What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

My latest book review on Haruki Murakami's wonderful memoir.

I adored this book and at several points whilst reading it wanted to exclaim 'Yes! EXACTLY.' I am also envious that Murakami beat me to writing on the subject, because I had had for about a year now some sort of vague idea to write something about running, at some point.

...

"Of course, it was painful, and there were times when, emotionally, I just wanted to chuck it all. But pain seems to be a precondition for this type of sport. If pain weren't involved, who in the world would ever go to the trouble of taking part in sports like the triathlon or the marathon, which demand such an investment of time and energy? It's precisely because of the pain, precisely because we want to overcome that pain, that we can get the feeling, through this process, of really being alive - or at least a partial sense of it."

Amen to that brother, the running shoes are being dug out of the wardrobe.