What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

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 running.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
N/A

The Reason

I’m trying to motivate myself with running, and this book turned up while I was browsing. I didn’t realize who the author was until later.

The Quotes

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you’re running and you think, ‘Man, this hurts, I can’t take it anymore. The ‘hurt’ part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand anymore is up to the runner himself.”

“I’m the kind of person who likes to be by himself. To put a finer point on it, I’m the type of person who doesn’t find it painful to be alone. I find spending an hour or two every day running alone, not speaking to anyone, as well as four or five hours alone at my desk, to be neither difficult nor boring. I’ve had this tendency ever since I was young, when, given a choice, I much preferred reading books on my own or concentrating on listening to music over being with someone else. I could always think of things to do by myself.”

“It doesn’t matter how old I get, but as long as I continue to live I’ll always discover something new about myself.”

“Sometimes taking time is actually a shortcut.”

The Narrator(s)

Ray Porter. He’s one of my personal GOATs!

My Thoughts

I have never read a single book Haruki Murakami has written although I’ve been curious because of how often people talk about his books. I picked up this book not because of the author, but because of the title – I am a new runner, not a very good one, but very interested in getting better at it. I was surprised when I realized who the author was, and even more surprised when I started reading and finding out how passionate he was about running.

It’s interesting to find out so much about an author whose works I had never read through a memoir about his passion for running and writing. It was interesting to find out that he basically became a writer by just one day deciding to write a novel and then promptly forgetting about it after he was finished. I love the way he talks about why he runs, how he trains, his determination and drive to get better and compete with himself. It is very inspiring for me as an aspiring runner, but also quite scary because I think I would severely injure myself if I went to the lengths he did.

Some of his values and beliefs with the way he lives his life resonates strongly for me, and others seem a little questionable, but either way, reading this book makes me want to reexamine my own values and beliefs about how I live my life, and how I want to move forward with my own running. I highly recommend this book for anyone who runs or who’s thinking about taking up running.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?