Pour a 40 for my City

Since this is going to be a Los Angeles themed post, first things first...

Que viva los Bruins!

I spent a lazy Sunday waking up at 4:30 a.m., running a half-marathon on the eastside before a 2000 calorie breakfast midtown and an evening hanging Christmas ornaments at a friend's in the valley.

That's LA for you. You can drive 200 miles in a day, just to shuttle yourself from location to location.

Not to complain. Because really? I'm in love. With my city.

I have always loved Los Angeles in the way that I love my niece, my dogs or a french fry perfectly done. Deep-seeded, unconditional and with motto respect.

I've heard those who say Los Angeles the same way they'd say "seat me near the open line sewer, please."

Why no love for this city, I ask? Is it its size? The complex reality shows have imbued it with? Is it jealousy over 70 degree days in the dead of winter?

I admit you have to have a Thomas guide, GPS and a phenomenal amount of free time to sit in traffic to navigate it, but given that? This is a city for those who appreciate people watching and the quirks of uhmanity. It's gifted in attracting people who brazenly discuss the most private details of their lives in the most public of forums. It's pretty good if you're in to the outdoors and wonderful if you're artistic or a dreamer or business savvy. It has a quality of discovery.

I dig all that. But what I thought about when I was looking at the 5,000 faces shivering in the cold yesterday morning, getting ready to run from Griffith Park to Downtown was that this cultural mecca is diverse. Everyone's different. I love that it's majority minority, it's rich, middle class, poor, gay, transexual, funky, cosmopolitan, gangsta, fake, cold-blooded, down-home, by the ocean, by the mountains, by the desert, international, erudite and struggling. You can go down a block and hear 15 different languages or pass Buddhist temples, Islamic temples, Orthodox churches, Kabbalah cults, Scientology labs or Hare Krishna airport greeters.

As I ran my 13 miles, I took a moment to take it all in. I know the streets I ran like the back of my hand. But I never can get over the richness of the human landscape here. It's powerful.