What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

I can't remember exactly, but I think I got wind of this book of Murakami's about last year and have since wanted to read it.

I bought it just before leaving for Europe, with the intention of having it as companion for the 10 days.
Bring it I did, but 10 pages in, I decided that I'd save the book after returning. For since I'd already have an adventure waiting and yet another in my hands, I wanted to make them last longer - I didn't want to consume all in one go and then be extinguished of further joys with their end.

When I came back - and herein was another pre-meditated decision - I was already part-reading Kafka On The Shore (which resulted in me wanting to bring a new book on the trip instead because it was symbolic for me), so I had to complete that novel first before continuing with Running.

And when I finally did start and finish his novel in a night and 2 hours of this morning's (it's actually a very short book but I am a slow - or conscientious, as I would like to believe - reader), I've come to believe that I've found a writer whose philosophy towards running and life (both can and may not be interlinked) is so much my own that this is that book about running I've been wanting to read all this time.

Murakami has been able to put into words, quite tautologically, what I've been talking about when I talk about running and as I read, I knew here was a man after my own heart:

Runner's Blues - yes (I felt this after completing my first 20k)
Running to feel like you exist - in his words: "get the feeling of really being alive"
Running as a means of breaking individual limits
Running to be fit both mentally and physically - yes, yes and yes

It was like I saw my thoughts inked out on paper (but of course, he's the novelist and I?).
As it is, Running is also a sort of memoir and like chemistry, I find us bearing similar traits (which I won't pick out here).

A point though is, I've only ever read one of his novels (Kafka) so I can't draw much about him from his writing other than it was a lot of imagination and fantasy, imprinting haunting images onto your mind that would take a while to fade. (It's as fictional as a novel can be! But what a ride and story!)

Of course, the differences between us are also clear.
He runs marathons and triathlons while I only ever do running.
He was 56 when he wrote that, I'm 20.
He deals with aging while I'm dealing with crossroads.
He's Japanese, I'm Singaporean.
He's male, I'm female.
The list goes on, really.

But it's special because as many outward differences as there are between us, there is this same psyche and philosophy that I share with an award-winning writer that inspires me to press forward, to continue adding fuel to this ember within me, and to keep running toward that goal, my goal.

(or maybe they were right, I just feel and think old, damn)