REVIEW: "What am I talking about when I talk about running", Haruki Murakami

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Haruki Murakami needs no special introduction. His works are popular, and with each new novel the number of his readers only grows. So I succumbed to the charm of this writer’s prose after reading the book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

There is no catch here: the book is really about running, about the author's many years of running experience. However, this is not a running textbook, but a collection of memories and impressions of running and racing.

I am not going to bring light to the masses and appeal to the world with calls like “Let's run every day to be healthy!”. This book is just about what running represents for me personally.

Haruki Murakami writer, jogger

Of course, there are many inspiring arguments for running, but that does not mean that you are reading the confession of a finishing ribbon conqueror. Murakami-san just genuinely loves to run and shares the experience he has.

You will find a number of so-called rules of thumb here. Maybe there is nothing special about them, but, in any case, I learned my lesson on the run, experiencing this run with all my being.

Haruki Murakami writer, jogger

Basically, these rules relate not so much to running technique as to philosophy:

• the importance of consistency, not numbers;
• what is worth paying attention to while jogging;
• motivation that will help you run from year to year;
• attitudes towards defeats that cannot be avoided even after the most careful preparation;
• the importance of talent and innate abilities to achieve results, and not only on the treadmill;
• the benefits of suffering from time to time for body and soul.

Who Should Read This Book

Anyone who has been running, jogging, or just choosing their first sneakers, and, of course, those who are engaged in writing in one manner or another.

It is light yet intelligent reading, a little fun and inspiring.

The chapters on the preparation for the triathlon were my favorite. After all, here we are talking not only about running, which is a thrill to me, like Murakami himself, but also about water and a bicycle, in relation to which the author and I are also similar.