I recently read and LOVED Haruki Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Geoff Dyer's New York Times review says the book is "part training diary, part reruns of escapades undertaken at the behest of magazines."
Murakami, now 60, has been running since 1982 (he was 33) and has been in 20 marathons. He's also a serious triathlete.
Instead of inspiring me to run more races, his book has made me shy away from them. I'm focusing more on enjoying each run. Being in the run wholely and not focusing on my time so much. I've learned to slow down.
I still get competitive with myself and I can't resist pushing myself a bit more when I'm being timed. That's why nowadays I prefer running alone, untimed.
I focus more now on slowing down my breathing, relaxing into the run and not rushing. It's one of the most delicious things in the world... running without thinking about how fast you're going or how long you're supposed to run.
Lately we've been blessed with rain in our runs and I think it's wonderful to run in the rain. No overheating and the sound of rain beats any iPod playlist I've got.
I have never been more in love with running than I am now.
3 comments:
I love this book as well! When I read it, I was thinking, oh my god, I can never do 62 miles! haha. But he's so inspiring. I mean, I'll probably would never be able to run like him, but the book inspires me to stick to running. Bahala na kung mabilis o hindi, basta endure the run as much as one can. =)
The hardbound version looked really nice, but since the font size was huge, parang hindi sya sulit, so I got the same mass market paperback edition as well.
parang minsan kasi, everyone's doing this, everyone has this, etc. so i must do, have it, too. nagiging keeping up with the jones'es tuloy ang running. kahit na your heart is not into it. i much prefer doing it on my own, what i enjoy, than being caught up with the crowd.
@Gina: he is so inspiring. and i love the way he writes!
@Anon: amen to that! it got to a point for me na i would run because i had to, not because i wanted to. now i really run when i want to. and it's more meaningful. running to me is like prayer/meditation. can't be cajoled into it and can't be rushed through it. :)
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