“You don’t stop running because you get old.  You get old because you stop running.”

- Jack Kirk (a.k.a. Dispea Demon)

I stumbled upon Christopher McDougall’s “Born To Run” by chance at the library last week.  When I got around to reading it I found myself hooked and wound up finishing the book in three days.  This is an excellent book that reads like a combination of an adventure, science, philosophy and biography on ultramarathon runners and the Tarahumara Indians.  I became fascinated with some of the characters and events mentioned and wound up doing additional research as well as over the internet so as to put a picture to a name.  The mention of the Divine Madness running cult was also very interesting and led me to Google around for articles related to that.

One of the themes in the book is this sort of Zen-like approach to life these ultramarathon runners have.  The title of the book indicates that running allows us to realize how human beings (Homo sapiens) were engineered to be efficient runners.  McDougall spends some time discussing the benefits of running without the fancy shoes and all their advanced microchips, springs and air pockets that companies like Nike promote.  In fact, the case could be made that these very shoes are the cause for the injuries many runners are afflicted with.  The reader also gets a sense of how these incredible athletes, despite having the chutzpah to run 100 miles in the desert, have a meditative outlook of life and are dedicated towards training their bodies solely for the pure bliss that may be captured when enjoying those special moments of simple joy when running.  Some reject materialism and turn down commercial sponsorships.   The Tarahumara Indians with their spartan lifestyle would be the epitome of the runners who grasp the birthright of running.  If you’re considering training for a marathon or are already an avid runner, I would highly recommend this book.

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Okay so I know the whole business models of rating agencies are a joke and their value as a business is being questioned.  But this downgrade by Fitch is big news despite what the CNBC perma bulls may have you believe.  The problem is that some governments and institutions are only allowed to purchase AAA rated debt.  This downgrade leaves Spain in a bind to accelerate their austerity measures.  I would not try to be a hero and catch a falling knife in the upcoming weeks, but the time will come to buy European financials… just not now.  My guess is that Moodys and S&P will try to save face and follow with their own downgrades soon.

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I admit I made a mistake in recommending against buying Palm [PALM] in a previous post.  The stock has rallied over 50% from its recent lows.  As you may know, I have a 30-day lockup period in purchasing stocks; meaning if I had purchased Palm two weeks ago, I would still need to hold it for another two-and-a-half weeks before I could sell it.  This makes me err on the conservative side when making stock suggestions.  So while my call has been bad for daytraders, I am sticking to my original thesis that a buyout of Palm will not happen for more than $3/share.  Lenovo has surfaced as a name, but as far as I can tell, I cannot find any official communications statement from Lenovo that would corroborate this rumor.  If you’re looking for a buyout play, I like the idea of Simon Property Group [SPG] or CIC (China Investment Corportation) or some other group of hedge funds making a bid for General Growth Properties [GGP].  Here is an article that argues that the limited downside from the Brookfield Asset Management [BAM] and the potential upside of counter bids presents an attractive opportunity for purchasing shares of GGP.

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