areas where I can ski next season.  I might even give the Birkie a go. I can’t imagine skiing for close to 4 hours though, I’m usually cooked after 90mins!

It may sound odd… but I also enjoy spending the long winter months in the warmth of the basement, sitting on the trainer, running on the treadmill, or lifting weights in the little home gym.  I get to spend lots of quality time with my wonderful wife Naomi, and  catch up on all those movies we don’t watch while we are outside enjoying summer.

Back in December I said that the only triathlon I signed up for so far was the Oliver 1/2 Ironman. Well.. that wasn’t entirely true.  At that time Naomi and I had already decided to do a little Euro vacation in 2010 and had both signed up for the inaugural Ironman Regensburg in Germany.  Regensburg is a place I visited waaaay back in 1990 on my first trip to Europe and I distinctly remember it as one of my favorite places.  It will be my first Ironman race in over 5 years… and Naomi’s first.  After race day, we plan to head south to Austria, Italy, and possibly into Croatia and Slovenia. We haven’t fully planned it out yet, but will be soon.

I’m also still on the hunt for a used road bike.  It’s very tough to find a nice used bike in the size I want. I prefer a tighter, more aggressive position, so at 5’8.5″ tall, I need something with a ~52cm top tube (think SMALL or XS).    With the impending costs of my Euro trip though, I may just purchase a cyclocross bike for the spring/fall riding and for double duty as a commuter. Probably a wiser investment, but life isn’t always about wise investments, right?

And finally, if you have read my blog for some time… you have probably been wondering what “A Journey of a Thousand Kilometers” means.  It’s a take on the famous line from the Tao Te  Ching “A journey of a thousand miles, starts with a single step”.  Actually, the correct translation is a journey of a thousand “Li” which is a Chinese measurement equalling ~1/3 of a mile… depending where/when in China… but I digress.  I have been reading a lot of Taoist literature, and several translations of the Tao Te Ching (some translate the meaning of chapters to English better than others), and stole the phrase… I think 5000 years puts it in the public domain though!

Taoism should not be confused for a religion… although some people would list their religion as Taoist, it is more of a philosophy.  You can be a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Catholic, Buddhist, even Atheist… and still be a Taoist. Anyways, I’m sure if you wanted to learn more… you can google Taoism or Daoism. I found this site very good.

Of all the millions of self-help, DIY books on mental training for life, business, sport, relationships, etc…. the 81 simple (yet full of meaning) verses of the Tao Te Ching seem to cover it all.  I can’t describe it much better than that as the Tao is Tao; to describe it is to limit it.

A particularly funny translation of the start of verse 20 I found online from Ron Hogan’s book using “modern american vernacular”:

Don’t spend too much time
thinking about stupid shit

There you go… stop thinking about my blog and go do something fun! Bye…