Day 26 Taking the Train//The Tent Book Review//Duathlon on Thursday and 32 Mile Race on Sat

Well it is starting to get cool in the morings, and I'm  not sure how much longer I will be taking the train.  I'm at 26 days now and I hope that I will adjust and learn to dress and still make a green decision on how to get to work, plus it keeps me more active even on days that I sit my growing but behind the desk. 

I only got 29 miles last week.  I should get much more this week because I have a 32 miler on Saturday; hope not to have another failure.  Also I have a nice Duathlon on Thursday, where I will get to push my speed in competition/ 20 min bike followed by a 20 min run.  This weekend I took the PT test and did 53 push-up in 2 min, 72 sit ups in 2 min and 2 mile track run in 12:22. 

Read another great book:  The Tent by Margaret Atwood here is my Amazon Review:

Here Margaret packs a punch like no other writer I have read before.  This book is packed with a plethora of short essays with so much to say.  These stories allow you to get into the spiritual side of Atwood and challenge your beliefs in thoughtful ways. 

There were several that were particularly touching, "Orphan Stories", described thoughts that have gone through my head, but that I would rather not talk about.  The presentation was refreshingly dark if that is at all possible, yet it gave a very human perspective that cannot be ignored.  The essay goes far in forcing you to look at your own family life and cherishing it; almost no matter how good/bad it may be.   

Voice gave me a new perspective on how we look at our talents, and how one can be absorbed in our own narcissism yet lose our most human aspects in the race (I'm a runner and sometimes lose myself when I get to absorbed in thinking I'm such a good runner).  Margaret uses someone’s incredible voice and how the person can be de-humanized as people only search out her voice instead of the person that gives life to the voice. 

Margaret brings to life what it is to be a Mother and how they can be tossed aside easily by those who love them most.  Her story, "Bring back Mom, An Invocation" forces you to look at your relationship with your Mother and will probably give you pause to see if you have appreciated all the things that your Mother does on a day-to-day base.  She goes over the top with what can happen to an unappreciated Mom, but I think the message could not be clearer in most of our lives. 

Finally the namesake story, "The Tent" forces you to look at your life as if you are inside a paper tent and your life is what you make of it and your only protection is the quality of the story that your write yourself.  Paper cannot protect you, but if you live a worthwhile life and write it on the wall there is protection in the purity of the story.  She lets you come to your own conclusion as to what could happen if you destroy your own life story, your tent of paper that held the protection which was the story of your life; the essence of life.  This essay made me think that our stories are actually the only 'reality'; our immortality and once they are gone so may we be gone. 

There are so many more power thought provoking essays/poems that you will want to read them again and again, because sometimes you get a little different flavor, a gem that Margaret had hidden away in the precious few words.  I recommend this book!!