What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami - Paperback

Murakami skriver personligen om hur det gick till att han blev författare och började springa för att få struktur på livet. Han skriver inte hur man ska träna, men berättar hur han tränade. Jag upplevde boken som avslappnad utan pretentioner. Han skriver både om vad han lyckas med och vad han misslyckats med. Jag reflekterade mycket över både hans och min träning medan jag läste boken. Influerad av boken, så har jag nu i mer än ett halvår sprungit minst 2 km om dagen och häromdagen blev det 24 km.

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