What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

"Pain is inevitable.  Suffering is optional.  The hurt part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand any more is up to the runner himself."

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
by Haruki Murakami
This is a fun book for runners, aspiring runners, writers, aspiring writers, or anyone inbetween!  I read it on the commuter rail to Framingham last week.  Inspiring.  Afterwards I was canceled my evening plans (date at the library with my textbooks!) and went for a long run.  For Murakami, writing and running were two passions that grew together.  He started running at age 33.  Around that time Murakami closed his Tokyo jazz bar and started a novel.  Now, after twelve books (maybe more) and over twenty marathons later, Murakami offers perspectives on his journey.

“Most of what I know about writing I’ve learned through running every day.  These are practical, physical lessons.  How much can I push myself?  How much rest is appropriate—and how much is too much?  How far can I take something and still keep it decent and consistent?  When does it become narrow-minded and inflexible?  How much shold I be aware of the world outside, and how much shold I focus on my inner world?  To what extent should I be confident in my abilities, and when should I start doubting myself?  I know that if I hadn’t become a long-distance runner when I became a novelist, my work would have ben vastly different.  How different.  Hard to say.  But something would have definitely been different.”

Murakami spent time writing and running in Japan, Hawaii, and...Cambridge!  Now when I run along the Charles River I picture him running those same paths.  At one point Murakami equates Boston with Sam Adams draft beer and Dunkin Donuts.  I chuckle, but have to agree.