Haruki Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

This is the first ever Haruki Murakami book I've read and what really got to me what how he managed to turn something so mundane and repetitive like running into something so interesting to read about. And what really struck me was how normal he is. I think I tend to elevate artists and authors for some reason and so it was really insightful to read that Haruki Murakami goes through the same kind of thoughts and experiences that I do when running.

I read a comment on a book review site where the reader was disappointed by how normal Haruki Murakami is. He had expected someone weird and abnormal judging by the books that Haruki Murakami writes. I'm the opposite, I love that he is just so normal and yet he can come up with such great creative works. It showed me that you don't have to come from some kind of tragic past, struggling and starving and being hit by all kinds of shit luck and getting dragged through hell and a sewer to be able to create something good. You can be a normal person that has a normal good life and still be able to come up with fantastical worlds, characters and stories. That to me is the most inspiring thing about this book.

And the fact that at the age of 60, he can still a run a marathon! Every time I go out for a run and think about stopping before my goal, I tell myself, "You want to be able to run when you're 60, don't you?? Well if you can't handle this now, you won't be able to handle it when you're 60!" or "Haruki Murakami runs a marathon at 60! I'm 27 and I can't even run 15km?? How pathetic!"