Run Murakami Run

He writes: 8220;Most ordinary runners are motivated by an individual goal, more than anything: namely, a time they want to beat. As long as he can beat that time, a runner will feel he8217;s accomplished what he set out to do, and if he can8217;t, then he8217;ll feel he

hasn8217;t. Even if he doesn8217;t break the time he8217;d hoped for, as long as he has the sense of satisfaction at having done his very best 8212; and, possibly, having made some significant discovery about himself in the process 8212; then that in itself is an accomplishment, a positive feeling he can carry over to the next race. The same can be said about my profession. In the novelist8217;s profession, as far as I am concerned, there8217;s no such thing as winning or losing.8221;

But he explains why it is he came to running: to keep thin and fit. He has just wound up his jazz cafe to become a full-time writer and the sudden sedentary life has piled up the extra pounds. These, however, are the bare bones of the story. The book is, ultimately, about the allure of long-distance running, about Murakami8217;s articulation of something runners know but often can8217;t express and something the rest of us can only wonder about.