My New Treasure “Trove”

Y’all know me as the confident health nut that runs half marathons, does high-intensity strength training and generally tries anything when it comes to fitness, right? (Hello, pole dancing and Dance Trance classes…)

But my journey had a few bumps in the road. OK, not bumps — craters into which I tumbled.

I remember vividly sitting on the steps of a dingy Y in Syracuse, New York in the early ’00s — hanging my head weakly between my knees, praying that I wouldn’t throw up. I’d just come out of an advanced spinning class, a place in which I had no business. I’d never taken a spinning class of any kind before, didn’t eat or drink anything before class, and got in way over my head.

That class was the first and last…for a while. I was so embarrassed and ashamed that I left the gym and didn’t look back for several years.

This Tuesday night, as I pushed myself HARD during an advanced spin class — by this time, much more prepared and experienced on the bike — I saw a young woman step off her bike, slide across the wall and desperately claw at the exit door. I knew something was wrong when she tried to grab at the handle, but instead just kept smacking the wrong side of the door. She slipped to the floor and her head started rolling around.

I jumped off my bike and helped pull her outside just as she passed out. Very quickly, she came to, but was disoriented and dizzy. Together, we sat against the wall — me pushing her head between her knees and helping her sip water.

She was embarrassed and ashamed. I feared she’d leave the gym and never look back.

After a few minutes, her color had come back and she was able to speak normally. She promised that she would sit for a while before trying to stand back up, and I went back in class.

And 30 minutes later, with just one song left in class — that young woman meekly opened the door and came back to class. She’d eaten a protein bar, had some water and just wanted to come in and cool down with the rest of us.

I don’t know that girl’s name. I don’t know her story. And I don’t know whether she’ll ever come back to another class. But man, was I proud of her. She had more strength and determination than I did in that dingy Syracuse Y, and she inspired ME to keep pushing, even when it’s hard.

I think that’s a lesson we can all learn. There will be challenges. You will question your abilities. You might even fail. But every time that you get back on that bike, you’re saying I am worth it.

OK, time for something a little more uplifting. And given how much you guys loved it when I introduced you to Hunch (“I Have a HUNCH You Will Like This“) I expect you’ll also really like today’s toy.

First, credit where it’s due — my friend Jackie of http://momjovi.com tipped me off to this new site.

Trove gathers stories from all across the Web, using your sharing history and the sharing histories of your online connections, then presents it in an easy to read format. It’s constantly updated and you can add your own channels of content, in addition to what it automatically pulls when you sign up.

edited to add: the link. duh. http://www.trove.com/

For example, based on my history, Trove subscribed me to these channels:

Well, four out of five ain’t bad (Macy’s? really?)

I added several channels, including Triathlons, Vegetarian, Social Media and Beer. So now, my dashboard is even more customized, and provides a perfect online newspaper.

In addition to a front page on the Trove website, I get a digest of information sent to my email — it’s a great way to see what my friends are sharing AND has given me lots of ideas for blog posts.

I know that Trove is not the only social network aggregator — and it may not even be the best. But given how easy this is to set up and customize, and how colorful and simple it is, I think it’s a good one to keep an eye on.

What are your favorite tech tools?