What I Talk about When I Talk about Running: A Memoir

I have placed this book atop my listmania group of literary running books. Haruki Murakami's marvelously entertaining WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING is about his running, yes, but it also touches on other interesting ideas, including the author's affinities for music, literature, and baseball, Japanese and American: "As if to lament the defeat of the Boston Red Sox in the playoffs (they lost every game in a Sox vs. Sox series with Chicago), for ten days afterward a cold rain fell on New England. A long autumn rain. Sometimes it rained hard, sometimes softly; sometimes, it would let up for a time like an afterthought, but not once did it clear up." "From beginning to end the sky was completely covered with the thick gray clouds particular to this region. Like a dawdling person, the rain lingered for a long time, then finally made up its mind to turn into a downpour. Towns from New Hampshire to Massachusetts suffered damage from the rain, and the main highway was cut off in places." Murakami says he took the title of his book from the title of the Raymond Carver short story collection, WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT LOVE, and thanks Carver's widow for giving him permission. Murakami has translated many of Carver's works into Japanese, as well as other American fiction. He says: "One other project I'm involved in now is translating Scott Fitzgerald's THE GREAT GATSBY, and things are going well. I've finished the first draft and am revising the second. I'm taking my time, going over each line carefully, and as I do so the translation gets smoother and I'm better able to render Fitzgerald's prose into more natural Japanese." "It's a little strange, perhaps, to make this claim at such a late date, but GATSBY really is an outstanding novel. I never get tired of it, no matter how many times I read it. It's the kind of literature that nourishes you as you read, and every time I do I'm struck by something new, and experience a fresh reaction to it. I find it amazing how such a young writer, only twenty-one at the time, could grasp--so insightfully, so equitably, and so warmly--the realities of life. How was this possible? The more I think about it, and the more I read the novel, the more mysterious it all is." Music, baseball, literature, and running. My kind of writer. Runners looking for a similar read might want to try Don Kardong's THIRTY PHONE BOOTHS TO BOSTON. Readers new to Murakami who enjoyed this one might be inspired to try one of the author's many novels, and I highly recommend THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE.

loved this book! picked it up based on ana wallace on youtube recommendation - she rereads it every year. for her it’s a reference points that she goes back to, and it’s the same for me! would love to get a hardback version signed by him someday

Que l'on soit coureur de fonds expérimenté ou joggeur occasionnel, on ne pourra qu'être touché et se reconnaître dans cet ouvrage. Car ici il ne s'agit pas d'un ouvrage technique sur la course à pied mais davantage sur l'auteur en tant que marathonien. Ainsi sont explorés les doutes, les satisfactions et les raisons qui poussent un coureur à se lever le matin et à enfiler ses chaussures pour entreprendre un exercice le plus souvent harassant. Cet essai nous éclaire également sur ce qu'apporte à l'auteur la pratique du sport d'endurance. Il nous en apprend davantage sur son caractère et sa façon d'envisager sa vie d'écrivain. Le parallèle entre sa carrière professionnel et son parcours en tant que coureur apparaît alors. Cela en fait un ouvrage indispensable à tout amateur de de Murakami (ce dont je suis). C'est finalement un ouvrage sur l’accomplissement personnel, la nécessité, pour certains, de se poser sans cesse des objectifs et des défis à relever. Au final, la qualité intrinsèque de l'ouvrage fait qu'il n'est nul besoins d'être un coureur ou un familier de Murakami pour pleinement l’apprécier. De mon côté, en tant que coureur occasionnel et admirateur, je ne saurai que trop le recommander.

作家かつ長距離ランナーとしても知られる著者がマラソンを中心に長距離走の経験を語る。全9編中の7編はマラソンだが、第６篇のウルトラマラソン（62マイル走）と第9編のトライアスロンが珍しかった。北海道サロマ湖で行われたウルトラマラソンは普通のマラソン(26マイル）の倍以上を走る。半分ほど走った頃に下肢筋が硬く感じられ、空腹と口渇を覚え、腕を大きく振るうことで足を前に動かす気持ちで何とか完走した。直後にランニングブルー（一種の諦観か空白感）を感じた。新潟県村上市でのトライアスロンも水泳(0.93マイル）、自転車（24.8マイル）、ラン(6.2マイル）の連続で泳法を調整、過呼吸の管理で水泳も独自の感じ。3種類の競技のそれぞれに要する筋肉が異なり、そのためのトレーニングが必要である。英文は読みやすく スポーツは苦手な私にとっても面白く読めた。YY

How it comes to the point that Marukami started writing? It was a mood, not real intention to start a career. Trial and error. Why not to take this approach. He did it with his jazz club and had success. He wrote the novel Hear the Wind Sing in 1978 and got an award. So, he was able to write and get paid to write. The next novel „Pinball, 1973“ was published in 1982. I can see my readers in my mind. I want to evolve, get better and a real conceptional human relationship helps me to go further and improve. Like running, with training he will reach excellence. Murakami apply the Pareto-Principle without mention it. He wants to run his jazz club in that way that 1 of 10 will be happy and will come again. So, he sees the readers of his books. If 1 of 10 like it they will buy the next book from him. He is an early bird. He starts early in the morning and work hard but doesn’t forget the pauses, the sport. His productive time is from 5 am to 10 pm. He set to the desk for four hours regularly and write or think about something and makes notes or do some translation. Murakami translated „The Great Gatsby“ by F. Scott Fitzgerald. He wondered how such a young man can have so much human experience. F. Scott Fitzgerald was just 29 years old. He must be a real talent, a giant. His training for Marathon was a 5-miles stretch in Imperia Park, he repeated it 7 times to get the marathon distance. He explained that the Marathon will get difficult at about after the first 22 miles. This is the power of will the mental power that counts. He eats fresh fish and vegetables and cut down on indulgence to get fit for the marathon. What counts are the three pillars: talent, focus and endurance. Talented writers are seldom. Most writers had to work hard to accomplish the story. He likes writing as he likes running. And both are essential. Tendencies can be adjusted, essence not. So. he believe in having a talent, a talent to a long-distance running and top write. He had not finished the novels without running. He is proud to accomplished the novels and he is curious about what is coming next. He would say this is life – the evolvement and the relationship between body and mind. He balanced the stories between inner and external stuff. Fantasy and reality. The contemplation about this is during the running. Something is achieved by reflection others by intuition or by chance. Unconsciously. He compares himself as a long-distance runner with the proud running pony-tail girls from Harvard University who don’t know what pain is. They are always on the bright side of life and it seems like they are in a perfect world: young, pretty, rich, successful. He is brag to know what matters what he knows about running. The top experience was the super marathon he took in and achieved it. He was running the last miles like an auto pilot. He did much work with his arms because the feet failed to obey, don’t did what they should have done. Murakami sensed resignation after the super marathon. He developed a new relationship to running. He started triathlon. A valuable reflection is his retrospective. As a young man he had created a list of deficiencies he discovered, The „sad spreadsheet of my life“, he said. But then he decided that we all have deficiencies but as well impaccable sides. So debts and assets are given but one has to develop the best of it. He failed in swimming. He solved the issue by taking a coach. Finally, he took revenge and accomplished the race. Sometimes one wants to do but cannot do. „Sometimes taking time is actually a shortcut “. Good things need time and slow thinking is sometimes valuable approach. Learning from experience makes a lot of fun. Experience is often linked to pain. Pain is needed. It is life and to overcome pain is what is what a marathon runner experienced. One has to accept something that is inefficient and fruitless. That is life.