Read, run, race

“I read a book and it changed my life.”

This is the opening sentence in a novel by Orhan Pamuk; and it is one of my favorite starts of a book. Recently, I've had a similar experience myself. I read a book and it changed my life. Well, not quite. But it has made me look at my life with new eyes. I have just read a book about running, and it has been like talking to a good friend with almost exactly the same experiences as myself when it comes to the topics that I am writing about in this blog.

The book is “What I talk about when I talk about running” by Haruki Murakami, several of whose books I had read before, although none of them made the same impression. I knew that, in addition to being a world famous author, he is also a pretty decent runner, but I did not know about this book, which is already from 2007. It was brought to my attention by the excellent literature blog of Tine, and the way she described the book was so appealing to me that I bought an electronic version immediately, and I started reading it right away.

It turns out that Murakami has taken a lot of notes when preparing for and right after his many competitions and other running experiences, and he then revised them and put them together in a book, almost like a novel. Why did the book speak to me so well? I think first of all it is because I recognized so well so many of the things I have experienced myself. And secondly, I learned so much from the experiences of Murakami, who has run many full marathons.

During the years when I was struggling with my weight, I had the bad habit of falling into negative thoughts, like how unfair it is that I put on weight so easily while others can eat as much as they like and stay thin. When I finally managed to do something about my weight and got into better training habits, it was partly because I managed to turn these unfair things into positive thoughts. “Just imagine that you are allergic. Allergic to sugar, fat, and too much carbs”. “If I were thin, I would never start running, exercising or eating healthy. So in a sense I am lucky that my metabolism forces me to be fit and healthy.” It turns out that Murakami had exactly the same experiences and exactly the same thoughts!

In addition to many marathons, Murakami has also done several triathlons. Incredibly enough, also his thoughts and experiences about various parts of a triathlon are exactly the same as mine. We have for example in common our uneasiness about biking. The speed in many places is only dependent on how unafraid you are and not how strong, which we both find demotivating. It turns out that he has also had the same experiences as I have had in the start of the swimming part of a triathlon. How people push, even kick, each other. This is something I will never understand, and it was such a relief to read Murakami's sentiments that were exactly the same as mine.

What really appeals to me in Murakami's book is that he is simply writing about his own experiences, and he is not trying to give advice or teach. This is also what I am striving for in my blog. Not tell others what to do; simply tell what I am doing. Perhaps recommend a few things that I have tried and liked. Like this book...

If you are a runner I think you will like it!