I came upon this book purely by chance, I was on my way to get 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. But when waiting for my boys in the Japanese anime section at the Dunedin Public Library (they were looking for the Manga series Haikyu!! A series my wife watched as a child and that my kids now love on Netflix). I looked down and saw the name Haruki Murakami! What are the chances of that? That’s the author of the book I was searching out! Who knew this legendary Japanese author was also a long distance runner and has competed in more than 20 marathons an ultramarathon of 62 miles and now triathalons.
“What I Talk About When I Talk About Running,” is a very simple book, and is short. Murakami believes that most of what he knows about writing he’s learned through the act of running every day. Specifically, he believes that writing requires, in order of priority – talent, focus and endurance all of which you can find in the habit of running. It was great to jog alongside Murakami for a few blocks, to be reminded why I run and that discipline is essential to growth in any direction. Running , swimming, writing, photography all require this discipline. There are days that you want it to stop, there are days that you question why you ever started. But what running teaches you is habit forming and trickles down into other areas of your life.
Thats why I run, and still want to run. Even as a get older and slower, I have found that I can’t improve my times and my children now can out run me. Running still has a place in my heart. There is something meditative about getting into that breathing rhythm and bouncing along a trail surrounded by nature.
Right now, I’m gonna keep running, or as long as I can until my knees give out!
