just call me a hero for hope

Right now my left knee is creaking like it wants to tell me a storm is brewing. And according to the weather report, one is (finally!), but I don’t think my knee is psychic. I think it ran 6.2 miles yesterday, which, creakiness aside, I’m quite happy about.

AK, Meg and I decided to do the Heroes of Hope for Brain Tumor Research 10K on Sunday not so much because we’re against brain tumors (although we are) but because it was being held on a flat stretch of street next to Dockweiler Beach.

AK and I had trained mostly on hills and occasionally on days when the air in the L.A. basin was thick with bits of smoldering tires. “Like altitude training!” I suggested. It was not unlike when I did the Manhattan Beach 10K a few years ago and was happy to discover that, unlike my practice runs, I wasn’t slowed down by trying to hide from packs of stray dogs roaming the streets. Urban training—I sort of recommend it.

But if you already have knee problems, here’s a book I recommend too (I’m not trying to be all Oprah’s-favorite-things—I just needed a transition):

Digging to America* by Anne Tyler: It’s been a while since I’ve read Anne Tyler, but even if I was reading her for the first time, I suspect she’d be like encountering an old friend. This novel—about two families who adopt daughters from Korea—is a quiet, intimate meditation about human vs. national identities, and choosing a messy life over an orderly one (perhaps the only real option in a globalized world). Tyler shares many of the good qualities of Tom Perrotta, but she does ambiguous endings better.

*Mini review stolen, again, from my own GoodReads/Facebook review, because I am lazy like that.