If you’ve never read a book by Haruki Murakami it either means you’re not into eclectic and meticulous Japanese literature steeped in magical realism—or you’re not an introspective runner who picked up his 2007 running memoir titled What I Talk About When I Talk About Running[1]
We went to Japan in 2025 and even though I spent six months beforehand trying to learn some of the language, I couldn’t parse my way through any bookstore with any confidence to find an untranslated tome from one of my favourite authors. I’m stuck with translations, as terrific as they are. But I digress…
Murakami san is by all accounts a down to earth kinda guy. An author by trade, obviously, he wrote his own autobiography wrapped in the flip side of his personality, that of a prolific runner logging hundreds of miles and traversing his worlds on foot.
I had read this running book years ago and, too, it often turns up in the rotation of my audiobook collection. The style is that of a collection of essays and short autobiographical tales, and it is easy to pick up and jump into at random. I had not thought about it for a while but, then, a couple weeks ago it showed up as a summer sale ebook and so I added a third copy to my collection.
It has the honour of being the first book on my reading list for this blog because, bluntly, re-reading through the first fifty or so pages of Murakami’s memoir is a big piece of what got me thinking about writing more about running again. Ahem. I’m blogging about running again and you in part have Murakami to thank.
I am a writer, albeit not one as prolific and successful as Murakami, but we share that.
I am a runner, albeit perhaps a bit slower than Murakami, but we share that.
And for all the brash, bragging content online, the reels and the pitches and the influencer click bait, I figured I could do one more thing like Murakami: I could write calmly and reflectively on this sport that I love. I could be the anti-influencer blogger, waxing poetically upon the trails, and take a metaphorical page from Murakami san on this site.
If that appeals to you, stick around… or just go read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.
References
- ↑ . (2007). What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (走ることについて語るときに僕の語ること). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_I_Talk_About_When_I_Talk_About_Running.
