Book Report: What I Talk about when I Talk about Running

Haruki Murakami is a brilliant fiction writer, and he recently published a non-fiction book about his running life. This was perfect for my first Triathablog read: He paints long-distance running as reflective, meditative, and essential to his writing process, and that's just what I hope to achieve.

He writes, "I'm the type of person who doesn't find it painful to be alone. I find spending an hour or two every day running alone, not speaking to anyone, as well as four or five hours alone at my desk, to be neither difficult nor boring." As my friends will tell you, I also crave time alone — so much so that I don't answer my phone or check voicemail. Like Murakami, I don't find it comfortable or desirable to be alone ALL the time, but I do seem to enjoy solitude more than most people.

I don't think he sees running as a metaphor for life, but he does learn from it, and he carries his own neurosis into running, as we all do. "I couldn't accept this," he writes, after a disappointing race. "I'd trained so hard, so why did I get cramps? I'm not trying to argue that all effort is fairly rewarded, but if there is a God in heaven, was it asking to much to let me glimpse a sign? Was it too much to expect a little kindness?" I, too, feel abandoned by God at the first sign of a cramp or Runner's Knee or a rainy morning when I wanted a clear one (also getting stopped at a red light or sleeping through my alarm, it isn't limited to running).

Murakami is a serious runner. He runs a marathon every year, and he also writes from experience about an Ironman and several triathlons. He's no hobbyist, but neither is he the kind of running maniac that turns people off to the sport. This isn't Murakami's greatest work, but I don't think that's what he was going for. I think he wrote the book to relate to other runners, and to explore something he's devoted much of his time to.

His book chronicles sport as part of the rhythm of everyday life, not a chore or an addiction, the way it's too often portrayed. It's clear, meditative, and restful. I think runners will enjoy it most, but it's worth anyone's time, athlete or not.