'What I talk about when I talk about running' is a part running and part writing memoir from one of my favorite authors - Haruki Murakami. In this book, he reflects the influence of running Marathons & participating in Triathlons had on his writing & and even more important ..on his life.
I am listing down 15
such insights from the book - Considering some of his key observations on the
themes of performance, aging, adventure & life
- Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you are running and you start to think, Man this hurts, I can't take it anymore. The hurt part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand any more is up to the runner himself. This pretty much sums up the most important aspect of marathon running
- To keep on going, you have to keep up the rhythm. This is the important thing for long-term projects. Once you set the pace, the rest will follow. The problem is getting the flywheel to spin at a set speed—and to get to that point takes as much concentration and effort as you can manage (p5)
- It doesn't matter what field you're talking about - beating somebody else just doesn't do it for me. I'm much more interested in whether I reach the goals that set for myself, so in this sense long-distance running is the perfect fit for a mindset like mine (p9)
- What's crucial is whether your writing attains the standards you've set for yourself Failure to reach that bar is not something you can easily explain away. When it comes to other people, you can always come up with a reasonable explanation, but you can’t fool yourself. In this sense, writing and running marathons are very much alike. A writer has a quiet, inner motivation, and doesn’t seek validation in the outwardly visible. (p10)
- One of the results of running a little further than usual is that I become that much stronger… If I have a frustrating experience, I use that to improve myself… I quietly absorb the things I’m able to, releasing them later, and in as changed a form as possible, as part of the storyline in a novel (p20)
- Running has a lot of advantages. First of all, you don't need anybody else to do it, and no need for special equipment. You don't have to go to any special place to do it. As long as you have running shoes and a good road you can run to your hearts content (p33)
- I'm stuck by how, except when you're young, you really need to prioritize in life, figuring out in what order you should divide up your time & energy. If you don't get that sort of system set by a certain age, you'll lack focus and you life will be out of balance (p37)
- I haven’t spotted any springs nearby. I have to pound the rock with a chisel and dig out a deep hole before I can locate the source of creativity…I’ve become quite efficient, both technically and physically, at opening a hole in the hard rock and locating a new water vein (p43)
- In other words, let's face it : Life is basically unfair. But even in a situation that's unfair, I think it's possible to seek out a kind of fairness. Of course, that might take time & effort. And maybe in the end it won't seem to be worth all that. It's up to each individual to decide whether or not it is (p43)
- The fact that I’m me and no one else is one of my greatest assets. Emotional hurt is the price a person has to pay in order to be independent. To tell the truth, I don’t even think there’s that much correlation between my running every day and whether or not I have a strong will. I think I’ve been able to run for more than twenty years for a simple reason: It suits me (p44)
- Fortunately, these 2 disciplines - focus & endurance - are different from talent, since they can be acquired & sharpened through training (p78)
- Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest. If you're going to while away the years, it's far better to live them with clear goals and fully alive that in a fog, and I believe running helps you to do that. Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that's the essence of running, and a metaphor for life (p83)
- You make to do with what you have. As you age you learn even to be happy with what you have. That's one of the few good points of growing older (p86)
- If something's worth doing, it's worth giving it your best - or in some cases beyond your best (p97)
- Maybe the only thing I can definitely say about it is this: that's life. May be the only thing we can do is accept it, without really knowing what's going on (p120)
- Haruki Murakami - Writer (and Runner)
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