"In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he'd completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, not to mention triathlons and a dozen critically acclaimed books, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and--even more important--on his writing. Equal parts training log, travelogue, and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon and takes us to places ranging from Tokyo's Jingu Gaien gardens, where he once shared the course with an Olympian, to the Charles River in Boston among young women who outpace him. Through this marvelous lens of sport emerges a panorama of memories and insights: the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer, his greatest triumphs and disappointments, his passion for vintage LPs, and the experience, after fifty, of seeing his race times improve and then fall back. By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is rich and revelatory, both for fans of this masterful yet guardedly private writer and for the exploding population of athletes who find similar satisfaction in distance running."

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
Genres: Nonfiction

Also by this author: Hear the Wind Sing, Pinball, 1973, A Wild Sheep Chase, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Norwegian Wood, Dance Dance Dance, South of the Border, West of the Sun, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Sputnik Sweetheart, Kafka on the Shore, After Dark, 1Q84, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, The Elephant Vanishes, After the Quake, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Men Without Women

 

I re-read this book as part of my Haruki Murakami project, but also as an inspiring and motivational startup for my running project I have had in mind for a while 🙂 No matter what his writing is about, I will always enjoy it.

“[…] the hour or so I spend running, maintaining my own silent, private time, is important to help me keep my mental well-being.”

“Emotional hurt is the price a person has to pay in order to be independent.”

“The most important thing we ever learn in school is the fact that the most important things can’t be learned at school.”

“Muscles are hard to get and easy to lose. Fat is easy to get and hard to lose.”

“Most people run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest. If you’re going to while away the years, it’s far better to live them with clear goals and fully alive than in a fog, and I believe running helps you do that. Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that’s the essence of running, and a metaphor for life – and for me, for writing as well. I believe many runners would agree.”

“As you age you learn even to be happy with what you have. That’s  one of the few good points of growing older.”

“To deal with something unhealthy, a person needs to be as healthy as possible. That’s my motto. In other words, an unhealthy soul requires a healthy body.”

“You have to wait until tomorrow to find out what tomorrow will bring.”

“The end of the race is just a temporary marker without much significance. It’s the same with our lives. Just because there’s an end doesn’t mean existence has a meaning.”

“Just as our consciousness is a maze, so too is our body. Everywhere you turn there’s darkness, and a blind spot. Everywhere you find silent hints, everywhere a surprise is waiting for you.”