Running & writing
A few weeks ago, I had ocassion to read ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running’ by Haruki Murakami. It is an autobiographical book about the author’s running efforts, which are praiseworthy. For someone who took up running to keep himself fit because he had a sedentary day job of writing, his results are remarkable. On an average, he has completed a marathon a year, while also doing an ultra-marathon and a few triathlons.
The book is very allegorical in style, good read although repetitive and slow at times. But the repetitiveness is why the book stuck in my mind. Mr Murakami stresses on the one point of training and discipline, and draws the seemingly ill-fitting analogy between running a marathon and writing a book, and describes both as intensely physical activities. Writing needs immense concentration which draws as much of the body’s physical reserves as running a marathon. We are free to form our own opinions on that, and say that it is too simplistic, or it is too far-fetched but I do agree with what Mr Murakami says, in essence, at least.
Although I have neither written or run at the level that Mr Murakami has, I have done some amount of good-natured amateur dabbling in writing and various sports, and I do think that writing is as physical as any sport. The sheer strength of will needed to sit at a table for a significant amount of time needs physical strength. And once one is in the groove, the words flow for the writer like the steps flow for the runner, one word and one stride merging into the other. Gone is writer’s block or fatigue.
Leaving aside the supremely gifted writers or athletes, whose only battle is against themselves and not against such mundane everybody things like exhaustion, most of us possibly undergo the same experiences. And this is where Mr Murakami reigns – he talks about average people, and by presenting himself as one, builds a connection with the reader beyond that of the writer and reader. He makes it appear as if everyone can write a book, and everyone can run a marathon; all that is needed is training and focus. ‘It is easy, see I could do it’, he seems to say.
He was approximately 30 when he started running and writing, an age when most people are tied down to a life of expectations, and are prisoners of a past which is shorter than their futures but an age which is as good a time as any to make a fresh start. He made the new start, selling his jazz bar and settling down to a life which revolved around writing, and running as a means to stay fit.
I am in love with the book. I made this blog live after I finished reading the book because I started to believe that I could write, and write regularly. And I signed up for a Himalayan 5-day and 100-kilometre walk in November. Baby steps. And it is never too late.
Thank you, Mr Murakami.
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Bola bhi naheen saala ..v v nice baby steps darling..
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tathagata Reply:
March 23rd, 2009 at 12:12 am
@ Kits: Thanku. And it is very cool, will send you link. Come, come. )
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