I have been recommended books by Haruki Murakami for a while now. Norwegian Wood and IQ84 are on my to read list, but I admit I had no particular interest in getting a copy of “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running”, despite being an avid runner for over a decade now. Running started as a chore for me. Every day after work I would go down to the gym and jog on the treadmill for an hour. I worked up my speed over time until I was doing about seven miles per run. I never found any joy in it. I felt accomplished as I stepped off the treadmill, and at the same time would feel like I never wanted to step on one ever again.
And then I met a girl. A girl who ran cross country her whole life and invited me to join her running club. I joined this running club just so I could see her and talk to her. I was lucky enough to fall in love with not just her, but with running too. If you asked me before I met her, I would have told you that I’d never go for a 10 mile run. I might have even told you that I couldn’t do it. Since then I’ve run three 10-milers, four half marathons, and three full marathons. I’m pushing myself to try to qualify for the Boston Marathon. It is a struggle, but something that seems like an actual possibility. I still would not say that I love running while I am doing it, but I also genuinely don’t know what I would do without it. It is a feeling that Murakami and I (and I imagine a lot of other runners) have in common.
In this book Murakami delivers a memoir mixed with his personal philosophy on both professional writing and amateur running. It is a short and mostly light read, but I genuinely had tears in my eyes at certain points of this book. It’s that rare thing when you read a sentence or paragraph that expresses something you have felt for a long time, but could never put to words what you really felt.
“For me, running is both exercise and a metaphor. Running day after day, piling up the races, bit by bit I raise the bar, and by clearing each level I elevate myself. At least that’s why I’ve put in the effort day after day: to raise my own level. I’m no great runner, by any means. I’m at an ordinary – or perhaps more like mediocre – level. But that’s not the point. The point is whether or not I improved over yesterday. In long-distance running the only opponent you have to beat is yourself, the way you used to be.”
It’s like he wrote it for me. I love when a book can make me feel that. Thank you, Haruki Murakami.