Congratulations to my husband Jeff and the other 43,000 or more people (including Chilean miner Edison Pena) who ran 26.2 miles today and completed the NYC marathon. As someone who gets winded running for the bus, I have the deepest respect and admiration for what you've all accomplished and truly can't fathom how it's even possible.
Running is an expression of hope and/or determination for some people. For Edison Pena, it was a way to stay in shape and maintain his sanity while in captivity. For Sophy, the young, Cambodian protagonist in Frederick Lipp’s beautiful book,
Running Shoes, only a pair of running shoes will allow her to run the 8 kilometers to the next village to attend their school and make her dreams come true. In Margaret Peterson Haddix's first young adult novel,
Running Out of Time, a mixture of historical fiction and time travel, the protagonist Jessie is running to save the village of Clifton, Indiana from diphtheria. Chris Crutcher's first book,
Running Loose is the story of a high school boy at a crossroads who seems, at times, to be running from himself.
For me, running is a form of exercise I'm not very good at and it's a means of escape. When it comes to escape, though, I'd so much rather get lost in a book! How about Augusten Burroughs'
Running With Scissors?
Hi Robin,
ReplyDeleteI rejoiced in seeing my little book RUNNING SHOES mentioned along with Edison Pena the Chilean miner, and all those who ran in the 26.2 mile marathon. Sophy, the central character in Running Shoes would be proud and joins poor, at risk students worldwide who run to school. Our non-profit helps make this daily run possible for poor girls in Cambodia. Please check it out: www.cambodianscholarship.org
Many thanks.