The most unrelated things make me sad and angry about Russia.

It’s a beautiful May morning where I am now in California (well, most mornings are beautiful in California!). I’m far away from Russia but it is my ex-home country, so I can write all I want about it (responding in advance to a couple of occasional trolls). My Mom left Russia a few weeks ago. She’s still very emotional and angry about everything that’s happened and is continuing to happen so we talk about Russia a lot.

This morning I went on my first run this week. I’ve been recovering and resetting after running my awesome 2.49 marathon in Orange County last Sunday (yeah, a bit of bragging!).

So I step out of our apartment and … for a moment, get shit scared. There is STUFF all around me.

This:

So my son’s running coach and running buddies came secretly and arranged this late last night. Max qualified for a CIF race and is running later today.

Look at all that love and support! It’s not Max’s birthday or graduation. It’s just a ten-minute run!

Of course, I shared these touching pictures with my wife and my Mom (they’re in Florida now).