Book Review - What I Talk about when I talk about Running

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer in both fiction and non fiction categories, quite popular in the literary circles, his books have been translated to more than 40 languages and have won numerous awards. Murakami also happens to be an enthusiastic leisure long distance runner and Triathlete and this book is all about his memoirs as a runner and triathlete.

I had heard a lot about Murakami and about this book, may be my expectations were too high and I expected to read more about running techniques, form etc etc in this book, never the less I think overall it is an above average book.

The author has written the book like a memoir, he talks a lot about importance of being fit and how he used running to get in shape. Being an author needed him to think a lot and maintain his creative thoughts flowing and to relax and let go the tension he started running long distances. He has given enough advice to runners on importance of training and building stamina and strength to avoid injuries. His own span of long distance running for more than 25 years has taught him many important life lessons the most important of them being discipline, focus and hard work.

Marukami stresses a on training, building muscle memory and most importantly listening to your body and then talking a call if you need to push or stop. His experience as an Ultra Marathon in an event in Japan exposes some of his beliefs that he had before the race and shows how ultra marathons can be such a humbling experience.

The author shares his experience of training and running in the big marathons of the world including the New York City Marathon and the prestigious Boston Marathon and his transformation to a Tri athlete.

The best sentence I liked in the book read as follows
“ If I used being busy as an excuse not to run, I would never run again “

A quick read if you are at an airport in transit or taking a short flight, not something you can add to your collection but if someone gifts it to you certainly read it once even if you are not a runner.