What I talk about when I talk about running

When Huraki Murakami has his new novel IQ84 released about a month ago, I started reading his 'memoir', What I talk about when I talk about running. Anyone who read about him briefly would know he is a jazz addict, a cat lover and a very keen runner. The book is like a training diary, how he started running after closing down his jazz bar Peter Cat. And later in the book, more details on how prepared himself to run the New York City Marathon back in 2005. Interestingly enough that at one point of his practice, he ran the original route from Athens to Marathon, seeing flattened dogs and cats by the side of the highway.

Very uplifting as it involves nothing about the skills but the dynamics of running, how the body and the mind change in the time of 26 miles. More, how this momentum has an effect on his literary productivity. Its true that we readers have fantasized enough, being creative or having that thing called 'talent' doesnt make you finish a novel, they could dry out. It takes energy to plan the narrative, pick the right word, and physically, keep up with that pattern for a year or two. So maybe it is necessary for him to so brutally induce discipline and strength into his life. 

Like many of his other work, the humour is there, so people who doesnt do long distance running (i.e. me) would find it captivating enough to continue reading. The tone is light, chatty style, and most sentences are short like there is a rhythm to it. 

There are insights to life, quite concrete ones that you just cant not agree. i.e. the idea of faded youth, a familiar topic in most of his work, and he very nicely put it as 'just as a fastball pitcher's speed starts to slip away with time'. Time is ticking, and something has to be done, or tested. It also feels good to be reminded about the self-satisfaction we get from having the endurance to stick to one thing. There are either too many choices or too many excuses, not to elaborate here but sometimes I wish I didnt have them. If they werent there, I would have probably finished my degree already, gotten a job, getting paid way above what I am getting now. Anyways, the months ahead are clear so theres not much to moan about. 

It is actually the first time I read an english translation of Murakami's work. I have no idea how japanese is like compared to english but a gut feeling tells me that chinese is closer to japanese than english. So I would probably go back to chinese for his next one. Still, its a simple, charming and honest book, recommended!

As a side note, this is where Murakami adapted this very catchy english book title, a tribute to one of his favourite writer.