First blog E.V.E.R. But definitely not the first book I’ve written my thoughts on.
Happy New Year!
Were the below part of your new year resolutions?
- Read / Read more
- Exercise / Exercise more
If yes, then stop everything and go get this book. You will enjoy the read and also be compelled to put on some running shoes. I promise.
What I talk about when I talk about running.
by HARUKI MURAKAMI
I found this book completely “by chance”. Actually, what I mean is by “divine intervention”. I genuinely believe that books – like people – come into your life at a certain time.
Mr. Murakami is a legend. And I don’t say that lightly. I could not put this book down. I had the strangest feeling that he was sitting across me on the table in my dining room and talking about his life – how he
became a novelist, why he started running and all his trials & tribulations & triumphs. And I could listen to him forever.
In the author’s own words, “..it’ all right to read this as a kind of memoir centered on the act of running.”
Born in 1949, Haruki Murakami wrote his first book in 1978 (Tile: Hear the Wind Sing), many other books followed. He has received many honors, including the Franz Kafka Prize.
This book is many things. But most of all, it is a brutally honest journal. Murakami lays his heart and mind open to the reader.
For a man of his stature, you would expect at least some parts of a memoir to talk about his success and awards and best-selling books. Instead, he talks about his early years running a Jazz Club, the decision to quit that and write a novel and then about his running. Marathons, Ultramarathon, Triathlons. And takes the reader through his innermost thoughts.
“Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that’s the essence of running, and a metaphor for life…”
The First Marathon
At 33 years of age, Murakami ran 26.2 miles or his first full marathon for the first time in July 1983. From Athens to the town of Marathon in Greece in the middle of summer, a ridiculously hot time. He clocked 3hrs 51 mins.
He describes the circumstances that led to his decision to run that stretch and refreshingly there is no grand purpose, he simply shares his thoughts around the time and talks about the training and arduous experience of the run. I particularly loved how he describes getting a beer at a Café after the run, but doesn’t enjoy it as much as he imagined he would! Doesn’t that resonate with you all – that empty feeling once a goal has been reached after a long hard climb?
“Nothing in the world is as beautiful as the illusions of a person about to lose consciousness.”
The starting point as a Novelist
“..That (33) was the age when I began my life as a runner, and it was my belated, but real, starting point as a novelist.”
Murakami’s first novel was published in 1978. And another one followed in the next years. But by his own admission, his real starting point as a novelist coincided with his start as a serious runner around 1983! He talks about the difficult decision of selling his Jazz bar and becoming a full time novelist – imagine that! I suppose we all come to those crossroads in life – of starting a new chapter, perhaps more driven by the heart than by your mind. Yet again, Murakami doesn’t make it dramatic – he keeps it straightforward and is almost clinical in his description – shut down the bar even though most people advised against it (despite some debt) and devoting time to write. And run.
It is beautiful how he weaves together the story of his life – around writing and running. At one point he talks about the strengths required to be a good novelist and how these are also the strengths to be a runner.
“Literary talent, if you don’t have fuel even the best car won’t run.
Focus. Ability to concentrate all your talent on whatever is critical at the moment.
Endurance…”
Anybody can write. But to tell a story, that is another thing. In this book, Murakami has a conversational style, and such a way with words. Simple words, but he brings them together to paint a vivid image. He has the ability to create feelings with those words, strong feelings.
“Everybody used their mind when they think. But a writer puts on an outfit called narrative and thinks with his entire being. “
At least he never walked
What is the most challenging thing you have done physically? Personally, it was probably childbirth for me – but that I couldn’t help, the baby just comes when she is ready! The second thing was this one time I decided to run 9 kms every day for 9 days in a row for a social cause. I wanted to quit EVERY DAY. On many days, when the last 2 kms remained, and I felt like my heart was pounding in my throat, I would try to tell myself a story and take my mind far far away from the pain my body was feeling.
Murakami once ran 62 miles. In one day. An Ultramarathon near Lake Saroma, Hokkaido. It took him 11 hours and 42 minutes. It is this chapter in the book that really got to me. In the sense that I literally wanted to stop and put on my running shoes and start running.
Of course nobody can run like that without preparation and a lot of disciplined training. Murakami talks about his preparation, and you will see the man’s dogged pursuit for improvements – however small they may be. He talks about his body like it is a piece of sophisticated machinery (which it is I suppose) and testing its limits, making tweaks here and there for better outcomes.
What is very clear is that his approach to “pain” is very clinical. Almost like, an acceptance that it will happen and that doesn’t need to interfere with the ongoing process of running / other acts. And it’s not done in a heroic sort of way. But a quiet, tenacious sort of way. Like he respects the fact pain is a way for his body to tell him it’s troubles – but he runs his body the way he’d like regardless.
“I have only a few reasons to keep on running, and a truckload of them to quit. All I can do is keep those few reasons nicely polished.”
The Man
‘This is a memoir centered around the act of running’. Murakami had been running a marathon every year for 23 years at the time he completed this book! Yet, what he talks about at length is this one time he was disqualified from a triathlon and how he processes that feeling. He does get back to the same event years later and this time makes it to the finish line.
You will realize that he never talks about winners of any race. He always focuses on whether his own run time improves or not. And what he does about it. He takes you along his entire thought process.. his frustrations, his doubts, his fears, his disappointments, and his resolve. He does not even labor his own successes, brushes past the moments where he makes the finish line of an arduous race, but is very nonchalant about it. Mainly he expresses relief. Or a satisfaction of completing something he started.
“My peak as a runner came in my late forties. Before then I’d aimed at running a full marathon in 3.5 hrs, a pace of exactly one kilometer in five mins…”
His candor is very endearing. The entire book has many moments where you get to see how he sees himself.
“I don’t think most people would like my personality.”
One particular part in the book (among my many favorite bits) is where he describes some Harvard freshmen passing him on a run..
“..you can definitely feel a sort of aggressive challenge emanating from them. They seem to be used to passing people, and probably not used to being passed. … it’s easy to see that they are typical mid-distance runners, unsuited for long distance running. They are more mentally cut out for brief runs at high speed. Compared to them I’m pretty used to losing….Not to brag, but these girls probably don’t know as much as I do about pain.”
If you, like me, are in your forties – this paragraph will speak to you differently 😊
Bottomline – Murakami manages to convince you that he is super-human – but also that you can be one too. Isn’t that remarkable?
Get the book NOW!
Some Murakami trivia :
- Songs to listen to while running : Lovin Spoonful , Eric Clapton’s ‘Reptile’
- Running seriously means running 36 miles a week i.e about 58 km a week