I must say that I am very thankful to this book for getting me back into the habit of running and giving me a ready made excuse to spend 45 minutes of my time thus.

What I Talk about When I Talk about WalkingI was originally more of a sportsman (or a sportsboy) than an athlete.As a schoolboy, I absolutely hated running any distance over 100 meters. I was the second fastest in my year at the 100 meter sprint (there were two able males in my grade!), and for a while I could even do the 100 meters hurdles. Although I loved surfing and body surfing, I was hopeless at swimming anything but across the pool. I just wasn't made out for anything but team sports (where I could be hidden from the opposition).Nevertheless, I continued to run for about an hour almost every day or night until I was 40. My motivation was that the more I exercised, the more I could eat and drink.My wife, F.M. Sushi, and I got married when I was 33 and she was about 29. She had been a national heptathlon champion and was then a personal trainer. We only ever ran with each other twice. Once was at Noosa national park on our honeymoon, when I twisted my ankle on the dirt path along the ocean edge of the park. The other was when we decided to run the Gold Coast Half Marathon "together" (no, it wasn't a three-legged race!). I had practised a lot for it by running up to 15 kilometers each day, but I had never run any distance longer than this. From that point onwards in the actual race, I just couldn't continue physically or mentally, though I nevertheless finished it in two hours. F. M. Sushi described running so slowly that she could keep up with me as the most tedious thing she had ever done in her life. She was literally running circles around me and I could still never get ahead of her. I ran for a few more years after that (once I recovered), but eventually gave it up, first in order to use an exercise bike, and then to walk. From that point onwards, I walked at least one hour pretty much every morning of the week. Until about three years ago, I actually boosted the time to three hours, but I was finding that I suffered from fatigue and muscular tightness in my calves. I now walk 75 minutes every morning. My average speed is about 10 minutes per kilometer. So that's about 7 1/2 kilometers per day. I also walk our dog, Charlie, for about 30 minutes most afternoons. I have to walk circles around him every time he finds a tree.I listen to music when I walk. I have hundreds of playlists that I've made of my music collection, and this is about the only time I get to listen to them. I used to type messages and compose faux-poetry on GoodReads during my walks, until I tripped over a fallen branch on the footpath and almost broke my arm towards the end of last year.Apart from these injuries, I found that walking as soon as I woke up (usually to get home) cleared my mind and boosted my mental energy, so that when I started work or my writing, I was ready to commit a full day to the task. I also assumed that it might have prolonged my life, but I'm not sure whether that is the case. I've almost been run over three times on my walks, twice by buses and once by a cyclist being chased by a magpie.I broke my arm a few months ago, in a fall on the courtyard outside our home. Some complications with my shoulder muscles or tendons prevented me walking for a few weeks (I should clarify that I normally walk on my feet!). When I resumed, I felt that things I could once do easily (hills, distances) were more demanding than they had been, and I've had a greater sense of mortality than ever before.What I Talk about When I Talk about Running WritingHaruki Murakami started running about the same time he started writing novels (at age 33). He describes the physical aspects of writing as unhealthy or bad for his body or a "toxin". Part of his reason for running is to prolong his writing life, by expelling this toxin.Running is also vital to the frame of mind he requires for his creativity:"I'm the type of person who doesn't find it painful to be alone. I find spending an hour or two every day running alone, not speaking to anyone, as well as four or five hours alone at my desk, to be neither difficult nor boring...the hour or so I spend running, maintaining my own silent, private time, is important to help me keep my mental well-being. "When I'm running I don't have to talk to anybody and don't have to listen to anybody. All I need to do is gaze at the scenery passing by...I just run. I run in a void. Or maybe I should put it another way: I run in order to acquire a void..."I probably shouldn't be looking up at [clouds]. What I should be looking at is inside me. Like staring down into a deep well."Despite its energetic subject matter, this non-fiction work is written in a relatively relaxed and conversational style. It describes the self-discipline required to be a long distance runner and consistently imaginative writer. Murakami reveals a little of both his soul and his soles. This is probably as close to a memoir as we're likely to get from one of my favourite authors.

*happy sigh*You know when you read a book and it just speaks to you? Something about the time and place and just all the circumstances match up and you know you read the book at the perfect time? This was that.My drive to immerse myself in the world of writing keeps growing, and I've found so much fun in collecting books about writers and writing that I can't wait to sink into. I had to start somewhere, so I picked up What I Talk About When I Talk About Running because, back when I bought it a few months ago, I'd read the first few pages in the bookshop and it had really piqued my interest.This book is definitely about writing. We learn about Murakami's methods, his work ethic, why he became a writer in the first place, what keeps him writing now. But more than that it is a book about running. About why he loves running, how it has influenced his life, how it interlinks with his writing. It's a journal about his training, his ups and downs, and for a person who really really hate running (no, really, friends, I HATE IT) I found this an absolute pleasure. Sure, this was about running, but it was really about a person who loves something, and I learned so much from his determination and passion and consistency.It was such a meditative reading experience for me, a chance to listen to someone talk about their life and the lessons they've learned, through a journal on running and writing.

This was great! But I was kind of hoping it would make me want to quit smoking and start being a runner. It did not. If anything, it solidified my already-pretty-solid hatred of the idea of running. God damn stupid healthy Haruki.

Murakami è riuscito a farmi andare a correre la mattina. (EDIT 13/3/2016: Ho partecipato alla Euroma2run, 5 km! Sì,ok, la non competitiva di 5 km.. Ma grande traguardo! EDIT 10/1/2016: é più di un mese che alle sei vado a correre, pioggia, Natale e capodanno compresi :3) (Comunque c'è gente più sciroccata di me che domenica alle sei va a lavare la macchina, parliamone!)Affinché sia chiara la profondità di questa cosa, io sono di quelle persone che in inverno andrebbe in letargo, che alla frase "Dai corriamo, passa l'autobus" io risponderei con un "Piuttosto mi impicco" e soprattutto è molto probabile che quando nel mondo distribuivano l'attitudine allo sport, io mi stessi nascondendo dietro la colonna per non essere beccata. Ecco. Io alle 6 di mattina vado a correre, così, come se niente fosse.. Rendiamoci conto della cosa!Il perché e il percome io sia finita in questa situazione è presto detto: Murakami ha toccato le corde giuste non presentando la corsa come una cosa fyghissima e bellissima (seriamente, chi sarebbe caduto in un trabocchetto così sgamabile? :D).. No, Murakami me l'ha presentata come un'occasione per sfidare sé stessi e per superare i propri limiti (palesemente quelli fisici, nel mio caso anche psicologici che mi impediscono di praticare sport senza prima piangere disperatamente :D) in un vero e proprio trionfo d'orgoglio. Man mano che leggevo ha fugato i miei dubbi e le mie 'paure', ridimensionando il tutto a qualcosa di assolutamente fattibile.. Insomma, volere è potere!Sono parecchio contenta di aver letto questo libro, non solo per la palese epifania riguardante lo sport (e che epifania!) ma soprattutto perché con Murakami ho da qualche tempo un rapporto conflittuale e difficile.. Pensavo sinceramente che tra noi due si fosse spenta la passione e l'amore fosse terminato.. Invece vedo un po' di luce in fondo al tunnel!L'ho conosciuto con "Norwegian wood" ed è stato un amore fulmineo e profondo; l'ho continuato ad adorare con "La ragazza dello Sputnik" e "Dance dance dance", ma la sintonia si è rotta con "South of the Border, West of the Sun" e "La fine del mondo e il paese delle meraviglie"; "1Q84" è addirittura riuscito ad entrare fra i dieci libri più brutti che io abbia mai avuto il dispiacere di leggere, non so se rendo :(Bene, dopo la storia della mia vita che non interessa nessuno, dicevo.. Sono contenta di aver ripreso un po' i rapporti con Murakami perché non penso che senza di questo libro avrei letto altro di suo!Il libro ovviamente non si limita a descriverci di lui che corre - come quanto e perché -, ma ci permette anche di conoscere il Murakami non autore.. Non penso che Murakami sia la persona più simpatica del pianeta e anzi.. Probabilmente è proprio vero il contrario: molti passaggi del romanzo mi hanno dato questa sgradevole sensazione anche se talvolta invece mi è molto piaciuto.. Sono combattuta!! La vita del Murakami corridore si intreccia inevitabilmente con il Murakami scrittore e questa piccola incursione nel suo modus operandie sull'inizio della sua carriera come novellista ha un sapore molto intimo, mi è piaciuta!!Poi vabbé, si può dire quello che si vuole ma di certo non che Murakami non sappia scrivere e qui ritroviamo tutta la sua potenza descrittiva e tante chicche davvero interessantissime!So my new, simple, and regular life began. I got up before five a.m. and went to bed before ten p.m. People are at their best at different times of day, but Im definitely a morning person. Thats when I can focus and finish up important work I have to do. Afterward I work out or do other errands that dont take much concentration. At the end of the day I relax and dont do any more work. I read, listen to music, take it easy, and try to go to bed early. This is the pattern Ive mostly followed up till today. Thanks to this, Ive been able to work efficiently these past twenty-four years. Its a lifestyle, though, that doesnt allow for much nightlife, and sometimes your relationships with other people become problematic. Some people even get mad at you, because they invite you to go somewhere or do something with them and you keep turning them down.But in real life things dont go so smoothly. At certain points in our lives, when we really need a clear-cut solution, the person who knocks at our door is, more likely than not, a messenger bearing bad news. It isnt always the case, but from experience Id say the gloomy reports far outnumber the others. The messenger touches his hand to his cap and looks apologetic, but that does nothing to improve the contents of the message. It isnt the messengers fault. No good to blame him, no good to grab him by the collar and shake him. The messenger is just conscientiously doing the job his boss assigned him. And this boss? That would be none other than our old friend Reality.