What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Title: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Author: Haruki Murakami
Translator: Philip Gabriel
Narrator: Ray Porter
First Published: July 29, 2008
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Pages: 192
Genre: Memoir, Non-Fiction, Sports, Writing
Format: Audiobook
Source: Audible
Rating:


Synopsis:

In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he’d completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, not to mention triathlons and a dozen critically acclaimed books, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and—even more important—on his writing.

Equal parts training log, travelogue, and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon and takes us to places ranging from Tokyo’s Jingu Gaien gardens, where he once shared the course with an Olympian, to the Charles River in Boston among young women who outpace him. Through this marvelous lens of sport emerges a panorama of memories and insights: the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer, his greatest triumphs and disappointments, his passion for vintage LPs, and the experience, after fifty, of seeing his race times improve and then fall back.

By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is rich and revelatory, both for fans of this masterful yet guardedly private writer and for the exploding population of athletes who find similar satisfaction in running.

Review

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is a niche book that will appeal to very specific readers. I can’t imagine the average reader going out of their way to read this book, as the book is largely a collection of diary entries about running. It isn’t a preachy self-help book or a biography about a world-class athlete like most running books but instead focuses on Murakami’s inner world and the way that running has shaped his physical and mental health.

Murakami shares the adrenaline-fueled highs and the frustrating lows that he experiences as a runner. It’s clear that he is an intense person and his drive is inspiring, he pushes himself to his limit and then continues pushing. His focus is on competing with himself rather than other people. He is strict with himself with running and with writing, viewing both as a test of endurance.

I still don’t enjoy running, but that’s okay, this was a meditative audiobook to listen to while at work. I was initially not that interested in this book and I am definitely not the target audience, but I picked it up when looking for a work-safe book, and I was pleasantly surprised. I admire Murakami’s tenacity to continually challenge himself despite physical pain and age. He’s a great writer with an interesting outlook on life, and I enjoyed getting to know him better as a person through this book.

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