For the Love of the Grind - Sara Hall

Written By Mona Angéline

If you're looking for a “glory days” sports memoir, move right along. “For the Love of the Grind” isn't a retrospective success narrative; it’s an authentic, grounded tale of staying power—into the present—from one of the best in our sport.

When I read the first few pages, I was a little worried that the “tell-not-show” prose might make readers close the book. But then Sara Hall’s modest and caring voice took over. 

Hall’s writing is refreshingly devoid of the need to impress and instead full of genuine integrity. She isn't performing; she’s telling us about a life built on relentless, yet joyful effort.

In describing her running career from her days at Stanford to the present day as a record-setting masters runner, Hall dismantles the "past her prime" narrative we ladies in our 40s often find ourselves in. 

But the real magic of her book is in the beautiful life she’s built around the miles. Between her faith, a rock-solid marriage, and the profound journey of adopting four daughters from Ethiopia, Hall balances elite training and being present for a full, complicated life. 

In an era of sports scandals and dramatic "takedown" memoirs, Hall’s is something I didn't realize I direly needed: a happy story.

Thank you, Sara Hall, for the courage to tell your wonderful story to the world.

In gratitude to St. Martin's Press for the Advance Reader's Copy—even if I'm so late with this review that the book is already out and an instant New York Times Bestseller! Well done!

Mona Angéline

Mona Angéline is an unapologetically vulnerable writer, reader, book reviewer, artist, athlete, and scientist. She honors the creatively unconventional, the authentically "other". She shares her emotions because the world tends to hide theirs. She is a new writer, but her work was recently accepted in Flash Fiction Magazine, Grand Dame Literary, tiny wren lit, Down in the Dirt Magazine, The Viridian Door, The Machine, Whisky Blot Magazine, and The Academy of Mind and Heart. She loves to review books and has written them for the /tƐmz/ Review, the Ampersand Review, and the Beakful Litblog. Sooner or later she will have to condense this list… Mona is also a regular guest editor for scientific journals although she doesn't use a pen name when her engineering PhD degree is involved. She lives bicoastally in Santa Cruz, California, and in New York and savors life despite, or maybe because of, her significant struggles with chronic illness and mild disability. Learn about her musings at creativerunnings.com. Follow her on Instagram under @creativerunnings and on Twitter at @creativerunning.

https://creativerunnings.com
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Hard Feelings - Daniel Smith