I haven’t read a word of the fiction that makes Haruki Murakami famous. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running logs the author’s real-world training for the New York City Marathon. The structure of the training journal doesn’t bound the words or topics, though. Subtitled “A Memoir,” the book explains the start of Murakami’s running, and tries to illuminate why the sport (and the related one of triathlons) still offers him so much.
I only captured one quote when I read the book back in mid-February (!). Twitter would actually be good for capturing the quotes in the moment… have to try that more often.
Flipping through the small volume again now, I enjoy for a second time the simple, direct prose on a topic I know very well: running. I don’t share my thoughts with such eloquence or even such consideration. Yet I see the different motivations which keep Murakami putting one foot in front of another are not so different from some of my own.
Reminders of the common pace and similar “race” we all share improved this memoir notably. I haven’t made the (full) transition to acceptance of my athletic decline yet. But Murakami’s thoughts on why he runs when each year gets slower and harder are not unknown to me.
This one will stay on the shelf for future re-readings.