A book review.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami.
Just finished reading this exciting and inspiring autobiographical work of Haruki Murakami called " What I Talk About When I Talk About Running".
I specially enjoyed this as I see some minuscule signs of his personality in me - running, that's what the book is all about. This acknowledged Japanese origin Japanese and English author and literary person who has dozens of novels, short stories and several dozens of translations, based on which some popular movies have been made and has another side of his personality that comes out so strongly only in this fascinating true story of his life.
The grit of a competitive athlete is usually or should I say always absent in people who have literary orientation and have devoted their lives to literature. But Murakami tells us that not only both could coexist but he goes on to prove that both are complimentary skills and both impact each other for better shine respectively.
It's hard to understand what makes people run when they run until you experience the same. People run for different reasons and most of long distance running is rarely for competitive sports. It's more for fun and to push yourself and test your limits. When you run you explore your limits and push them further and further by constantly moving the goal post.
Murakami explains how this works for him and he never asks you to follow him. This is the best way to encourage people to enjoy what he did and experience as to why pushing and exploiting your own body and subjecting yourself to "cruelty" is fun.
I truly hold him as a hero who demonstrates what it takes to enjoy your life by subjecting it to such gruelling schedules and how important it is to follow proper trainings for succeeding in whatever task you do, it doesn't have to be just road running or triathlon but any work you do.
He said he was a late starter to take up running as a sport at 33 and has run at least one marathon a year for 25 consecutive years till publishing of this book 12 years back. I hope he still runs and I wish I could imitate him with at least two half-marathon in a year for the next 25 years, although I started running only at a young age of 61 and have completed my quota of wish list for the first year with five months to spare.
I recommend this book to everyone who wants to explore his/ her limits and keep it pushing further and further.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami.
Just finished reading this exciting and inspiring autobiographical work of Haruki Murakami called " What I Talk About When I Talk About Running".
I specially enjoyed this as I see some minuscule signs of his personality in me - running, that's what the book is all about. This acknowledged Japanese origin Japanese and English author and literary person who has dozens of novels, short stories and several dozens of translations, based on which some popular movies have been made and has another side of his personality that comes out so strongly only in this fascinating true story of his life.
The grit of a competitive athlete is usually or should I say always absent in people who have literary orientation and have devoted their lives to literature. But Murakami tells us that not only both could coexist but he goes on to prove that both are complimentary skills and both impact each other for better shine respectively.
It's hard to understand what makes people run when they run until you experience the same. People run for different reasons and most of long distance running is rarely for competitive sports. It's more for fun and to push yourself and test your limits. When you run you explore your limits and push them further and further by constantly moving the goal post.
Murakami explains how this works for him and he never asks you to follow him. This is the best way to encourage people to enjoy what he did and experience as to why pushing and exploiting your own body and subjecting yourself to "cruelty" is fun.
I truly hold him as a hero who demonstrates what it takes to enjoy your life by subjecting it to such gruelling schedules and how important it is to follow proper trainings for succeeding in whatever task you do, it doesn't have to be just road running or triathlon but any work you do.
He said he was a late starter to take up running as a sport at 33 and has run at least one marathon a year for 25 consecutive years till publishing of this book 12 years back. I hope he still runs and I wish I could imitate him with at least two half-marathon in a year for the next 25 years, although I started running only at a young age of 61 and have completed my quota of wish list for the first year with five months to spare.
I recommend this book to everyone who wants to explore his/ her limits and keep it pushing further and further.
